Amsterdam and Aarshabharatham

The flower market in Amsterdam

I was in a hurry to reach the flower market. The flower market in Amsterdam is a famous tourist spot. Beautiful flowers and their seeds are on display there. Tourists go around and buy them  with great interest. I too was tempted for a moment to whip out 10 Euros to buy a packet of seeds, but I knoe  these plants could never survive in our climate.
 

 

 I decided to walk from the Dam Square. Dam Square is another hot spot for tourists in the city. It is in fact one of the best known landmarks in Amsterdam.  When I set out from my room, I was not quiet sure about reaching the Flower Market by walk. But still, I wanted to explore this option only to enjoy walking along the beautiful streets. On the way, I did not forget to lavishly click the scenes. The Indian restaurant, the neat streets,the walkways and the tiny canals criss crossing the city all over were all worth clicking. As I have been
walking along, suddenly I heared a tapping noise from the nearby building. When I looked to the direction of the noise, I saw a lady standing inside a glass paned room, wearing just three triangular shaped pieces of clothes and calling me inside!

The red street in Amsterdam

That is Amsterdam - the confluence of Amstel River and The Dam. Later in the day, I did take a walk along the red street. No bad intentions, but it was just out of curiosity. Red streets are a common thing in any part of the world. Some are secretly existing and some are out in the open like this one in the middle of the city. The long street on both banks of a beautiful canal is the red street in Amsterdam. Each building is beautifully decorated. In front of these buildings there are girls standing- wearing three peices of triangular shaped cloehtes - and calling out the walkers. Everything on the road is normal. Policemen and women on their motor bikes patrol the locality. Those who need to satiate their urge can sneak in to any one of these buildings. In addition to this, there are a number of places here, where live shows of sexual intercourses are available. Nothing is taboo. That is how a city lives on.

 

The Dam Square (looking from Madame Tussad)

I too felt, like you, shocked at these scenes. I too felt how a society can stoop so low to conquer.  Is this the culture of a society? Is it the much loathed Western Culture? If I had asked anyone on the street around Dam square, then he or she would have asked me a counter question - then what is culture? Raping a woman in a moving bus? Dragging out a woman of a moving train and then rape her and smash her head? Keeping the women folk like slaves and abuse her every moment in her life? Stare at her, pass lewd comments and if got a chance 'handle' her for sexual satisfaction? I would have blinked at such uncomfortable questions. I would have fallen flat if I dared to give a sermon to the locals about "Aarshabharataham". Woman is mother, woman is the light of a family, woman is god....all sounds sweet and beautiful, but when I get a chance, I too treat her the way the guys in the bus did. That is a the real life in the Aarshabharatham. Long live Indian Culture!!

 

 

Now the morally outraged follwers of the Great Culture are on the streets. They demand the accused be handed over to them. They have full authority to dispense with justice. Many learned, informed and mature minds too look to have been carried away by emotions. They too started demanding cutting off of parts of bodies of the accused. An eye for an eye is the war cry. It sells well in the emotionally charged ambiance.

Emotions are always a selling point in our country. What if the apostle of Ahimsa turns in his grave? What if the concept of social reformation through humanity takes a back seat? Let the justice be dispensed with, in bulk and in retail on streets. A hand for theft, an eye for an immoral act, a finger for a traffic violation, and a head for a rape. How refreshing it will be, if we could see a body hanging from the lamp posts in the heart of our cities when we are hurrying up to our work places!! But the most perturbing question is Who Will Cast The First Stone?