The tale of a once-upon-a-time-Goddess

[Image unavailable in the recovered archive]

A Mumbai girl from a Muslim background became an actress so famous in South India that her fans went ahead and made a temple for her. A temple for a Muslim woman! She was the Goddess for these Tamil people who loved her onscreen. This was in the nineties. Khushboo was a Goddess!

And then one day this year, came a twist in the tale. The Goddess said something in a Magazine survey that made people go mad; made her fans hide their faces. She said it was alright for a girl to loose her virginity before marriage if she took safety measures to avoid AIDS.

Who said this? Khushboo? Khusboo: the Goddess? How can a Goddess say something so insulting to the Tamil Community? A Goddess? NO, she is a Muslim slut from Mumbai and we should drive her away form our sacred state of Tamil Nadu.

Someone had to do something. Where were her enemies? TheDPI (read Dalit Panthers of India)! They needed nothing else but such an apt opportunity to wage their attack. Khushboo had once supported some Association which had made one Dalit Film Producer say sorry in full media coverage for his shady comments on Tamil Actresses. The time for the Dalits to strike back had come now. And there they started their campaign: demonstrations by the women members of the DPI, more than 25 defamation suits against the actress and so many different forms of attack on the her.

We will show her what it takes to teach our children about pre-marital sex. Our children are foolish enough to start believing in whatever their Goddess speaks. They cannot think on their own. We cannot teach them anything useful. And since we cannot teach our children anything, let’s do something. Let’s at least teach her something. To do hell with the Goddess! Where is the broom and has anyone seen that bag full of rotten tomatoes?

Another icon in the form of Sania Mirza was heard supporting the actress a few days back. But then she took back her words as well (and that too within one day!). An already issued Fatwa against her (because someone did not like her small skirts) was enough for her to deal with. And so it was smart to keep her name off in other such ‘hot’ issues.

Does this Indian society even allow us to say what we feel like? Is there anything that can still be called ‘freedom of speech’? A personal opinion of a female becomes such an issue. Such an attitude sucks!