I don’t want M.F Hussain Back
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on March 18, 2010 – 6:34 pm -I’m tired of explaining things on twitter and chat so i decided i will write a blog post to consolidate my thoughts and present it in an orderly and clear manner without any confusion.
Preface:
M.F.Hussain the great artist whom many people are brooding over, his loss of Indian citizenship and want him back, is my subject for discussion. People are pissed off that the Hindu religious right over reacted and made him decide to give up his Indian citizenship for a Qatar one. People demand that India should extend an offer to bring him back and offer an apology as well. People claim that
“Art” and “Freedom of Expression” is above everything and no one has the right to not get offended. Artists should have no boundaries or restrictions and that they should be beyond offense & hurt.
Foreword:
I have no religious beliefs. I’m an outspoken atheist, no not the Karunanidhi kinds who love to blaspheme forward caste Hindu gods. I blaspheme all gods. I don’t care who gets offended and who does not. To me all god is blasphemy material and i will blaspheme things to death. I do not care who blasphemes what god and who gets offended. Blasphemy is a victimless crime. I do not support someone not to be offended at all.
Main Summary:
My Objective of this article is to strike a logical balance. We all know that India has blasphemy laws. Even though it sounds like stone age, yes in this country one cannot offend religious sentiments of another and get away with it. While i do not support this law i have to live with it for the time being until it is thrown to the dustbin like how criminalizing gays was trashed recently. It is in this context my argument is going to be. I’m all in support of freedom of expression. It should be applicable to all. Freedom of expression is not Selective. It is applicable to one and all. Just like how i love to call Mohammed a Pedophile, someone else should also have the freedom of expression to call Lord Shiva a murderous bastard. I cannot cry foul when someone else insults Shiva whilst i insult Prophet Mohammed or Vice Versa.
The Material:
I would like to show some of the images that MF Hussain drew that erected violence and criticism across the nation.
A fully dressed Muslim king and a naked Hindu Brahmin. While the Muslim king is shown in a dignified manner the Brahmin is butt naked. Brahmins are respected across India for their religious significance in the Hindu Dharma. Insulting a Brahmin Priest is equivalent to insulting a Imam or a Bishop.
Lord Hanuman and Goddess Sita both shown naked. Additionally the naked Sita sits on Ravanan’s lap. Sita is a symbol of chastity and divinity according to Hindu’s. So much that mythology states that she could not be burnt by the flames when her husband Rama asked her to take the test. To depict Sita sitting butt naked on a naked Ravanan’s lap is nothing short of insult.
Draupadi shown naked. Whilst one can dismiss this is as not so bad it still could offend people nevertheless.
Goddess Parvati depicted naked. Additionally i see her carrying or touching a naked vinayaka (her son) as well. What does this mean. She is aroused by her own son?
Goddess Saraswati depicted naked.
Goddess Lakshmi painted naked on Lord Ganesh’s head. Again compromising positions of gods and goddesses that may provoke anger.
Goddess Durga shown in an union with a Tiger. Notice how the anal sections of the human woman and the tiger collide in the drawing suggesting a copulation.
Here are some images the same person(artist) drew, in this case they are either Muslims or Christians…
Muslim poets Ghalib and Faiz shown properly and fully attired in a nice way
A fully clothed Muslim lady. Simple and elegant drawing. I don’t see how this lady could be a Muslim, maybe she does not have a bindi, thats why?
A painting of MF Hussain’s mother - properly and fully clothed.
Mother Teresa shown fully clothed.
Hussain’s daughter painted fully and properly clothed.
A properly and fully-clothed Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter (from one the innumerable number of women he raped/impregnated or forcibly married).
My Conclusion:
It is distinctly evident from MF Husain’s work that he likes to play spoil sport with Hindu items and he treats his own Muslim brethren and Christians with respect. When i say Hindu i refer to the followers of the religion called “Hinduism” that it is known today. It is evident that if MFH paints a picture of prophet Mohammed he would not have his hands to wash his rectal cavity after taking a dump, the next time around. The same can be said if he paints a picture of Mother Teresa in a bikini or say naked.
1. I’m happy that he has the balls to blaspheme against Hindu Gods. I don’t care, god does not exist and insulting a non existing entity is not a criminal offence in my opinion. Like i said earlier, blasphemy is a victimless crime.
