Bhatti’s “Behzti (Dishonor)” hurts Sikh Sensitivities

Gurpreet Kaur work is not against Sihkism.It just portrays how so called religeous people who call themselves ``sewadars``(servants)use religeous places for immoral activities and this is a fact.Even the advocates of ban on it accept that incidents like rape and murder can take place anywhere and gurudwaras are no exception.One important factors here is that the writer is a woman which might have infuriated the self made custodians of religeon who are also male chauvinists.Some may remember the incidence in US in which women were debarred from performing sewa inside the sanctum santorum.
This cannot be compared in toto to Salman Rushdie affair because he had written against the religeon itself.

Kaurasach

It`s possible that we are not capturing important shades of the broader Sikh community`s response to Gurpreet Kaur`s work. Is comparison with Salman Rushdie affair quite appropriate? Please share what you and your Sikh acquaintances of various backgrounds think. Thanks much.

Dear Farzana:

Thank you for your feedback. Freedom of expression is a very complex issue. One side, liberated and freethinking, wishes to express itself on certain sensitive issues and inadvertently says (writes) something which hurts the sensitivity of the other side which is orthodox. The hurt is real. Where does one draw the line?

I couldn’t finish reading Rushdie’s Satanic Verses cover to cover; for me he is a long winded writer. The Satanic Verses have a history of its own but the way Rushdie handled the situation was artistically crude. I think I’ve crossed the line here because as I said I hadn’t finished reading the book. My views therefore may not be accurate. They are based on as much as I read of his book.

Gurpreet Kaur wrote a realistic situation but the fact is that millions of Sikhs do adore the purity and sanctity of gurdwaras. The liberals can approve her play without batting an eye but the orthodox, humans too, have their feelings also. It’s a difficult and complex issue. I believe the play should have been allowed to run. It should never have been shut down by the violent demonstrations. If the Sikh leadership had felt so strongly about the play, they should have gone to the court. I hope they don’t feel they can settle such issues by violent demonstrations again in the future.

I’m all for free speech. However, we are living in a complex world. Wishing you well,

Mohammad Gill

Gill saab:

I think part of the discussion could also be seen in terms of why sex, religion and violence sell? It isn`t merely sensationalism. In the hands of a good writer trying to convey the reality and the layers of social and psychological ideas these aspects resonate our own repressed or realised thoughts. You mentioned Manto and Chughtai...their more explicit works come to mind but do not negate their ouevre.

In Bhatti`s case a place of worship is used for rape and murder. All of us know that often such places are used for crimes and exploited by those who are in charge of them. I think the outcry really is against ourselves. We are most uncomfortable when faced with certain truths. You rightly ask about how far freedom of expression can go. It is very difficult to gauge how any society reacts at a given time.

The real problem is not the play, not even people`s response...it is the creating of a controversy surrounding it where protest itself gets institutionalised. This always adds more fuel to the fire. Ever since Rushdie, martyrdom has become an attractive goal, and it covers a gamut of writers irrespective of what they are saying and how. I find this more disturbing than anything else.

Regards,
Farzana

And my very best wishes to you for joy, peace and happiness in the New Year.

PS: I had in fact come here specially to greet you and ended up giving my two-bits!

The latest on behzti saga is Salman Rushdie`s support for the writer. He deplores Government lack of support for the play or the writer or the defense of freedom of expression.

The debate has opened up a new and valid point for consideration. How far can the freedom of expression go? I remember my days in London. Occasionally I used to go to the Kensington Park and hear the speakers there. Some of them used to be provocative bordering on verbal abuse. I was told by a friend (I don`t know how far it`s correct) that they could criticize any and everything using whatever language they chose but they wouldn`t be allowed to use abusive language for the Queen. So the freedom of expression could not encroach on Queen`s sacred territory. There was an exception.

Rushdie`s statement is as follows:

Govt. response to Sikh protests to play horrifying: Rushdie
London, Dec. 26 (PTI): Expressing his outrage at the British Government`s failure to criticise the violent Sikh protests that led to the closure of a play in Birmingham, noted writer Salman Rushdie, has said that the trend had emanated from similar incidents in India.

``This seems to be a trend that has come from India, where extremists have attacked a number of artistic and cultural events, with very little control,`` Rushdie said today.

