There is, at last, an opportunity for this writer to vent his unfashionable distaste for the decadent contemporary craze of tattooing. Not only does he not have any tattoos, he has never seen any that he likes, and in general he finds them either off-putting, distracting or blatantly offensive. This is an aesthetic preference, but a strong one, and more than that, an ideological aversion to post-industrial degeneracy. The human body is not a canvas for bad folk art or graffiti. One of the most dismal eventualities in the author’s lifetime, to be frank, has been to live through the revival of this particular form of narcissistic self-mutilating ugliness. He regards the tattoo as primitivist pollution, and makes no apology for the same. It is an opinion that is likely to offend about one in five readers these days. No doubt a tattoo is no longer a sign of bad character as once it might have been, but today the opposite is true: it is an invariable point of good character for a man - and even more for a woman - to resolutely decide not to be tattooed.
It is with a certain satisfaction, therefore, that he reads the story of an Australian man in Bangalore who was attacked, or at least harassed, by a cadre of dedicated Hindoos who took exception to his blasphemous depiction of the goddess Yellama on his lower leg. The Australian – proudly displaying his beloved "ink" - was in a restaurant, it seems, when he was confronted by a dozen people who demanded that the image be removed. According to the newspaper account, at one point in the confrontation the Hindoos threatened to flay his skin – although the report admittedly comes via that disreputable purveyor of sensationalist pulp, Australia Associated Press.
Shaken, the Australian sought refuge in the police, but they were less than sympathetic. "I was relieved to see a policeman, but much to my shock he started to blame me,” the Australian, Mr. Matthew Gordon, was reported as telling the Hindu Daily. The police told him 'This is India and you are insulting Hindoos'." After a three hour ordeal he was forced to write a letter of apology and to give a signed commitment not to display the offending tattoo at any time during the remainder of his visit to India.
For his part, the Australian insists that he meant no offence and that, indeed, he has a respectful understanding of the goddess, just as he has of the great deity Ganesh who is inked all over his back, a work of so-called ‘Body Art’ that took some 35 hours of needling to complete.
Predictably, the AA Press report describes the incident as an attack by “right wing extremists”. Critics – those unnamed, all-purpose puppets of the left-wing media – say that “right-wing Hindu extremists have been emboldened by the BJP's victory in a general election last year,” according to the equally anonymous AAP journalist. The incident is then linked – on no basis whatsoever – to the murder of a “leading scholar” who had “spoken out against idol worship… in Karnakata state” last August.
In other words, AAP used the incident as a cheap item of anti-BJP leftist propaganda. It was as if Prime Minister Modi had attacked the Australian himself. Additionally, it was another episode in the 'Irrational-things-religious-people-do' genre of leftist journalism - as if there is nothing irrational about covering your body in tattoos of Hindoo deities in the self-indulgent quest for self-defined identity.
In any case, this writer has as much sympathy for the Australian gentleman as did the Bangalore police. This is India, and you are offending Hindoos. If the Australian had any proper respect for the Hindoos - as he purports - he would be aware of their sensitivities and appreciate that his "Body Art" might very easily be taken as an offence. As it is, throughout most of India it is testing the tolerance of the local population for tourists to wander around in shorts and thongs like they're on their way to a barbecue at Bondi beach. The body has a different sanctity in Indian culture. It is not just Western women who need to be sensitive about this fact and to observe a different code of attire.
Yours,
Harper McAlpine Black
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