Chennai: A man in red shirt raised his hand and casually said he has molested and groped women while travelling by bus, back in his college days. Not just that, he confessed this in a TV reality show – ‘Bigg Boss’ Season 3. He did this in front of crores and crores of people who are said to be glued to the show.
I can’t believe someone will have the guts to confess that he has committed something that is very cheap and vulgar.
Is it because we have normalised it? Is it okay to normalise such things? Is it okay to normalise the fact that WOMEN GET GROPED IN BUSES EVERY DAY?
First I’m wondering what kind of morals this man – Saravanan – teach his young son, when he has a casual attitude towards this issue, and the audacity to confess his cheap acts. Well, if you say, that he has apologised, for whatever he said, I don’t think that was a heart-felt apology.
Secondly, why did nobody speak about this, until a famous celebrity – Chinmayi Sripaada – highlighted this on her Instagram post?
Why did not meme creators, who were active during jallikattu protest and are still on on various other social issues, not throw the spotlight on this issue?
A meme creator friend said, “Nobody wants to see such posts on social media: they prefer watching the romantic sequences between other contestants of the show.”
Thirdly, the host, Kamal Haasan, father of two grown-up daughters, who took more than half of the episode to discuss about a false accusation made by a woman housemate, did not even take a minute to talk about the ‘casual confession’ of the man. And the live audience, for their part, cheered and whistled like it was something to be celebrated.
And, finally, for those (and there are quite a few men who say this) who say, ‘it was done long ago, why make an issue of it now?’ Well, a gentle reminder that your mother, sister, wife, girlfriend will travel by bus today. Do you still think it is okay to normalise such things?
And m’ladies, it is high time we all unlearn to ‘adjust’!