A Kiss is Still a Kiss

The fallout from Richard Gere's 'tasteless' and 'shameless' act continues and apparently the outrage in India is still alive and well in some areas too. For those who don't know the news or failed to hear the hubbub from about two weeks ago, Indian actress Shilpa Shetty, famous for her steely demeanor in the face of racist remarks on Britain's "Celebrity Big Brother", brewed a different kind of controversy when she was kissed on the hand and both cheeks by Hollywood actor Richard Gere at an AIDS Awareness rally. The outrage expressed by some in the most conservative of areas has called the act lewd and scandalous and members of protest groups have called for the punishment of Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty for their indiscretions. I had blogged on my puzzlement at the outrage that this little event had created and apparently my puzzlement is to continue based upon some of the e-mails and comments I received on my original blog on this incident.

My basic conclusion at the end of my last blog was that while I understand the conservative nature of India (I am after all an Indian-American) I am curious to understand why there is such great outrage over this incident. Perhaps my puzzlement stems from the fact that having been raised in a Western culture my whole life, I have come to accept kissing as a natural form of greeting among friends. People who have protested the incident have accused Gere of 'forcing' himself upon Shetty as if what he did to her amounted to rape. Shetty claimed to have been surprised by the incident but has not come out in public to protest or express her displeasure at what has occured. If you read the one comment that it on my blog with regard to the incident, the reader compares Gere's actions to be akin to the colonial attitude of forcing themselves onto an unsuspecting India and taking advantage of the situation.

For us to reach this conclusion is beyond me and it seems to be leading to the desire to make this incident much more than it needs to be. Already there are reports that court orders are being passed to prevent Shetty from leaving the country. While this may not seem like a big deal for some, given the fact that Shetty is an actress and as such, films dance scenes and films in other countries, it would definitely serve to stifle a career that got a boost thanks to her previous media-frenzied racism incident in London. I can understand wanting to censure Shetty and let her know that as a representative of India through her acting and movies, she should set a good example but to ostracize her and make her a victim of something akin to rape seems utterly ridiculous and foolish to me.

Western culture is something that is fast becoming a part of Indian culture. When I used to visit India during my childhood I used to get lonely for the things I took for granted in the US. As a kid, I wanted to see the same cartoons I had at home, watch the same movies and enjoy some of the same luxuries. As I got older and India began to get older too, life over there changed. I have now been to clubs and restaurants where the dress is far more risque than anything seen in clubs over here and people are packing away drinks as if their life depended on it. You can call it a result of Western influence on Indian culture but don't put the whole blame on the West. I choose to look at it in this manner; if you like something then you will continue to do it and accept it but if you don't like something, you will naturally not want to do it.

Large cities that have a great deal of Western influence due to business such as Bombay, Pune and Bangalore have seen a growth in Western lifestyles. Still, it seems that in some cases this lifestyle is elevated to something more than that. I had a friend who, like me, was born and brought up in the United States. She travelled to India quite often and some trips, the team she worked with in India would take her out to celebrate the completion of a project. Now she is what I would term a hardcore party person but I have heard her relate how she couldn't keep up with some of the Indian team members. This too coming from a place relatively conservative like Bangalore.

For people to complain that Shetty is a person of loose morals or that Gere is a horrible Colonial who is attempting to 'spread' his loose morals on the rest of India is stupid. While it's true he made a mistake by doing something that he clearly takes for granted back here in the States, to label him something akin to a rapist is seriously flawed logic. If Indian society, specifically that section that is burning effigies, is so conservative or upstanding in their morals, in addition to ending such incidents in public, end such incidents in the movies and television as well. Stop producing and supporting movies about extra-marital affairs (Kabhi Alivda Na Kehena), or relationships outside of marriage (Salaam Namaste) or films that glamorize the underworld (Sarkar, Company, and Satya). Censure the politicians who carry on extra-marital affairs with the full knowledge of the public. Stop the artists and performers on television who use scantily clad women as nothing more than a means of drawing in more viewers. We in the West can accept some of the blame but don't use that as a means of making a mountain out of a molehill. If Shetty were truly that bothered by the incident she would have smacked Gere right then and there.