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See, India has truly "arrived" on the world stage, everybody. We are going.. in fact, almost have gone, "global". We have embraced, if not molested, western culture hook line and sinker with the unanimous consent of our populous - something our efficient and neutral media does within a second, at will to make bloody accurate generalizations.
By truly entrenching the ideals of democracy where the masses - urban/western youth - that makes for 90% of our strength and blowing hot and cold over every perceived encroachment on "freedom-of-speech", our "nationalists" have ignenuously "opened" up our country and her god-damned culture, which dates back to as recently as 350 BC, to the outsiders. Our right to express ourselves albeit at the cost of suppressing others' views has given a unique turn to the whole idea of free-thinking.
The country's leading "liberal" foot soldiers have kicked the conservatives' (let me use the infrequent alternative - 'moral police') behinds for their totally unprovoked objection to foreigners movin' to music, as a means to cheer up a crowd.
Why not ban item numbers in our movies?, they ask.
Why not discipline the men who jeer at the cheerleaders? they fume.
First, let's look at the very need of some bunch of dancers by the boundary ropes. They're meant to egg on the crowds, to cheer them up and get them on their feet. Right? But the point here is, do Indian crowds, who are already Cricket-mad, need anything more than watching their idols live to get them excited? No, methinks! Maybe in other countries, where the crowds are somewhat somber, having cheerleaders would have clicked and made sense.
Conclusion: cheerleaders are futile.
Now as for the obvious questions thrown. The liberals "accidentally" forget the fact that movies are certified 'A' or 'U' or 'U/A' depending the amount of "explicit" content they contain. They contain a certain message hinting what the content is about unlike Cricket, or any other sport. So, does that mean Cricket matches should also be displaying some 'warning' or some sort at their gates? No, but since time immemorial, movies are known to contain displays of affection and this trend has now evolved into more and more show of flesh. It is but a natural progression. The viewers know what to expect sometime in the middle of the movie. Also, their is a certain element of creativity which can be exploited through nudity. Again, Bollywood movies are also not watched by as many people in the country as compared to Cricket, definitely not the "bold" flicks. And for that, I don't need to do no survey, I'm sure of it.
But Cricket? when was this 'Gentleman's game' or any non-American sport ever known to the commoners to be a place where one gets to watch skimpily-clad blondes strut their behinds like they're in some pub in the middle of their Spring break? Common-sense, something that goes flying out of the window whenever the "moral police" blares its horn, says citizens of our country would find this uncomfortable and parents would get jitters letting their young children watch white trash. And I don't even need to explain that. Then why is the "grown up", higher-middle class intelligentsia ramming its' Chalta-hai attitude down the whole country's throat? Not one to miss out on whipping up some drama, the media men pass verdicts and denounce the ministers for turning Maharashtra into an "intolerant state". The same old 'Don't they have better issues to be bothered about?' counter comes out of their creative minds. This very same counter came up when names of cities are changed which the liberals are, you guessed it, opposed to as it degrades the city's "brand value"?
As for catching the men who misbehave, that is a no-compromise and should be dealt with harshly. But this is, sadly, a fact in a country like ours. Resolving it won't happen overnight and we have to accept that. Isn't it as simple as a make-shift solution that some venues ought to be free from any provocation to the Indian male? And given the nationalities of the cheerleaders and the subsequent jeering reportedly done by some men in the stadias, aren't we aggravating our damaged reputation of shameful incidents towards foreigners?
