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| To be a meme or not to be a meme, is the question. |
“jahezkhori band karo” has gone viral and so has the rebuttal/meme campaign. I came to know of this awareness step, on Ali Rehman Khan’s instagram account. Where he had applied mehndi design, with this inscription in the base of his palms. This has highlighted, the long standing evil of dowry in our culture. It was detestable to see the memes ridiculing such a significant movement in its cradle. But, I have realized that there are two sides to this scenario. Both hinges in its own way on one objective – root out the gangrenous portion associated with marriage from our culture- before it’s too late.
Earlier, I have written about dowry, since it’s a long standing issue, my focus shall be on significance of the hidden message from the memes, for us all.
The aspect of free will in human society has evolved to a conception of preposterous absurdity. That as a view, is my own, with intrinsic limitation of perceptions drawn from culture of my own generation of millennials. The promiscuous, who were once bemoaned in the society, have set as a standard for the up coming Generation Z. For them it’s about being out and about. Its support begins from boredom, which has become mainstream for them, resulting in confusion which is bewildering and ultimately drawing the individual to frustration, which is not only insufferable but also painful. Hence, to curb it at its cradle the individual rejects the societal restrictions and gives into the mortal pleasures where there shall be no repercussion such as responsibility, attachment or financial burden to tolerate. Earlier, it was the gender of men which was more accepting of these traits, linked to the male superiority or the ‘macho-ness’ and was refuted by women. But now it has changed after women empowerment, since, they are equally accepting of the modern age chivalry ways, and explore the sensuality of the promiscuous, as part of this empowerment. Thus, the floodgates are wide open for the free will to run over the preconceived notions of societal norms.
The model seems like a self-evolving, borne out from the globalization not to forget rising unemployment. Where there are so much pressures, the society can give so less to the individual to uphold the values it held so dear. Hence, in this model you have a threat of shaking the status quo in our present society. One won’t need an extensive arrangement of rituals, spent on ceremonies in light of social status etc. So, if you are a young lass or lad, you would rather give up on the idea of settling down with a family of your own but focus more on empowering yourself financially with a job or business, and whenever you need some sensuality, with no strings attached, just served it like some fast food.
In the end, we all wish for the good old family unlike the upcoming generation Z, with its free will and all. If we have to save the system from this jeopardy and make it anymore effective to this time and age: let’s end dowry and surgically remove the gangrene till you find some real compassionate flesh.
