M A I N   N E W S

Rural girls shed inhibitions
From Raman Mohan

HISAR, Aug 20 — A silent revolution is sweeping the countryside in Haryana where a new generation of ruralites is betraying signs of breaking sexual taboos and even indulging licentious behaviour. Reports from rural areas indicate that though the bigger villages situated near towns are more affected the revolution has not spared remote villages either.

While dating, as it is known in the metros or even bigger towns, is still relatively unheard of more and more young boys and girls from villages are now meeting on the sly, either in restaurants of the houses of their friends in nearby towns. This is most prevalent among those travelling daily to the nearby towns to attend colleges or computer centres.

The sharp increase in the number of cases of girls and boys eloping from their villages over the past few years is considered an outcome of the revolution which has encouraged romantic alliances between young members of the opposite sex hailing from the same or neighbouring villages. Such alliances are taboo in the feudalistic rural society of Haryana and most such alliances invariably end in disaster. Yet their incidence is becoming more common.

A young political activist Mr Sat Narain Dhanda of Mirzapur village near here traces the roots of this revolution to Doordarshan since satellite TV is yet to reach the villages. He says that the viewership of Doordarshan in the villages is limited to the younger generation, since the village elders generally find most of its programmes alien to them.

“Till Doordarshan came on the rural scene, watching movies was a rare happening in the lives of the rural youth especially girls. However, now, with Doordarshan airing the latest movies and semi-clad models hawking goodies on the small screen round the clock, the younger rural generation is suddenly realising that it had been missing the thrills of life. So they have opened up with a vengeance — socially and sexually”, he says adding that while the initial flirting takes place in the villages, physical contact is made in towns only. But this does not necessarily mean the sexual revolution has affected students also. A lot more is happening in the villages now than meets the eye, he says.