Sunday, October 22, 2006
Hypocrisy and God Lounges
I was in Bangalore last weekend and staying in Cox Town. Quite close to the place I was staying at, they were celebrating the Car Festival. Needless to say, the car festival is celebrated with a breathtaking combination of one's drug of choice (bhang, i am sure), incredibly loud, monotonous and tuneless drumming, and believe it or not, house music. The bedlam started at about 5 pm and just went on and on, without stopping at any point during the night all the way through to 2 PM next afternoon. In the meanwhile, the buggers had overdrawn power and by 6 am, there was a complete blackout in Cox Town, which makes the entire experience even more surreal. You're short on sleep and the lack of electricity makes it worse.
Now, imagine if we had a rock concert that did the same thing. By about 11 pm, someone would have complained, the cops would have arrived and everything would have to be shut down. For that matter, why is it that consumption of hashish is okay when it's a religious festival and 10 years of prison (technically) otherwise?
None of this should come as news to anyone who has lived in India, but it does seem like anything goes in this country as long as it is justified by religion, be it Hinduism, Christianity, Islam or whatever else. There are obviously constitutional provisions that exist to prevent nonsense of the sort that I experienced in Bangalore, but the enforcement is non-existent when it comes to religion. On the other hand, moral policing and enforcement (letter of the law, not spirit of the law) is very quick when it comes to concerts, lounges and discotheques (all bars have to shut by 11:30). It's this hypocrisy that bothers me. They claim the externalities are high to keeping bars open beyond 11:30, but how come the externalities associated with religion are not submitted to the same rigorous taxation on externalities?
So, the obvious solution seems to be to start lounges and bars with a religious theme. Maybe we can also hold a few religious moonlight raves? That way, some of us can enjoy our tipple in peace. God Lounges anyone?
Now, imagine if we had a rock concert that did the same thing. By about 11 pm, someone would have complained, the cops would have arrived and everything would have to be shut down. For that matter, why is it that consumption of hashish is okay when it's a religious festival and 10 years of prison (technically) otherwise?
None of this should come as news to anyone who has lived in India, but it does seem like anything goes in this country as long as it is justified by religion, be it Hinduism, Christianity, Islam or whatever else. There are obviously constitutional provisions that exist to prevent nonsense of the sort that I experienced in Bangalore, but the enforcement is non-existent when it comes to religion. On the other hand, moral policing and enforcement (letter of the law, not spirit of the law) is very quick when it comes to concerts, lounges and discotheques (all bars have to shut by 11:30). It's this hypocrisy that bothers me. They claim the externalities are high to keeping bars open beyond 11:30, but how come the externalities associated with religion are not submitted to the same rigorous taxation on externalities?
So, the obvious solution seems to be to start lounges and bars with a religious theme. Maybe we can also hold a few religious moonlight raves? That way, some of us can enjoy our tipple in peace. God Lounges anyone?
