Gay Justice

Gay sex decriminalised in India

A court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has ruled that homosexual intercourse between consenting adults is not a criminal act.

In an earlier post on an Indonesian rock musician’s theory on homosexuality, I had written how strange it is to hold on to such prejudices in this day and age when Science has already shown that there are possibly ‘biological explanations for sexual orientation across species — including humans’. This bold judgement coming from my ultra-conservative country is sure to do some justice to this much maligned group of our fellow human beings.

[UPDATE: Loved what Gautam Bhan says in Indian Express:

"This judgment should be seen by all of us, gay or straight, no matter what we think of sexuality and homosexuality, as a victory for a secular, democratic, constitutional and free India. We should all be proud."

]

The rumblings of protest from religious bodies have begun – my only prayer is that they do not grow loud enough to drown out the voice of rationality.

On a similar note, watch the movie Milk if you haven’t. It is the story of Harvey Milk, an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. Sean Penn in the title role does a beautiful job in portraying such a sensitive character and rightfully earned a Best Actor Oscar for his performance.

Imagine

Watched the excellent documentary The U.S. vs, John Lennon. It is a must watch for anyone who has ever had any sort of fondness for this man with his round glasses and his motto of ‘Give Peace a Chance‘.

This song will never go away from my conscience. I have joined you John. Long live John…
Imagine there’s no Heaven 
It’s easy if you try 
No hell below us 
Above us only sky 
Imagine all the people 
Living for today 
Imagine there’s no countries 
It isn’t hard to do 
Nothing to kill or die for 
And no religion too 
Imagine all the people 
Living life in peace 
You may say that I’m a dreamer 
But I’m not the only one 
I hope someday you’ll join us 
And the world will be as one 
Imagine no possessions 
I wonder if you can 
No need for greed or hunger 
A brotherhood of man 
Imagine all the people 
Sharing all the world 
You may say that I’m a dreamer 
But I’m not the only one 
I hope someday you’ll join us 
And the world will live as one
I am off to Vietnam, the war against whom, he and many others were so passionately against. But I am off to see the modern Vietnam of socialist capitalism – an oxymoron if there ever was one! I will resume my writing after my trip. Till then, enjoy your weekend and the week ahead.

Sounds Like Power

An American admirer and reviewer of Hindi films; dilettante; geek of all trades” has a blog dedicated to Shabana Azmi, Sounds Like Power.
The name of the blog apparently comes from a quote attributed to Shabana Azmi, as mentioned in the footer, though I confess I had never heard it before and googling for it didn’t give me much leads either. But it sounds, well, powerful!

“Say ‘Shabana’ and it is nectar. Say ‘Shabana Azmi’ and it sounds like power.”

I have always been a huge admirer. In fact, when I was still in school and someone asked me who was my favourite actress in Bollywood, I had answered quite unabashedly, “Shabana Azmi”, to which the reply was, “But she is old!”!
In fact I have been a fan ever since she went on a hunger strike to stop the evacuation of slum dwellers in Bombay and also protested the killing of Safdar Hashmi, the playwright, not to mention her movies, Ankur, Arth, Ek Doctor Ki Maut, Fire, Khamosh, Mandi, Masoom, Paar, Shatranj Ke Khiladi etc. etc. etc.

Society, I hope you’re not lonely without me…

A hauntingly beautiful song, gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.

The song was written by Jerry Hannan and is performed by Eddie Vedder for the soundtrack of the film Into The Wild. The Sean Penn directed movie itself was wildly beautiful and what made it touching was that it was based on the real life story of a certain Christopher McCandless.
“Christopher Johnson McCandless (February 12, 1968 – August 18, 1992) was an American wanderer who hiked into the Alaskan wilderness with little food and equipment, hoping to live a period of solitude. Almost four months later he died of starvation near Denali National Park and Preserve.”
Oh its a mystery to me.
We have a greed, with which we have agreed…
And you think you have to want more than you need…
Until you have it all, you won’t be free.
Society, you’re a crazy breed.
I hope you’re not lonely, without me.
When you want more than you have, you think you need…
And when you think more, then you want, your thoughts begin to bleed.
I think I need to find a bigger place…
Cause when you have more than you think, you need more space.
Society, you’re a crazy breed.
I hope you’re not lonely, without me.
Society, crazy indeed…
I hope you’re not lonely, without me.
There’s those thinkin’ more or less, less is more,
But if less is more, how you keepin’ score?
It means for every point you make, your level drops.
Kinda like you’re startin’ from the top…
And you can’t do that.
Society, you’re a crazy breed.
I hope you’re not lonely, without me.
Society, crazy indeed…
I hope you’re not lonely, without me
Society, have mercy on me.
I hope you’re not angry, if I disagree.
Society, crazy indeed.
I hope you’re not lonely…
Without me.
Into_The_Wild.jpg