India's got #MeToo

We know that India's got talent... oodles of it, both within Bollywood and outside.  

Now India's got #MeToo...  

They say everything happens at the right time.  Ten years ago, when the said actress was sexually harassed, had she made her revelations, they may not have had such an impact as they have done now.

(I am, of course, assuming that the allegations are true; but that's something the courts would have to decide.  But the very fact that the issue has been brought out by one individual is to be welcomed.)

Now that cat's out of the bag, we need to make the most of it.  Thank goodness that #MeToo happened in Hollywood - indeed, for a change, that's one good thing that needs to be welcomed to our shores.  

Let's hope the movement gathers steam here too and more sacrosanct skeletons tumble out of the hitherto locked up Bollywood cupboard.  

Indeed that cupboard was so tightly shut and its inhabitants so much in denial about the transgressions of the high and mighty that it was all bordering on a collective psychotic state.

Even now that the issue is finally out in the open, the reactions have been reflective of this psychotic state.

The glorious superstars of Bollywood have completely denied to comment on it, or to even acknowledge that such incidences could occur in their hallowed citadel.  These are hypocritical, self-serving, fake superstars who are only thriving in the industry due to the blind adulation of their equally psychotic fans.  

One hopes that at the very least, the other women of the film industry finally find their long-suppressed voice and come out in support of the movement.  And not only women, men who have been abused should come out too.

There was a recent post on social media that showed a battered face of a goddess with the tagline that went something like this: 'For the next 10 days the country that abuses its women will celebrate female power' (with reference to Dussehra).  Sad, but true!

One may be super talented and highly regarded, yet guilty of sexual harassment at work place.  Like many of the other legal directives, the Vishaka Guidelines exist mainly on paper, with companies loath to fully implement them, and employees blissfully unaware of their existence.

Now that the #MeToo Ravana has been dragged out kicking and screaming into the spotlight, here's hoping that the #MeToo movement drags out more such Ravanas from other citadels too: sports, politics, corporate and yes, even medical field.  

Then there can be the collective burning of the #MeToo Ravana effigies, which would light up this year's Dussehra like no other.  

Primary image source: 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ravana_fizzles.jpg  
Pete Birkinshaw, Ravana fizzles, #MeTooIndia text added by by blogger, CC BY 2.0