``It has been horrifying to see the response. It is pretty terrible to hear Government Ministers expressing approval of the ban and failing to condemn the violence, when they should be supporting freedom of expression,`` Rushdie, winner of the Booker prize for `Midnight`s Children`, said in an interview published in `The Sunday Telegraph`.

Stating that the ministers should have stepped in to prevent the closure of the play -- Behzti (Dishonour)-- 57-year-old Rushdie said: ``The Home Office Minister Fiona Mactaggart, is sending entirely the wrong message. It should be quite clear that, in this country, it is the liberty of any artist to express their view of their own society and their own community. Frankly, bookshops and theatres are full of things that would upset an interest group.``

Rushdie said the Sikh protestors who forced the closure had adopted the violent tactics used in India.

``Works by some of India`s most revered artists have been attacked by the Shiv Sena and now the Sikh community here are travelling down a similar path,`` he said.

Rushdie`s outburst was sparked by the refusal of the Government to offer support for either the theatre or the author following protests by a 400-strong violent mob last weekend.

Sikh groups organised the demonstrations because part of the play, which involves scenes of rape and murder, takes place in a Gurudwara.

Rushdie was sentenced to death by Iranian clerics in 1989 after his novel `The Satanic Verses` was condemned by them as blasphemous. He went into hiding till the `fatwa` was lifted in 1998.

The writer said he had been offered much more official support than Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, the Sikh playwright of Behzti who has been forced to leave her London home.

``In 1989, when The Satanic Verses was attacked, all political parties were united in their condemnation of the violence and their support for the principle for freedom of expression. It seems that the Blair Government`s capacity to disappoint knows no bounds,`` he said.

Behzti has been described as a black comedy and tackles subjects such as rape and murder within a Sikh community.

``The question it raises is whether such things are actually happening within the Sikh community. If it is true that things are going on in Gurudwaras that should be exposed, then this episode needs to be examined in a new light,`` Rushdie said.

Mohammad Gill

Another take on Behzti. Following is an excerpt from a news item in Guardian Unlimited of December 24, 2004. It`s written by Professor Gurharpal Singh. The immigrants` hybrid culture is in the melting pot; in due time it should find equilibrium and stability in the host British culture.

There is an increasing number of third and fourth generation British Sikhs who are seriously disaffected from a tradition that remains obstinately rooted to the politics of homeland while being ambivalent or unresponsive to the challenges of British society. Community leadership appears incapable of addressing their concerns. The choice before it is stark: relapse into a narrow agitational Sikhism or recognise the need to accommodate young British Sikhs` voices. Only the latter offers hope of turning the defeat into a lasting victory in which the real dishonour will not be that of a self-confident community sure of its ideals, but of an unsophisticated playwright and her grasping backers.

· Gurharpal Singh is professor of inter-religious relations at Birmingham University. He is currently writing a book on Sikhs in Britain.

It is a fatal flaw to think that the so called `representatives` of God who work in the `temples` are anything but frail human beings and are somehow beyond reproach. Power corrupts these people as much as the next person. Their desires, sexual, material, political are no different than your average joe. Just becausr they make their livelihood working or residing in a religious place doesn`t make them immune to human weeknesses or impulses. One has to bury one`s head in sand to think that kind of things as depicted in `be-izztii` can`t happen in a religious place. From to-day`s Daily Telegraph of UK:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=LLQLIDKLIXOYLQFIQMFSM5WAVCBQ0JVC?xml=/news/2004/12/23/nimam23.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/12/23/ixnewstop.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=2901

`` A former Muslim cleric was yesterday jailed for 10 years for raping and sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in a mosque where he was teaching.


Manzoor Hussain, 42, of Bristol, was convicted of one offence of rape and four of indecent assault. The offences took place at a mosque in the city between July 1996 and March the following year.

At the time of the offences, Hussain was the imam at the mosque in Lower Cheltenham Place. Exeter Crown Court was told the girl had kept the attacks secret for six years because she did not think she would be believed.

Sentencing Hussein at Exeter Crown Court, Judge Graham Cottle said: ``You were an elder in the community and a man to be revered and respected by children you taught.

``In a gross breach of the trust placed in you, you sexually assaulted the girl over nine months, culminating in an offence of rape. She was a frightened, confused and miserable child.``

The girl had told the court that Hussain committed the offences when she was attending classes to learn the Koran.

