Misplaced indignation

In the post `The battle for enlighment' there was a discussion on the limits to freedom of expression. This is on similar lines, the reactions to an article.

The article:
He's hot, he is Indian Idol No 1

--BACHI KARKARIA
Indra can keep his corner office. The penthouse of the pantheon belongs to Shiva. Its decor bears the imprimatur of a Fortune-favoured designer, and yet, it's unmistakably bohemian. Shiva knows the rules to break them; he's awesome at shifting the goal posts.

He's comfortable with 'if you've got it, flaunt it'; he can swim with the sharks, and still find place in his heart for the littlest minnow. He wears the suit of divinity lightly. Yes, Mahadev is a maha-dude.

We've gone through a mind-churning manthan , through asceticism and socialism which have been sucked to the bottom of the centrifuge, and up has surged the cologned freedom to live life on our own terms.

In our new consumerist avatar, Ganesha is invoked to bless the triumphal entry of the Indian Elephant carrying the world in its howdah. We've shed our hypocrisy. Who other then to iconise than the patron saint of iconoclasts? Lord Shiva.

Hinduism's original persona of “ rinam kritva ghritam pivet ” - loosely translated as ' Njoy !' - had for long been suppressed by our pretensions of being an otherworldly, spiritual people who abjured the materialist high rise for the moral high ground.

It cost us dearly on several counts, from delaying the economic miracle to delaying AIDS control. But we've woken up and not only smelled the coffee, but learnt to make a Frappuccino.
--

Reactions to the article (from the users):

--this is dam bad. who is the fool written this article.he will go to naraka directly.

--This is an absolutely nauseating article. How dare the author comments on Gods of the Hindus. She better apologise for offending the followers of this religion.

--NAMASTE, i was searching on the intenet for articles about Shiva as i wanted to know what the hindu festival of Shivaratri involved. however, when i came across your article i was insulted to see it as i it is not very nice to mock Gods, no matter what religion they belong to. i myself am a christian but i believe in pluraliam ann i thouroughly respect the Hindu diety of Shiva. i think he is very merciful and mysticl. i was very disappointed in this article as i was greatly offecned. i hope you remove this article before you offend other people.

--this article is a disgusting piece of work, which reveals the shamelessness of the writer BACHI KARKARIA. hasn't he got any respects for the diety Shiva who is the destroyer of ignorance and giver of happiness? i suppose i feel sorry for your low level of intellect so you could not write about justfully about Shiva as your inadequate ability to write something so beautiful that suitably described Him. unbelievable that an Indian would write in such a malicious and disgraceful way. i suggest that you sort your attitude out and apologise for this disgusting piece of writing, and for the future ba careful of what you write as this wil not be tolerated again. i am waiting for your apology and suggest you take this article off the web page. a disgusted Hindu

--This is such an inappropriate article. Can the stupid author wrote something about Alla and get away with it?

--This is a very demeaning, insensitive and insulting article...that shows a total lack of class for a News paper of Times of India stature. Any such article against Christianity or Islam in the Christian World or Arab world would have forced bloody riots and closure of such sick Paper. You owe Hindus an unconditional apology. I have been out of India for the last 36 years and have mingled with Presidents to Prime Ministers and other dignitaries..no where have I found the elite so out of touch with reality.

--Hey Mr. Karkaria, if you had any touch of hinduism, or Indian culture, you wouldn't have done this. Would they dare to do the same for Jesus Christ or prophet Mohammad???

--I don't know what this article trying to convey except hurting even moderate god living citizens of India. One word to TOI - you are good in cheap journalism and keep it to yourself ...don't try to push your cheap shots into peoples's religious belief.


My objections:

Not worth a penny, but anyhow, whats the alleged `original persona' of hinduism?

“ rinam kritva ghritam pivet ” - loosely translated as ' Njoy !'? Properly translated as `eat ghee even if you have to borrow'.

Now thats a first. I always thought that was what Osho used to say.

The economic miracle was delayed because of hinduism's `ascetic' nature? Wow, and I thought the socialist brigade that you berate two paras above for the same reason are the very anti-thesis of hinduism! The irony of it all! Pray, where does hinduism suggest the ascetic life should be the all consuming mode of life? I wonder what Jyana-Yoga, Karma-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga, Raja-Yoga are all about then. Just pick Raja-Yoga to make a point, how convenient.

AIDS control!! Whoa? Yea, stupid primitive hinduism. Ofcourse its to blame! Who cares if probably the spread of AIDS may have been accelerated at Osho's ashrams, what with sex and drugs all around. Which religion is against contraception? We all know that. Sure, go ahead and blame hinduism. We've never heard of the Pope. Aah, those `blinkers', what wonderful devices they are!!

Come to think of it, had we been eating ghee even if we had to borrow, forget the economic miracle, forget AIDS control, we would probably be the most penurious country and the largest number of HIV cases. We probably do fullfil the second criteria. Yeah, blame it on hinduism!
~

Hey, where else have we encountered the image of hinduism as an "an otherworldly, spiritual" religion? No prizes for guessing! Come to think of it, all the poor sods are only pained by Shiva's depiction of a `Maha-dude' from a `Mahadev'! Aaah, such self-righteous ignorance!