Actually, the person is a 'she'... :^)
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main29.asp?filename=hub280407Our_lady.asp
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| OUR LADY OF MALADIES She stalls films, files PILs, gets ads banned. Pratiba Naitthani is best known as Mumbai’s one-woman moral police force. But there’s more to her than reactionary froth, says Shalini Singh
She isn’t quite the dour fogey you expect. As she sits in a coffeeshop, sipping a strawberry milkshake — demure in a mauve salwar-kameez, manicured nails a freshly-painted shade of hot toffee — you could easily mistake Pratiba Naitthani for just another downtown Mumbai 30-something. But this otherwise nondescript lecturer, who teaches political science at her alma mater, St Xavier’s College, is also known as the city’s resident moral cop for the frequency of her very vocal opposition to sex and violence in the media. In 2005, in the course of a single year, Naitthani raised objections to the withdrawal of the case against models Madhu Sapre and Milind Soman who appeared nude in a shoe ad; filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against TV channels for showing adult films; joined a five-day campaign highlighting the cultural exploitation of women; and registered complaints galore against indecent film posters. More recently, just before Maharashtra decided to ban sex education in high schools, Naitthani participated in a press conference held to voice concerns over the CBSE’s proposed Adolescent Education Programme.
Ask her why and her answers are pat. “They should first explain what they mean by sex education — is it gender education, is it information about maturing bodies or is it information on sexual intercourse?” Even though teachers’ reference manuals are the only material so far released, the content is too detailed and explicit, she feels. “None of this was ever done in our country. A syllabus like this needs to be created with a lot of sensitivity.” She cites an exercise she says is included in the handbook to make Class VI students aware of sexual abuse. It apparently entails calling two volunteers from the class, blindfolding one and asking the other to touch him/her at different parts of the body. The teacher then explains the difference between a ‘good’ touch and a ‘bad’ one. “How comfortable will a 10-year-old be standing in front of the class like that, and can another child touch him/her in an abusive way in the first place? You don’t have to commit abuse and say, this is abuse. A simple statement — like, no one can touch you in these parts this way, whoever it may be — should be enough,” she says. Point taken, but why does she always have issues with sex and morality? “The media is saying there’s a BJP / Islamic agenda to the issue. They’re ignorant. Look at Kerala — a hundred percent literate, Communist state, and the first to ban this programme. Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka did the same, and now Maharashtra.” The Naitthanis come from Uttaranchal; Pratiba Naitthani’s father set up Bombay University’s Hindi department. “Though I was brought up in Bombay, I go to Uttaranchal often — it’s important to be connected with one’s roots,” she says. Did she always want to be a teacher? “Yes, I’ve been in this profession for 11 years now.” Naitthani’s also a trained classical singer who plans to release an album soon. An avid trekker — “I love being close to nature” — she once biked all the way to Leh and back with a male cousin. “We’ve had a fairly liberal upbringing. Our parents didn’t object when we sisters came home from music shows late at night. There have been several love marriages in my family.” Yet, curiously, Naitthani refuses to talk about pre-marital sex or comment on what, according to her, would be the right age to start having sex. “Sex isn’t entertainment, you know,” comes the terse reply. Her take on the recent raids conducted on couples in Mumbai? “Public space can’t be converted into private space. One has to draw a line. No one will arrest you for sitting close and holding hands, but maybe some couple went further and made passers-by uncomfortable.” Columnist and filmmaker Pritish Nandy, is scathing: “People like her are extremely damaging to a liberal, democratic society. They tend to create conditions where the government can walk in and create dangerous policing methodologies. I wouldn’t want to debate with a person who demands police and state intervention in creative endeavours. The state is the last party who should be summoned, and I’m ashamed that people like this exist in a democratic country.” Her response? “I don’t care, let people say what they want about me. I’ve been accused of being affiliated with the Bajrang Dal and the RSS. No one has brainwashed me. I spend a lot of time with youngsters and, being in this profession, I simply feel I can make a difference,” she shrugs. Then she puts on her shades and bids a hurried goodbye. |
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Apr 28 , 2006
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