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Order of nature
Lord Macaulay must be turning in his grave over the controversy surrounding the “law of nature” he gave to the Indians a hundred and fifty three years ago. Drafting his definition of ‘unnatural offence’ and ‘carnal intercourse’ in the now-targeted Section 377 of the Indian Panel Code, he must have died with pride for authoring his magnum opus until the recent din created by the gay society is seeking to prove that the law propounded by Macaulay as it operated for over one hundred and fifty years is unnatural in itself. What the assailants of the 'archaic' law question now is the rationale that has continued to be accepted for so long without repeal or revision. It is this vocal minority now which sees a new dawn on the horizon. The flashpoint verdict of the apex court typifies the ambivalence that this country suffers from on an important section of the penal law. While the dominant (straight) section of society will call unnatural offence all acts of sodomy, lesbianism, buccal coitus or bestiality, the exponents of LGBT practices assert that it is a pure, genuine manifestation of love. They consider right to love a part of right to live, the fundamental right guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. They invoke images of Khajuraho, Konarak and a chapter of Kamasutra to drive home the point that what was accepted yesterday cannot be rejected today. Drawing sustenance from ancient art and history, they assert that making love to a member of the same sex or an animal existed in India much before the advent of the British and that it was an accepted part of the Indian civilisation and culture. Surprisingly, they omitted to burn the effigy of Lord Macaulay, who fortunately died a century and a half ago. The present cacophony reveals another cleavage in our moral code. Time is going to come when some men will have to be protected from some other men, while at present only women are considered to deserve such protection. But I see a silver lining in the cloud. Men married to men and women married to women will have no danger of adding to the population. More destitute children will be adopted for surrogate parenthood and the institution of marriage which is under attack already will peacefully make way for ‘live-in’ relationships based on “love”. GS Aujla, Chandigarh
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Let acid attackers pay Victims of acid attacks should be given at least half of the attackers' property. The cost of their treatment should be borne with the attacker's money. The attacker should be put to jail till the victim's treatment is over. He should be forced to work in jail and his salary should be given for the victim's treatment. The convict's age should not be taken into account because if a child can be rewarded for good deeds, then punishment can also be given to him for bad deeds. Vandana Prashar, Amritsar Players made to shiver The North American Punjabi lovers of sports, in general, and kabaddi, in particular, were entertained to the hilt during the live coverage of the grand finale of World Kabaddi Cup in Ludhiana. The closing ceremony extravaganza was professionally choreographed. The choice of singers was on merit. Pakistani female singer Fariha Parvez was an outstanding entertainer. So were the Indian male and female singers, including Lakhwinder Wadali, Master Saleem and Jaspinder Narula. All over the world, the competitions are allowed to culminate before the start of the grand closing ceremony extravaganzas. But in this case, the kabaddi finalists were made to suffer in the freezing cold weather of Punjab till 10pm. Even West Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif was shivering in 5 degrees Celsius and had to be given a shawl to keep warming. Live coverage started at 7:30 pm IST, but the players were made to wait for two and a half hours in the cold weather. This amounts to cruelty to the sporting humanity. Considering the extreme cold weather of December, this tournament should be advanced to November. Both Indian and Pakistani teams in the men’s final match were evenly balanced. India’s slight edge in the line-up of defenders, especially Balbir Singh Palla (Jalal) and crowd support proved decisive in the second half. HARJAP SINGH AUJLA, New Jersey (USA)
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