Tribute to Barmaids

Men do make passes

At girls with the right kind of glasses!

Define a woman

The recent incident at Doha Games where S. Santhi, the Indian silver medallist in the 800 M category was asked to give back her medal because she was not found to be a female on medical examination, has raised a hornet's nest.

How did the Medical Committee at Doha come to the conclusion that she is not a SHE? Why did the Athltics Federation of India sponsor her? And why was she not debarred in the earlier Busan games? It is rumoured that one of her teammates made the complaint to the Games Committee, may be out of jealousy. We are like that only.

There seems to be no legal definition of a male and a female laid down anywhere. The secondary sexual characteristics are vague and not decisive by themselves. A female can be hirsute and a male can be without a perceptible beard or moustache and may even have a prominent bust. The genitalia could be more decisive but then cryptoorchidism is also common. The hormone measurements can be deceptive as they can fluctuate or if the person is taking hormone injections or steroids male hormone levels can be high. Aside from this medical examination to determine the sex could be demeaning and an assault on the sensibilities of the person.

And what about the persons who have all the male characteristics but have a female mind and psyche? And vice versa? I think there is quite a bit of overlapping in such cases. So it leads us to the question Who is a male and who a a female?

Even the Lord Siva himself is half woman half man "Ardha nareeswara" So who are we mere mortals to determine in absolute terms who is a male and who a female.

But there must be a difference.

Vive la difference!

Maqbool Fida Hussain

MF Husain is arguably India's greatest living artist! From painting cinema hoardings of Dilip Kumar Nargis starrers in the backlanes of Lamington Road earning five rupees a day in the 1940's to a 91 year old painter awarded the padmabhushan and currently proposed for bestowal of India's highest honour Bharat Ratna by people like Shshi Thaaroor, Shyam Benegal and Anjali Ela Menon, what a journey for Hussain whose paintings fetch ten crores in Sotheby's auctions, who had a 100 crore contracat with an Indian industrialist. He is forced to live in Dubai as he would be arrested if he returns to India, with 129 cases pending against hm in courts for offending religious sentiments.

What a controversial person. From painting film hoardings, to painting murals for the United Nations buildings at Geneva, for which Kofi Annan met him recently. As Sulman Rushdie was in the world of literature, so is Hussain in the world of visual arts. BOth faced fatwas from different diametrically opposed fanatic fundamentalist groups, present day Philistines.

Like most geniuses, Hussain is a maverick. At 91 he is as peppy as a teenager. Loves the good things of life, but walks barefoot, may be from empathy for the millions in this country who have no money to buy footware, and may be in deference to his humble origins in the small town Pandharpur where he was born to poor parents. With his filmy background, he is an ardent fan of family movies and chooses his muses from the reigning actresses of the day. He has sunk his money in producing and directing films featuring madhuri dixit and tabu and maybe he is going to produce one starring amrita rao as well But these are the idiosyncrasies of geniuses. Their hallmark!

The controversial "Bharatmata" depicting a nude female form against the backdrop of an outline of India, was not named by him as such. It was the auctioneer who put the name tag on it . But see where it has landed him.

I wonder whether Michelangelo was similarly targeted for his paintings on the cistine chapel, Quite a few paintings were reported to have been subsequently modified by covering the "offending" parts with maple leaves or whatever.

One can only hope that as per the orders of the supreme court all these cases against Hussain will be transferred to Delhi and the law will give its impartial verdict. May this great aratist get the Bharat Ratna in the twilight of his life at least. He deserves it.

Tailpiece: How do u make out a genuine Husain painting from a fake? Simple. If u look at the horses carefully, the ones with unshod feet are genuine.