14 July 2005

Zee's Crime Reporter is spicy slum pickle

10.30 p.m. on Zee News gets you some spicy stuff. Its candid camera has done a very good job of exposing charlatan tantriks, and stories like these are making a real impact in the lower sections of the society, it seems. (We have exposed 20 of them, said the cantankerously impressive anchor, like it was a cricket score).
On Wednesday, one saw a woman tantrik being cornered by a camera, first hidden and then in-your-face, as the reporter spoke up for a woman who got conned into having her fifth daughter after being promised a son. It seems the tantrik was assuring the poor mother as late as in the ninth month of pregnancy that it was a son.
It was a great sight to see the tantriquette in question looking blank and surprised at the digital intervention. She finally grovelled to an apology, and then meekly handed out to her intended prey 2,000 rupees (the amount spent by the Conned Customer on pujas and auto fares).
Of course, the story did not bother to question or mention even once the Aggrieved Customer's desire to have a "beta" at any cost.
In a subsequent story on sexual harassment of women from India's northeast, the story cited precautions for women that included a line: "Don't dress provacatively!"
Feminists may rant, and seminarists may fume, but in the slummy underbelly of India, women wear mini-skirts and short-tops at their own risk, and it is kosher for women to go Desperately Seeking Son.
The Times of India has a nice, well-written story by Malathy Iyer on a new technology that could help parents identify the sex of a foetus just five weeks into pregnancy. Can't seem to find the web link. Maybe they aborted it!

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