2. Applying the same logic Christian & Muslims gods don’t exist as well. Hence offending their gods should not be a big ass problem as well. Unfortunately no, in this country secularism means bashing the majority to appease the minority. We all know what Taslima’s Burkha article did and how many lives were lost because someone wrote something about a piece of clothing & commented on a religious text from their personal opinion.
3. Just as Muslims & Christians have the constitutional right to feel offended (ironically) so do Hindu’s have the right to feel offended if someone depicts a mother god and her son god to be copulating or performing sexual deeds to each other.
4. To bring back M.F. Hussain or to apologize to him would be hypocrisy. If M.F. Hussain deems an apology and needs to be brought back to India and given safe custody and citizenship then i demand Salman Rushdie to be awarded $100 million dollars and an apology for his work being banned. I also propose that we compensate Dan Brown and Sony Pictures with a $500 Million cheque and apology and we will screen “The Da Vinci Code” all over again in all theaters and govt. offices and public places across India.
5. It is pretty obvious neither will we allow “Satanic Verses” nor do we tolerate The “Da Vinci Code” movie. Both of them are an item that indicate “Freedom of Expression” and “Artistic Expression” as well just like MF Hussain’s paintings do.
6. If we cannot tolerate one, then the other cannot be tolerated as well.
7. It is hypocrisy and unfair to say that someone can offend Hindu’s and not face the consequences but Muslims or Christians should NEVER be offended at no cost even if they outrightly offend the Hindu’s.
I don’t care for Muslims or Christians or Hindu’s. I do however care when one of them is being subject to insult to appease the other or question one of them while they insult the other will generate violence and commotion. Everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, even if that law is stupid to claim one cannot be offended at all (on religious grounds) like how it is in India.
M.F Hussain is no holier than Dan Brown or Salman Rushdie. Nor is he exclusive from the Danish Newspaper who were brought to their knees for publishing a silly fucking cartoon. For all i care, M.F Hussain can go to hell. I care less. Let him practice his “Freedom of Expression” by painting Mohammed in Qatar, if he has the balls to. If only he can play around with Islamic or Christian figures like he does with Hindu figures and then demands that people should not feel offended, i would consider him to be a true secularist and would voice my support to bring him back. Until then, let him scramble in the desert and drink crude oil for time pass. He is a mere perverted Muslim prick who wants to offend Hindu’s and take cover under the blanket of “Art” & “Freedom of Expression” and play politics with our skewed idea of secularism which applies only to Muslims & Christians while Hindu’s can be offended and abused without any question.
Tags: Apology, Art, Citizenship, Drawings, india, M.F. Hussain, Qatar
Posted in country, dogma, hinduism, incident, india, islam, opinion, secularism | 22 Comments »
Black and White
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on August 19, 2008 – 3:24 am -
We had another Photowalk and another whole day of fun last Sunday. While taking the underpass to little mount across the railway tracks i was shooting pictures and these two Muslims girls came up the stairs and i thought i should probably stop shooting. But then i thought, if i stop shooting i would be blatantly supporting those Islamic terrorists who are scared of women.
Yes, those suckers are scared of women, they are so shit scared that they piss on their pants everytime they think of a woman or when their mom or sister calls on them "where are you?". Why else would they hide the beauty, the essence of womanhood and the freedom of one human being to visually identify themselves. Forget the fact of public or private identity, lets discuss identity on the whole. So if i stop shooting because these Muslim women should be treated like fairies while Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Jain women should be winked at and called names just like how young boys and girls play their love games of their age, that would mean i’m considering special treatment for Muslim for Muslim women. Why, because i’m scared they may come kill me? Is that it? I even heard someone behind me whisper "dude, don’t even think of it" and i dropped my 50mm body and went in for the 24 - 70 heavy lens and pointed the lens right at this girl and shot like 5 frames.
She stopped at me, stared and then went away like nothing ever happened. I hope she liked the treatment of being looked upon as a normal woman. Sad for her if she considered me to be a womanizer, i don’t think i’m much of that. Her clan in Saudi Arabia definitely are.
I found it today in black and white. On o ne side of the steps i found french women who had a drag at a local tea shop and were chatting upto a bunch of locals with camera’s and having a blast. On the other side of the step i find women, from the same genetic pattern treated worse than sheep. I mean, we don’t cover our sheep’s face when it goes out in public, why women be considered more cheaper than sheep.
It’s all there for us to see in black and white. We can look at it and call a liar a bluff and laugh our ass off at anyone over 15 still pray to santa for gifts and play the good boy or we can pretend they are being normal and let them talk to their imaginary creatures in their heads and let them get away with things, which otherwise we would place them in prison for a very long time.
