Every time I hear that India is developing, I smirk in my head. I think that how can India possibly grow when there are so many ideas or beliefs that are trying to pull it back down. We are yet to fight so many taboos, crimes, and injustice that we are way behind any of the countries that we wish to be like. Being rooted and following your culture is one thing, but twisting the cultural tales to make them sound totally different according to your own whims and fancies is way beyond ethical. I think we all, the youth and the other generations need to come together to fight the biggest foes of our society, the taboos. Let’s see what are the most common taboos in our society :
Menstruation – Talking about menstruation in public is wrong, it is definitely not a part of our culture and people who do it are not well-cultured or rooted. A girl undergoing menstruation is unclean, and thus should not be allowed to pray or do certain other things.
Sex – Speaking about sex in public is bad, it is not to be discussed, and doing anything that is even remotely sexual like masturbating is a crime. People also shy away from using birth control pills or condoms because going and asking for such things means that you are indulged in sexual activities.
Drinking and smoking – Drinking or smoking is catastrophic for health, no matter what quantity of alcohol you consume, you will reach a stage where you will be unable to fathom the reality and thus you will end up in danger. India is not a westernized nation, and no, alcohol cannot be a part of anybody’s lifestyle here.
Homosexuality – Homosexuality is queer, it is unnatural, it defies the law of nature and people who are homosexuals are under some bad influence. They all are high on something and don’t actually know what they are doing, they should be treated.
Inter-religion marriage – One should not be married outside of one’s own religion, it will only add to the population of the other religion. Also, we have a bias towards certain religions, we don’t exactly know what is wrong, but because we’ve been hearing it for ages, so it must be really wrong to marry someone of a different religion.
Divorce – People can kill each other fighting once they are married, but they shouldn’t get divorced, because what will the world say about them. The world which knows exactly nothing about what is happening between the two married individuals is entitled to have an opinion but the people concerned are not.
How To Break The Taboos
Whatever we hate talking about is a natural, normal human thing which people should probably know more about so that they can start accepting that all these things are as natural as breathing –
1. Instead of shying away from the topic, the more you talk about it the better it will be for you. People will know more and start thinking that sex and menstruation is something that happens with most of human beings and it is not bad.
2. Actually trying something before having an opinion about it or trying to understand the other person’s point of view might actually help in digesting the fact that we have moved on from juices to coffee to alcohol in public gatherings.
3. Nobody gets to decide the laws of nature, even nature doesn’t at times, then who are we to give a verdict. Live and let live, as long as you get to choose your sexuality, you should not have a problem with whatever others are doing.
4. Gossip, as a whole should be banned, it only gives rise to bigger taboos and misconceptions, and people are stupid enough to not reason with anything. They buy whatever is sold to them. Try and think before you just take on somebody else’s opinion as the general trend.
Taboos are nothing but a crippling impediment for our society, they should be uprooted and thrown away. Taboos just show how lazy we all have been because we never tried to ask that one why which could have changed hundreds of lives, we just kept listening and accepting whatever came out way. Let’s fight this one together and make the country free of the shackles of nonsensical beliefs.
