There’s not much to cheer in the new year

Ideally, the new year should begin on a note of hope and optimism. But the stars that define our world think otherwise. On new year’s eve came a ghastly terror attack in Istanbul on the Reina nightclub that has an enchanting view of the Bosphorus River, that left at least 39 dead.

Eyewitnesses described scenes of horror, people screaming, women fainting and people “walking on top of people on the floor” in the rush to get out, as a gunman reportedly dressed as Santa Claus began firing at random.

Don’t miss the irony... Santa who is supposed to bring joy, cheer, gifts, during a season that heralds the birth of the head of one religion, transforms into an evil shooter, with a terror act being committed through the twisted interpretations of another religion. Though there are two opinions on the attackers — ISIS or Kurdish rebels.

After France, Istanbul, which was seen as a beautiful mix of the exotica and mystique of the East with the modernism and liberal ethos of the West, is increasingly coming on the terror radar. Istanbul residents proudly say that while one part of it is in Asia, the other part is in Europe, and gatherings, celebrations and partying happens in cafes, restaurants, and night clubs around the Bosphoros. Of the four nights I once spent in that exotic city, three dinners were planned at eateries overlooking the Bosphorus. To imagine that beautiful spot filled with gunshots, blood, panic and grief is painful.

Going farther west, a big chunk of American women — all women, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc, not white women, who reportedly voted in large numbers for Donald Trump — will look upon the new year with a sense of shock and loss. And grief, that their dream of having the first woman president in the new year, has been dashed. They’re still wondering why this triumph of feminism didn’t happen. Instead, American voters, women included, rejected Hillary Clinton, and chose to elect a man with a record of objectifying women and uttering crass things about feminism!

American feminists are furiously debating why so many women themselves rejected the idea of a female president. Is it because the feminist movement is considered elite, keeping out of its embrace the lower class, uneducated women? Or is it seen as ultra-liberal, turning off women who adhere to conservative or traditional values? However honest the analysis and its findings, the dream of a woman president remains unrealised, yet.

As we watched Michelle Obama conduct her duties as the First lady with so much grace, charm, intellect and heart, yet another dream took root. Remember her stunning one-liner during the presidential campaign and Trump’s mudslinging at Barack Obama?

“When they go low, we go high”, she had said, explaining how she and her husband had urged their daughters to ignore “those who question their father’s citizenship or faith”. Isn’t she an ideal candidate for the US presidency? But then, is the US prepared for a black woman to lead them? At the moment the combination of black and woman seems an impossible cocktail for Americans to down.

If this is the state of affairs in arguably the most developed country in the world, then why be shocked at the shameful Taliban-like attack that was unleashed on the social media on Hasin Jahan, Indian pace bowler Mohamed Shami’s wife, for wearing a sleeveless dress?

Shami had posted a picture on Facebook with Hasin, who was dressed in a beautiful, elegant, red sleeveless dress. Hateful messages followed on both FB and Twitter from self-appointed guardians of how Muslim women should dress, abusing the couple and insisting that she wear the hijab! Of course both Shami and Hasin stoutly defended her right to wear what she pleased. But this proves that the times we live in are getting only more regressive. It was more than 10 years ago, in 2005, that a Muslim cleric had issued a fatwa ordering tennis star Sania Mirza, then only 18, to stop wearing ‘indecent’ clothes and cover herself from head-to-toe while playing the game! Ludicrous, but it makes your blood boil.

If the American political scenario gives no case for cheer, at home things are murkier. While in Uttar Pradesh the feuding father-son duo of Mulayam and Akhilesh Singh fire a new salvo every week, in Tamil Nadu VK Sasikala, a woman with no proven political record, who was even hinted at as her heir by former AIADMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, is all set to take over both the party and the State. And lest you thought it was undemocratic, we saw a whole bunch of senior leaders, including ministers, bowing and scraping at her feet and pleading that she save the State! Add to this the continuing quest for functioning ATMs, and the elusive ₹500 notes, and it is hardly time yet to bring out the bubbly…

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