We hear needless debates about JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav’s statements in parliament about south Indian women. Yadav had stated, “The women of the south are dark but they are as beautiful as their bodies. We don’t see it here. They know dance.” Several male MP’s started laughing on the comments made by Sharad Yadav. Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani said that member should not comment on the complexion of women. Yadav nonetheless said that his comments were misinterpreted and added that there are more dusky women in India and in the world. He also said that there is a big tradition of music and dance in South India, which is why women there have a good figure.
Why should he purposely insult women? The women MP’s in parliament should have let it pass with a smile or a disapproving glance, instead of debating about it in the house. Perhaps, they have overreacted to the comments made by Yadav. Yadav refused to offer an apology and said that he was ready to have a discussion in this regard.
Women should be tolerant and develop ability to let certain remarks pass, unless these are clearly abusive and meant to insult/hurt. Infact, most of the comments were better but some MP’s are unnecessarily raising this issue to garner publicity.
We need to focus our attention on larger issues such as religious intolerance. God resides everywhere. I will rather believe that God resided on my ship to save me through these long sailing years. Almighty also resided in “Sankat mochan”, “Kalbhairav” and “ Vishwanath Mandir” where we prayed regularly. I had visited many mosques (with my head covered) with our Muslim captains. I also had accompanied the Christian captains to Church innumerable times for praying and offering confessions.
Fathers used to come on board and offer us reading material and test papers (question papers on Bible for evaluation). All along, we derived assistance from Stella Maris and Flying Angel clubs around the world. Nearer home, many times I visited the Dashmesh Gurdwara for “Matha Tekna”, sitting through the prayer and receiving excellent “ itr” ( perfume) in the morning. God is there in each one of us. It is for us to seek out. “SEEKING” is a very important word. God does not reward us some times because we don’t seek like a child. He appreciates those people seeking navigational safety, asking advice from seniors, reading safety booklets and instruction manuals on board.