Bizarre - IInd instalment

3. THE CHIMPANZEE REBELS AT HUMAN BEINGS.

“Stockholm: A canny chimpanzee who calmly collected a stash of rocks and then hurled them at zoo visitors in fits of rage has confirmed that apes can plan ahead just like humans. The male chimpanzee started building his weapons cache in the morning before the zoo opened, collecting the rocks and knocking out disks from concrete bounders inside his enclosure. He waited until around midday before he unleashed a ‘ hailstorm’ of rocks against visitors.”

My comments: ABOLISH ZOOS - who says so - me - loud and clear. I wish other animals in zoos would emulate this fine and laudatory example making it a hazardous for visitors to go to zoos and ape at apes and other animals. The lions could burst out roaring and gorillas could do menacing chest thumping and other animals could do what they can to really scare visitors to the zoo. In brief, humans should be scared of going to zoos.

Zoos are an anachronism in this era of better understanding of human beings on the planet not being just a fiefdom of humans alone. Flora and fauna are part of the mother earth. They have also a right on this earth. We humans have no business to put the animals in cages, especially so, as by nature animals like to wander. Zoo cannot be a habitat for these animals.

4. TELECASTING IN TV VOLUNTARY DEATH, i.e., IN A WAY EUTHENASIA.

Jade Goody was afflicted with incurable disease, probably cancer. Doctors said there is no cure. Hence Jade Goody wanted to die. So far O.K. There are millions like that. But then there is a strange twist. Jade Goody wanted to telecast her death and a TV channel agreed to do it.

My comments: ' Morality and decency of TV programmes have reached the level of utter nadir with this development. TV managements have all the arguments: Jade Goody wanted it. There is no proscribing such a programme. If violence and pornography can be shown in TV, why not euthenesia. Curiosity would have taken the viewership to exceedingly higher level with this programme. And TVs are all the time looking for viewership, i.e., TRP. In brief or coldly stated it is all commercial motive. TVs will argue that if you don't like it you are at liberty to change the channel. Most of the viewers are adults and they know what they should watch, so would be the argument of TV guys. Partly it is wrong. Children in large numbers watch TV. And in this particular case, curiosity would prompt many a youngster not to miss the programme. Even in the case of adults, watching programmes would affect their psyche, in the sense they would become less and less immune to violence and macabre.

In other words, what TV is saying that ' you leave everything to markets and let it decide. Ethical standards be damned. Censorship is an outmoded concept. There are other much worse corrupting influences in the world. Why only pick on this aspect.’

But is it civilized to telecast the same. Most people would say an emphatic NO. Should not the media respect that NO also.


5. HOUSEWIVES SEEK SALARY FOR MANAGING HOUSEHOLS:

A group of women in Wynad District of Kerala has floated a body to organise the ' voiceless and wageless women.' Its main demand is to introduce wages for women's toil in kitchen and other domestic chores. Kerala is noted for forming bizarre Associations. There is one for toddy drinkers. With football being a craze in Kerala, there are Argentenaian and Brazilian football Associations.

According to a member of the newly formed 'housewives' union ' while managing a household, on an average woman works at least five hours more than her male counterpart daily. Besides, her silent work helps men contribute more. His efficiency and production level is perked up. Some prominent women libbers in Kerala have given their support to this move. At the moment men-folk are looking at this development with derision. They think that it is a passing fancy.

My comments: These women are wrong. For one thing, while men spend lot of time in office, in actuality many do not work most of the time. Smoking, gossiping, visiting canteen, phoning buddies, ogling better looking female colleagues, doing some side business, etc., take an enormous amount of time during office hours. Of course when they go back home they put on a haggard and tired look, primarily to impress the wifies that they had a hard time. And to the wife they wail at the villainous character of the boss, double speaking colleagues, backstabbing associates in the office and then conclude by saying that they have to work under such extreme pressures. But then over a period of time, the stories have become stale and now most of the wifies are apt to find holes in the stories of bemoaning of hubbys.

At the same time wifies spend very little time in homely work. With packaged food, electronic gadgets making house hold chores somewhat comfortable and easy to perform, wifies spend most of the time in front of TVs or gossiping on cellphone with other wifies. But they also give a harassed look when the hubbies come back from office. Mutual charade!

6. PATHETIC CRY OF HUSBANDS HARASSED BY WIVES

If you are a husband or going to tie the knot soon, do not vote for Congress, comes the advice from 'Save Indian Family Foundation.' It is a group purportedly formed by husbands harassed by ' pro-women laws' like those against dowry and domestic violence. The Foundation even plans to field a candidate. Their slogan - 'Justice for Husbands.'

The group accuses the Congress party of creating rift between husbands and wives to increase its vote bank. ' Congress plays vote bank politics by dividing husbands and wives. In its regime, one lakh husbands were harassed by wives,' says Swarup Sarkar, Secretary of the Foundation, who claimed he got this data ' through RTI.'

Sarkar and his Foundation have already kicked of a full-fledged campaign, sending SMSes,e-mails, distributing pamphlets and pasting posters across the country to appeal to husbands to not vote for the Congress party. ' Do you know if your wife demands 1000 rupees for her kitty party and you give only 800 rupees, it is a crime by you as per law and who made such law? Congress,.' reads one of their pamphlets. But the Foundation has just one fear - according to its own research, 70% of the harassed men are associated with the party they are raising the war cry are actually against it. ' But I think it is out of personal compulsion, ' said Sarkar.

The Foundation alleges the government has overlooked its demand for a check on the misuse of dowry and domestic violence laws. Sarkar also claimed that over 56,000 suicide cases involving married men were because of harassment by wives.

My comments: My vote is to Sarkar. This is not for the reasons given by him but as a counter to the ascent of women lib movement, which is also making similar bewildering arguments against men. There is a role for man and another for women in the society. Now the feminists want women to encroach on the area for millennia reserved by convention for men. Feminists think that females by wearing pants and cutting hair will make them equal to men.