Saturday, July 02, 2005
Sex, AIDS and India
I have my favourite theory of why Christianity never quite caught on in India, despite the efforts of missionaries since St Doubting Thomas two thousand years ago. Here's what a typical scene would be like:
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(Missionary preaching to group of people in India)
Missionary: Jesus was special. He was the son of God. His mother Mary was a virgin even after she gave birth to him!
Man in crowd: What do you mean by that, hmm...virgin?
Missionary: Well, ...you know...his mother...er...never had....er...sex in order to give birth to him
Another Man in crowd: Oh, what's so special about that? Our mothers are virgins too!
Missionary: Of course not! We're ordinary folks, our mothers had to have...er...done it with our fathers!
Third Man in crowd: WTF are you trying to imply? That our mothers actually did...you Western devil!! Get out of here with your corrupt ideas, how dare you....
(Angry mob rushes at missionary, who flees for dear life)
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Well, that was probably not the way it was. But it does highlight what I'm trying to convey. One ability of us Indian people which never fails us, and which never fails to amaze me, is our limitless capability of denial. We deny everything that has to remotely do with sex, never discuss it in the family, and only in 'non-vegetarian' jokes among buddies.
Consider this: a school in India recently had its parents in uproar when it announced the intention of introducing sex education to kids. Parents came up with gems like 'Our children are angels, how dare they put such ideas in their heads?' Angels? yeah, right.
Do they really believe that teenagers in India are not doing it? Here's something my Mom described recently.
My ex-college, IIT Bombay, is located on the banks of the Powai lake in subarban Mumbai. My mom, coupla years ago, went to that campus in order to collect some docs I needed. Whle driving back, part of the road led past the lake where she saw huge shining white heaps of something being piled by people, and loaded onto trucks. Out of sheer curiosity, she stopped the car and went closer to investigate. The next thing she did was to call me in a state of utter shock. What was being piled up? Condoms, being dredged out of the lake.
Yes, you heard right, CONDOMS.
The workmen dredging up the condoms said that the culprits were mainly students form a number of surrounding middle and high schools, teenagers who skipped classes and rented a little boat on the lake where they...ahem...did 'masti' (mischief). Every six months or so, the lake got so clogged with these non-biodegradable rubbers that they had to be cleaned up and taken away by truckloads. It took a whole day of loading and driving trucks to clean it out. The condoms were then being taken to a profitable recycling business.
That is a freakin' LOT of condoms.
Shall I whine about the moral corruption of our teenagers who have sex, or shall I rejoice that at least they do it safely?
Shall I lift my spirits up at the environmental benefits of removing the condoms from the lake, or shall I even allude to the fact that this very lake is part of Mumbai's drinking water supply?????
You decide.
Well, our very prudishness about sex has come back to haunt us now in form of the deadly spectre of AIDS. AIDS in India started out as a disease among prostitutes and truck drivers who employ their services throughout the country. But it is not confined to them anymore.
Recently, an international organization claimed that the number of HIV patients in India was more that 6 million, and that India had overtaken South Africa as the highest HIV-infected nation in the world. The Indian Govt's response: to slam the report and counterclaim, "No, India is not the largest HIV-infected nation in the world. Our estimate is that we have ONLY 5.1 million HIV patients".
5.1 million. Official statistics. Denial. How reassuring.
--------------------------------------------
(Missionary preaching to group of people in India)
Missionary: Jesus was special. He was the son of God. His mother Mary was a virgin even after she gave birth to him!
Man in crowd: What do you mean by that, hmm...virgin?
Missionary: Well, ...you know...his mother...er...never had....er...sex in order to give birth to him
Another Man in crowd: Oh, what's so special about that? Our mothers are virgins too!
Missionary: Of course not! We're ordinary folks, our mothers had to have...er...done it with our fathers!
Third Man in crowd: WTF are you trying to imply? That our mothers actually did...you Western devil!! Get out of here with your corrupt ideas, how dare you....
(Angry mob rushes at missionary, who flees for dear life)
----------------------------------------------
Well, that was probably not the way it was. But it does highlight what I'm trying to convey. One ability of us Indian people which never fails us, and which never fails to amaze me, is our limitless capability of denial. We deny everything that has to remotely do with sex, never discuss it in the family, and only in 'non-vegetarian' jokes among buddies.
Consider this: a school in India recently had its parents in uproar when it announced the intention of introducing sex education to kids. Parents came up with gems like 'Our children are angels, how dare they put such ideas in their heads?' Angels? yeah, right.
Do they really believe that teenagers in India are not doing it? Here's something my Mom described recently.
My ex-college, IIT Bombay, is located on the banks of the Powai lake in subarban Mumbai. My mom, coupla years ago, went to that campus in order to collect some docs I needed. Whle driving back, part of the road led past the lake where she saw huge shining white heaps of something being piled by people, and loaded onto trucks. Out of sheer curiosity, she stopped the car and went closer to investigate. The next thing she did was to call me in a state of utter shock. What was being piled up? Condoms, being dredged out of the lake.
Yes, you heard right, CONDOMS.
The workmen dredging up the condoms said that the culprits were mainly students form a number of surrounding middle and high schools, teenagers who skipped classes and rented a little boat on the lake where they...ahem...did 'masti' (mischief). Every six months or so, the lake got so clogged with these non-biodegradable rubbers that they had to be cleaned up and taken away by truckloads. It took a whole day of loading and driving trucks to clean it out. The condoms were then being taken to a profitable recycling business.
That is a freakin' LOT of condoms.
Shall I whine about the moral corruption of our teenagers who have sex, or shall I rejoice that at least they do it safely?
Shall I lift my spirits up at the environmental benefits of removing the condoms from the lake, or shall I even allude to the fact that this very lake is part of Mumbai's drinking water supply?????
You decide.
Well, our very prudishness about sex has come back to haunt us now in form of the deadly spectre of AIDS. AIDS in India started out as a disease among prostitutes and truck drivers who employ their services throughout the country. But it is not confined to them anymore.
Recently, an international organization claimed that the number of HIV patients in India was more that 6 million, and that India had overtaken South Africa as the highest HIV-infected nation in the world. The Indian Govt's response: to slam the report and counterclaim, "No, India is not the largest HIV-infected nation in the world. Our estimate is that we have ONLY 5.1 million HIV patients".
5.1 million. Official statistics. Denial. How reassuring.
We need to do something.
# posted by technophobicgeek @ 5:18 PM 
Comments:
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Thats insane... :)
Great page, I will continue to read it regularly.
I hope you dont mind, but I am going to add a link from my page back to yours.
Great page, I will continue to read it regularly.
I hope you dont mind, but I am going to add a link from my page back to yours.
Of course, of course. I'm delighted!
I must also congratulate you for being the first person to post any comment whatsoever on this blog. You have now finally discovered the true inner purpose of your existence :D
Take care. And keep blogging :)
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I must also congratulate you for being the first person to post any comment whatsoever on this blog. You have now finally discovered the true inner purpose of your existence :D
Take care. And keep blogging :)
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