The offences were not reported to the police until last year. Hussain, who came to Britain from Pakistan in 1991, had denied the charges.``

It is heartening to note that all sikh chowkies have condemned the violent protest.

#16 by Urstruly It came as a surprising shock to me to know that sikhs can write and stage plays now. God what a development. I thought only hindus were the true drama baaz people.

Dear

Like Hindus, Sikhs and Punjabis have made their presence in most of the fields whether it is IT, Computers, Telecom, Sports, Films, Medicince, Bio-Technology etc. It is not just write and stage plays. The Singh, The Kapoors, the Chopras etc.

Rajesh – Bombay (Mumbai)

This protest against a drama is rather silly. If you don`t like the play, don`t watch it!! The protests have brought (probably) undeserved recognition to an obscure playwright. We in India would certainly not have heard of this play, if the British Sikhs hadn`t protested. Atleast the protest could have been peaceful. Perhaps, violence comes naturally to the machismo laden culture of Punjab. Now the British Sikhs have unwittingly lined up with Dutch Muslims.

Perhaps, it is a Sikh reflex action. Sikhism rose in the teeth of intense persecution by the Mughals, particularly Aurangzeb. Hence, the distinguishing marks - pagdi, kirpan etc - are so important to Sikhs. Otherwise it makes no sense to wear long hair in the 40 C Punjab heat. They were challenging their persecutors by voluntarily and conspicuously identifying themselves.

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Here is the foreword of Behzti written by Gurpreet:

Foreword to the play Behzti, by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
20th December, 2004

by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
Playwright and actress

Truth is everything in Sikhism, the truth of action, the truth of an individual, God`s truth. The heritage of the Sikh people is one of courage and victory over adversity. Our leaders were brave revolutionaries with the finest minds, warriors who propagated values of egalitarianism and selflessness.

But sometimes I feel imprisoned by the mythology of the Sikh diaspora. We are apparently a living, breathing success story, breeding affluence through hard work and aspiration. There is certainly much to be proud of and our achievements and struggles have been extraordinary. They are a testament to our remarkable community - energetic, focussed and able. But where there are winners there must be losers. And loss.

I find myself drawn to that which is beneath the surface of triumph. All that is anonymous and quiet, raging, despairing, human, inhumane, absurd and comical. To this and to those who are not beacons of multiculturalism, who live with fear and without hope and who thrive through their own versions of anti-social behaviour. I believe it is necessary for any community to keep evaluating its progress, to connect with its pain and to its past. And thus to cultivate a sense of humility and empathy; something much needed in our angry, dog eat dog times.

Clearly the fallibility of human nature means that the simple Sikh principles of equality, compassion and modesty are sometimes discarded in favour of outward appearance, wealth and the quest for power. I feel that distortion in practice must be confronted and our great ideals must be restored. Moreover, only by challenging fixed ideas of correct and incorrect behaviour can institutionalised hypocrisy be broken down.

Often, those who err from the norm are condemned and marginalized, regardless of right or wrong, so that the community will survive. However, such survival is only for the fittest, and the weak are sometimes seen as unfortunates whose kismet is bad. Much store is set by ritual rooted in religion - though people`s preoccupation with the external and not the internal often renders these rituals meaningless.

My play reflects these concerns. I believe that drama should be provocative and relevant. I wrote BEHZTI because I passionately oppose injustice and hypocrisy. And because writing drama allows me to create characters, stories, a world in which I, as an artist, can play and entertain and generate debate.

The writers who I admire are courageous. They present their truths and dare to take risks whilst living with their fears. They tell us life is ferocious and terrifying, that we are imperfect and only when we embrace our imperfections honestly, can we have hope.

In order for a story to be truly universal I think it is important to start with what is specific. Though the play is set in a Gurdwara, its themes are not confined to Sikhism, and it is my intention that a person of any faith, or indeed of no faith, could relate to its subject matter.

Over the years there have been many robust dramas about world religions. Sikhism is a relatively new entrant to this arena and I am aware of the sensitivity around such discussion.

The human spirit endures through the magic of storytelling. So let me tell you a story.

Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
December 2004


It appears that the author had forebodings that her play may create controversy. That may be so, I think the public should have taken it without too much fuss and without putting up violent protests.

