Insensitive and objectionable

This blogger happen to read on the Net that French President Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife visited the famous Chisti Dargah at Fatehpur Sikri, it was reported that Carla Bruni had asked for son in blessing. Articles quoted the religious head of the Dargah as saying this. It is shocking in a country that is fighting prejudices against girl child; feticide and infanticide are common. Plummeting sex ratio is a testimony to it, and there are lots of efforts being made to rectify these. Carla Bruni has all the right to ask for blessing but to reveal the gender is puzzling- may not be quite a deal in France, she could have been more circumspect. And it is a different matter that god is in the business of granting gender based request, maybe that is what they call faith!!. Shocking is the fact that the religious head found it necessary to mention it to media. Further appalling is the matter of media reporting it, they could have shown some sensibility while reporting and may have avoided the gender reference, keeping in mind the socio-cultural context. I think it is too much to expect from Indian media.

Don’t be surprised if there is an increase in demand for blessing for boy child in here. Some may think this is trivial, it is not and these are significant ways in which disparities gets consolidated. Indeed the governments are taking the help of religious leaders to convince the society against feticide. About 500,000 girl child are killed annually, this despite strict laws against sex based tests and abortion. It is an uphill task. Least we expect is that visiting dignitaries are sensitive to local issues that they could knowingly or unknowingly accentuate. …