Get A Room

Maintaining The Distance - In Public

Returning from Ansal Plaza the other day, I used the garden path. It’s quick and short though not all that safe. Anyway, things that save time are the best. But one step into the garden and I was reminded why I had been avoiding it since so many days. In every nook and corner and open space, there was this scene: Boy on top of girl, sucking the bloody life out of her or the other way round or both ways round. Now I’m not voyeuristic so I was quick to turn my eyes away from one sight only to be confronted with another. I had to finally keep my eyes glued to the ground in order to avoid such gross and sights (and also lewd remarks from boys who were at the moment deprived of such pleasure). Apart from cursing them, I was yelling three words in my mind: GET A ROOM.

It’s embarrassing. More than you can imagine specially when your mom is around and instead of casually walking, she’ll stare at you expecting you to say something so that she’s reassured that you’ll never do something of that kind. With your friends, well it’s pretty easy to avoid but when you’re alone you just can’t help cursing. I made sure I didn’t use that path again for weeks.

A week later, while I was still brooding about it on Facebook and Twitter, I read an article in the TOI (which invariably highlights such news item with extra ‘masala’) about ‘Operation Majnu’ in Ghaziabad. While such a news item gave me sense of joy that these sights might be done away with, I was also a bit offended when I realized that these ‘moral’ policemen were actually infringing on people’s Right to Personal Life and Liberty (Article 21, Part 4 of the Constitution. Some Political Science knowledge). Now, why exactly should they be doing that? Someone said that Public Display of Affection or PDA is an offence punishable by law. Okay. Agreed. But most of these policemen do it in the name of culture. Forget that, they say they're trying to "save innocent girls from boys with evil motives". That's more of my problem. You can shoo them away from public places, okay. But punishing them- unless they don't listen at all- is beyond my understanding. The girl's parents are there to look after her. They cannot make boys do sit-ups or flog them in public in the name of 'moral duty' towards the girl. And why do the 'moral police' get media with it?

More importantly, how come they are concerned about implementing the law here but not where it is required the most? Go on, punish the law makers who make the law to benefit themselves in some way or the other. Or those who are corrupt to the core or those whose rape cases have been pending in court for years now.

There’s only so much that the police needs to do. They should get over ‘Operation Majnu’ and moral policing the people. Moreover, people should themselves have the sense of what they are doing and where. Can’t get a room? Wait. And if you don’t want to wait, then you don’t deserve the other person. But save yourselves the humiliation. Get a room.