The Bold And The Beautiful ( A)

I cannot stop smiling thinking about it. I remember the early days of Cable TV when the Foreign channels flooded the Indian Television arena and the fight against the adulterous content was taken by the so called protectors of Hinduism and Indian culture.

That was the time when "The Bold and The Beautiful" and "Baywatch" were a taboo and were the craze for guys with lot of testosterone.

Watching skimpy clad well shaped and hot girls on TV was not something you can even think of during the Prime Time. Infidelity in "B&B" was a straight Adult certification by parents. It was seen only when there were repeated telecast of them at odd hours. That was then....

Circa 2005, Infidelity word is as common as saas-bahu fights. All the serials, the K effect, the Saas Bahu , have one common word and that is "Extra-Marital". Each character in the serial has an extra marital relation, no matter they worship God and talk of high ideals. Item numbers is a must for every movie. The Music Videos and TV Serials offer what we call Soft Porn.

Infidelity has come up to such a comfortable level that people( guys and girls) crack a very causal jokes on it( about each other's wife and husband). But what it is bring to the society is that we do what we see around being an accepted thing. And we can see the implications now, everywhere there is cheating over the spouse, guy having relations with a married female, girl having relation with a married man, married guys and girls having affairs( swapping , as they say). Adventurous couples are advertising in newspapers their desire to meet like-minded people for wife and husband swapping.

Yes, there were always cases of extra-marital relationship being reported for centuries altogether but never has it become so common and acceptable. And having sex without marriage has become so acceptable that now asking for a virgin girl or a virgin guy is not a mandatory requirement for the marriage.

The real source of the massive urge for sexual exploration that Indians, particularly women, have developed suddenly is as mysterious as the reasons for the rise and fall of civilizations. New technology is an important factor encouraging the phenomenon. Internet and mushrooming cyber cafes have helped, as have mobile phones and SMS (short message service) facilities. Women and men have suddenly heard from old flames, childhood friends, former classmates, whom they may have fancied once, dates have been fixed, and one thing has led to another. In most cases straight, unembarrassed initiatives have come from women, as men twiddled their fingers thinking of creative ways of broaching the subject.

So many married men say that even Krishna cheated and that I am stuck in some sort of Judeo-Christian cultural context. The god had a good time and he was not condemned for it, they say. And so women also tell the same thing, 'Look at our heritage. It is natural. Look at Krishna.'If there is a Krishna in men, there is a Radha in women. Why can't a woman be both: a wife and Radha? Indians are born with it. Men are doing their Krishna thing, and so are women.

I was reading Khuswanth Singh's, "In the Company of Women",
and was really amazed to see the relationship this protagonist , "Mr Mohan Kumar" , a bright Princeton Student with highest academic award ,had with so many women, from his college mate to a politician from Kashmir to his Kaam Wali Bai, to a teacher, to a secretary from Sri Lanka Ambassy to Goan Married woman to a nurse for his wife from Kerela, to a married woman doing Dhandha in Mumbai and in between with his wife too.

Wow, it looks like India is all set to compete with the US and other European Countries, in relation to the extra marital relationships.

The great Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, India's answer to William Shakespeare, reports on sex in a typical Indian winter and blesses the couples trying to beat the chill:


Women whose husbands continue unfaithful
though bitterly chided again and again,
note them flustered, visibly shaken by guilt:
yet, yearning to be loved (in the chill of winter),
they overlook these wrongs.

Enjoyed long through the long night in love-play
Unceasing by their lusty young husbands
in an excess of passion, driving,
unrelenting, women just stepped into youth
move at the close of night slowly
reeling wrung-out with aching thighs.

With breasts held tight by pretty bodices,
Thighs alluringly veiled by richly dyed silks,
and flowers nestling in their hair, women serve
as adornments for this wintry season.

Lovers enjoying the warmth of budding youth,
pressed hard against breasts glowing golden,
saffron-rubbed, of lively women gleaning sensuous,
sleep, having put to flight the cold.

Young women in gay abandon drink at night
with their fond husbands, the choices wine,
most delicious, exhilarating,
heightening passion to its pitch:
the lilies floating in the wine deliciously
tremble under their fragrant breath.

At dawn, when the rush of passion is spent,
one young woman whose tips of breasts are tight
from her husband's embrace, carefully views;
her body fully enjoyed by him
and laughing gaily, she goes from the bed-chamber
to the living-apartments of the house.

Another loving wife leaves her bed at dawn:
elegant and graceful, slender-waisted,
With deep navel and ample hips;
the splendid mane of hair with curling ends
flowing loose, the wreath of flowers slips down.

With faces radiant as golden lotuses
and long, liquid eyes; with lustrous lips
and hair playing enamored round their shoulders,
women shine in their homes these frosty mornings,
bearing the semblance of the goddess of beauty.

Young women burdened by their ample loins,
and drooping a little at the waist,
wearied bearing their own garments worn at night
for love's sweet rites,
they put on others suited to the day.

Staring at the curves of their breasts covered by nail marks,
touching gingerly the tender sprout of the lower lip bruised by love-bites,
young women rejoice to see these coveted signs of love's fulfillment,
and decorate their faces as the sun rises.

The wintry season that abounds with sweet rice,
and sugar-cane,
and mounds of dark palm-sugar dainties:
when Love waxes proud
and love's sport is fever-pitch;
when the anguish is intense of parted lovers:
May this season be to you ever auspicious!

(Translated from the original Sanskrit by Chandra Rajan)

source : http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EE24Df09.html