“But if people do use the festival as an excuse to indulge in sexual activities, isn’t it better to preach safe sex than to ignore the problem totally?” argued another friend.
“Utter rubbish. Navratri is a religious festival. It is a time of abstinence. Nobody would do such things during the festival.” My friend was quite obviously extrapolating her sexual morals on the entire teen population participating in the garba festival.”
The argued back and forth. Both had a point.
In many parts of the country, Navratri is a festival of abstinence. The truly religious have only one meal a day during the entire period. Many people fast on at least one of the nine days. And most people shun non-vegetarian food during the period. The communal dancing that takes place in the evening is a form of worship, not an extended party.
But despite its roots in religion, the garba festival, today, has become an almost commercial enterprise. Professional musicians, designer clothes, highly priced tickets to the better venues in town. To most participants, it is one long party, and yes teen pregnancies show a peak during this time.
“Maybe you are both right”, I suggested when the debate got too tedious. “The garba festival is a religious festival, not party. But how better to worship the womb than by indulging in sex?”I am not sure if the stunned silence that greeted my statement was one of sheer disbelief, or of a point going home. During Navratri, everyone worships the earthen pot containing a lighted lamp, but few choose to remember that it is actually a symbol for the Mother Goddess. Its name says it all – garba (womb) deep (light) – the womb containing life.
Hinduism is perhaps the only mainstream religion that openly cherishes the sexual union that produces life, and yet practitioners of the religion choose to ignore it completely.
By distributing condoms, people are not sanctifying illicit sex. They are only accepting something that happens, and advocating that people take adequate precautions while indulging in it. If anything, the fact that it is seem to have moral sanction, may well make the whole act less appealing to people.
4 comments:
Good post! I love your comment!
I agree that giving out condoms is responsible. India would surely not want the explosion of AIDS that Southern Africa has seen, for example.
I learn so much reading your posts. Thank you.
Elspeth
I cannot reconcile the worship of the Goddess with the treatment of women in India in general- it really is too depressing to think about.
Coming back to your post- safe sex is definitely better than unprotected sex, any time.
@ Fiona - absolutely. We can definitely do without an AIDs epidemic, and we can equally do without unwanted pregnancies and abortions. When would people realise that religion should not be brought into the equation when you are talking about social problems.
@ Elspeth - thank you. And I adore your blog.
@ dipali - there is such a disconnect, isn't there?
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