Posted in country, crib, daily life, debate, dogma, flickr, islam, opinion, rantings, religion | 3 Comments »
Wedding Woes…
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on August 16, 2008 – 7:10 pm -One of my Aunt married a Muslim and obviously converted due to the very reason. I was invited to this wedding of her son and believe me, i was excited like hell. I’ve never been to a Muslim wedding before and this was my first time. I aspired to acquaint myself with my aunts in laws, get to know them more and hang out with them more since i’ve never done that all of these years during my childhood and i decided its time to set the record straight.
Coming from a typical Hindu Brahmin family, although there was not any opposition to this wedding of my aunt to her muslim boyfriend in a way the family ties were kind of loosened and broken and none of us family guys really kept in touch with her and i felt this was my chance to set it straight. Of course when she comes over to family occasions at our house there is always a distance because of the difference in cultural aspects such as language, behavior and perspectives. I frankly did not like this much but never did much to change things until now.
I pack my gear and im 2 hours early for the wedding and im thinking im gonna have a great time. Little did i know that i was going to be the biggest fool of all times sitting here like duck to witness sexism, male chauvinism and trade in the name of a wedding go on right in front of my eyes while i could not find the nerve to say nothing or do nothing in the situation.
The wedding hall was very small and all the men were lodged in the ground floor where the wedding ceremony took place and guess what? All the women were debarred from staying downstairs and sent to the first floor, including the Bride whom i never got to meet in this entire agenda of the wedding. The grooms father paid a sum of "13 grams of gold" and purchased the bride for his son, the groom. The agreement or the contract of the wedding was signed and everybody went to dig into the food like it was nobody’s business.
I ask this guy who looked like a politician, about the bride and he said that the wedding was over and the bride will be seeing the guests in the evening at the reception where she will be together with the groom. It strikes me as the most inhumane and barbaric act of sexism on a woman, in the 21st century that based on some book a pedophile wrote 100’s of years back you don’t even look at the fact that there is someone important uninvited into the wedding, let me correct that. "Her Wedding", the bride!
While being repeatedly preached about the importance of gender equality in an Anglo Indian school for 12 years, running around a 2 day occasion of the bride and groom doing various religious stuff at a Hindu wedding and the mutual consent at a Christian Anglo Indian weddings that i’ve been to i frankly find not having a person who is getting married not to be during the wedding process so unacceptable and sadistic in nature.
Today while i finally mustered up the courage to post these pictures and write these words from my head, i admit that im afraid of such people. The world Islamaphobia as i realize is not some cooked up stuff by the liberals, it exists very well in real life and there is ample evidence for it and i feel it first hand.
Posted in crib, daily life, debate, dogma, happenings, human rights voilation, islam, questions | 13 Comments »
How to kick your wife’s ass as per Allah…
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on April 6, 2008 – 2:29 am -
Isn’t that cool? Allah gives clear cut instructions on how to beat your wife. What a peace loving god Allah is and what a peace loving religion Islam is. Peace to one and all.
Posted in atheism, dogma, emotions, islam, rantings, religion, statement, terrorism, video | No Comments »
How to kick your wife’s ass as per Allah…
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on April 5, 2008 – 8:59 pm -
Isn’t that cool? Allah gives clear cut instructions on how to beat your wife. What a peace loving god Allah is and what a peace loving religion Islam is. Peace to one and all.
Posted in atheism, dogma, emotions, islam, rantings, religion, statement, terrorism, video | No Comments »
Why Religious Dogma is a problem…
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on March 4, 2008 – 12:31 pm -Many people ask me, why am i so blatantly against religion? Why is that im so rude towards people and things that religion is associated with. Calling myself an atheist and making claims that im a better person by thought and actions than the average theist, why am i so filled with hatred against religion and what makes me any different from the religious vandals out there??
The problem is quite simple to explain. Let me draw a comparison. In life all of us like somethings and hate others. For example when i walk into a Consumer Appliance Store and ask for a Samsung LCD TV, it is because of the fact that i know Samsung is the world leader in display systems around the world and they have the best of technology and know how and products when it comes to displays. I have done my research and seen the demos and im convinced samsung fits my idea of a “perfect” LCD display system and hence im hell bent on buying it.