Mohammad Gill

Kaurasach#20:

``To repeat myself, it just depends on the intentions.``

I dont think that it does. Whatever the intentions of the writer, she should be able to express herself, as long as she is not inciting violence. If her intentions were malicious, the offended people could stage a non-violent protest and distribute leaflets pointing out her distortions and maliciousness. That would be more effective and create a better impression about us than indulging in violent acts.

Urbashi:

The play was not performed in a gurudwara.

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The scene that made Behzti so contentious is described hereunder. It is excerpted from Guardian Unlimited (December 22, 2004).

What it`s about...
An excerpt from Behzti (Dishonour) by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, published by Oberon Books
The play is set in a Sikh temple, or Gurdwara. Min is 33 and looks after her sick mother. Mr Sandhu is an official of the temple.

Sandhu You must have heard about my wife.
Min shakes her head
Sandhu I can see the blame and the pity in your eyes.
Min Who is she?
Sandhu But you see I am so lonely, so very damn well lonely.
Min You want to get a telly.
Sandhu So good. You are so good. I can see it. I can see Tej in you.
Min My dad was sad.
Sandhu I need someone, you see.
Min Is she gone... your wife?
Sandhu Yes. Thank you for realising.
Min Do you want to marry my mum?
Sandhu You remind me of him... you remind me of my Tej.. he.. he used to kiss me.. on the lips... hard... so fucking hard.
Min ( Disturbed ) What?
Sandhu You remember, don`t you?
Min No..
Sandhu But you saw us.. together...
Min`s getting distressed
Min Please stop...
Sandhu I wasn`t to blame. You watched didn`t you?
When you were going round and round. Your eyes met mine. And his.
Min No.
Sandhu He felt sick with himself for what you`d seen.
Min I didn`t want to see. I didn`t mean to.
Min`s sobbing
Sandhu Then he got on that train.
Min I know...I`m all criminal...
Sandhu If you hadn`t been there, he`d still be here. With me.
Min Please don`t tell my mum.
Sandhu There have been many lovers in my life... but none like my Tej...I loved him so fucking much... If only I could feel him... possess him... Just one more time... You`ve never been touched have you... there`s been no physical contact...
Min Stop talking...please...
She turns to exit. Sandhu follows her
Sandhu He was a fine man, such a nice person. Good to be around and spend time with...like you.
Before Min can head out, Sandhu grabs her. She struggles
Min Get off me...get off...please get off...
Her screams and shouts merge with the end of the Aardas (song) in the worship area

It is not that such incidents do not occur in real life in the places of worship; hypocritically we hide them when they do. It is the written word or the playacted scene which becomes objectionable and causes such uproar. We need to outgrow such deplorable attitudes. Desecration of other peoples` places of worship has become a normal way of our life. We seldom make a public scene on such things.

Closing of Behzti doesn`t seem the end of it. It has a life of its own. Behzti has become a big poster for Gurpreet Kaur; she has been now introducted to the world at large.

Mohammad Gill

#25 I think stuka need to correct his last sentence.:-)

My friend`s son had a before christmas stage show in the school. He is in 4th grade. The kidsd of all colors mostly Indians and Chinese in this private school sang a new Christmas song on stage:

hey Santa you are so fat.
when you landed my bed went flat

and some other even funnier stuff about Chritstmas I forgot.
I also remember ``behzti`` type acts set in Churches and temples in English and Hindi movies. I also remember mention of such acts in gurdwaras and Deras in Punjabi literature.

So what Gurpreet Bhatti was doing was not that uncommon although I have strong feelings after reading about the issue last 2 days that Bhatti is just a insecure new writer who is trying to use this controversy formula to cash the fame. The issue she is raising although real and important is not the most troubling one that Sikhs face today within the community. If she was sincere she would have picked more important issues like female foeticide, dowry, corruption and politics of gurdwaras (that is probably touched in thsi play) etc.

Sikhs who have their kachhay under fire need to take a break and focus on the issues raised. 10 shows of this play will do less damage today than one news of such an incident anywhere in gurdawaras.

I also feel that diasporic sikhs particularly the second generations born and raised in void of the real Sikh cultural background overseas become very touchy about every religious issue. e.g. a sikh kid grown up in Punjab will not jump 4 feet high with the mention of sex bhais rape and gurdawara in one sentence, he will probably listen for chaska, but these overseas sikhs are unaware of any cultural context to it and see every such issue by the book.

They stand on one pillar called religion. You shake it and they jump. They need more pillar underneath their ass.:-)