“India is still a difficult country for...”

Babita Basu
20 November 2012, 05:35 PM IST

Ms Honey Bee was looking at a book promo by Penguin on Facebook, which had a pictorial slide and a caption embedded in it that said: "India is still a difficult country for homosexuals."

(Image by courtesy of Penguin India)

Just up from reading the case of the 21-year-old girl arrested because of voicing her opinion on the Mumbai bandh, she tried to make sense of the caption. Ominous words, they made her read it again:

"India is still a difficult country for homosexuals."

Okay, so India is a difficult country for homosexuals. Was it just homosexuals? It would be better, she thought, if the line read: "India is still a difficult country for the LGBT community." So, she used her pen tablet to cross out the line and write again, "India is still a difficult country for the entire LGBT community." That, she thought, was it.

And then, she thought twice. Women of all ages are bashed up, set on fire, raped and molested, silenced and not even allowed to be born in India. And then added: "India is still a difficult country for women of all ages."

There now, she thought. I've got it. And then rethought over her proposition, and rewrote again: "India is still a difficult country for old people." Because old people are thrown out of their homes, insulted, hurt and left to starve and die.

And she thought she still needed to add some more. She wrote:

"India is still a difficult country for the visually impaired and the physically challenged." Because there is no infrastructure to support them.

And wrote: "India is still a difficult country for the mentally challenged." Because they are exposed to social ridicule.

And wrote: "India is still a difficult country for those belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes and other backward classes." Because discrimination and persecution happens.

And wrote: ""India is still a difficult country for people who speak their minds." Because this country arrests people for drawing cartoons or tweeting.  

So finally, Honey Bee sat down and tried to figure out for whom India "still wasn't a difficult country". And then found out that it was good enough, and supportive enough for men aged between 20 to 55 years who were supported with an iota of political or social power, or money or both of these. Three cheers for the world's largest democracy. Fini.

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