The problem here is if the salesman tries to convince me that Phillips is better then he needs to provide some tangible information for it, even in that case i may not favor it much since my personal research has already made me aware that samsung is good and i cannot really take for granted what the sales man says. I would politely refuse his offer and ask for a samsung again and be firm if he tries to convince more, at best walk out of the store to the next where i can get my samsung.
If only life was this simple with religion. Religion does not offer this option of being with someone else in the absence of faith in it. It claims to be the sole opportunity and the only way to get to someplace imaginary that no one has ever confirmed or reciprocated back with communication. Plus, end number of restrictions on what to do and what not to do when you get there and if you want to get there.
Religion simply is a disgrace to humanity for words like Blasphemy to exist.
Absolute power corrupts, anything or anyone with absolute power for that matter is a problem. Religion always wants you to surrender yourself absolutely to that god that it preaches and promotes without any questioning at all. It is in this perspective that religion fails miserably. No one has absolute authority that he cannot be question at all, including god. The result is for us to see here today. The Bible and Quran (and Gita to a minor extent too) preach open hatred against any disbeliever. The Quran calls for Jihad against them and the Bible punishes them with eternal damnation so that they will burn in hell for eternity. How cruel a thing to do to someone just because they did not believe in you!
Religion takes offense at anything and everything. Whilst as normal human beings when we take offense we avoid that thing or do not wish to associate with that person or thing, say for example prostitution. Religion thinks that it is so exclusive that no one that offends it needs to exist and calls upon the destroyal of that entity which is against nature. In nature, no animal kills another for any need other than food, survival.
This is precisely why i hate religion. I have friends whom i do not agree with on many a things yet we are good friends. This is not possible with religion. Exceptions are there but it can never be a norm for all religion claims its supreme exclusiveness. To me that is simply unnatural and potent a thought process.
Posted in christianity, dogma, islam, opinion, politics, religion | 15 Comments »
Why Religious Dogma is a problem…
Written by Dilip Muralidaran on March 4, 2008 – 7:01 am -Many people ask me, why am i so blatantly against religion? Why is that im so rude towards people and things that religion is associated with. Calling myself an atheist and making claims that im a better person by thought and actions than the average theist, why am i so filled with hatred against religion and what makes me any different from the religious vandals out there??
The problem is quite simple to explain. Let me draw a comparison. In life all of us like somethings and hate others. For example when i walk into a Consumer Appliance Store and ask for a Samsung LCD TV, it is because of the fact that i know Samsung is the world leader in display systems around the world and they have the best of technology and know how and products when it comes to displays. I have done my research and seen the demos and im convinced samsung fits my idea of a “perfect” LCD display system and hence im hell bent on buying it.
The problem here is if the salesman tries to convince me that Phillips is better then he needs to provide some tangible information for it, even in that case i may not favor it much since my personal research has already made me aware that samsung is good and i cannot really take for granted what the sales man says. I would politely refuse his offer and ask for a samsung again and be firm if he tries to convince more, at best walk out of the store to the next where i can get my samsung.
If only life was this simple with religion. Religion does not offer this option of being with someone else in the absence of faith in it. It claims to be the sole opportunity and the only way to get to someplace imaginary that no one has ever confirmed or reciprocated back with communication. Plus, end number of restrictions on what to do and what not to do when you get there and if you want to get there.
Religion simply is a disgrace to humanity for words like Blasphemy to exist.
Absolute power corrupts, anything or anyone with absolute power for that matter is a problem. Religion always wants you to surrender yourself absolutely to that god that it preaches and promotes without any questioning at all. It is in this perspective that religion fails miserably. No one has absolute authority that he cannot be question at all, including god. The result is for us to see here today. The Bible and Quran (and Gita to a minor extent too) preach open hatred against any disbeliever. The Quran calls for Jihad against them and the Bible punishes them with eternal damnation so that they will burn in hell for eternity. How cruel a thing to do to someone just because they did not believe in you!
Religion takes offense at anything and everything. Whilst as normal human beings when we take offense we avoid that thing or do not wish to associate with that person or thing, say for example prostitution. Religion thinks that it is so exclusive that no one that offends it needs to exist and calls upon the destroyal of that entity which is against nature. In nature, no animal kills another for any need other than food, survival.
This is precisely why i hate religion. I have friends whom i do not agree with on many a things yet we are good friends. This is not possible with religion. Exceptions are there but it can never be a norm for all religion claims its supreme exclusiveness. To me that is simply unnatural and potent a thought process.
Posted in christianity, dogma, islam, opinion, politics, religion | 15 Comments »