Naked Truth

Early this morning, 5000 men and women posed naked for photographer Spencer Tunick at Sydney’s Opera House. They braved the dawn chill, standing in their birthday suits, obediently following the photographer’s every command. Imagine 5000 people with their clothes off, doing as you please. Wicked! All in the name of art, of course. The photo-shoot was commissioned by the committee in charge of the ongoing gay and lesbian festival, Mardi Gras.

More noteworthy than the event itself, was the public reaction to it. This ranged from some quiet chuckles with a couple of risqué jokes thrown in, to genuine appreciation for this expression of individual freedom and choice. In general, Sydneysiders took this in their stride as something completely acceptable, even if not everyone’s cup of tea.

I have been trying to imagine the scene if someone attempted a similar project in India. What a logistical nightmare it would be! The five thousand people in the picture would be completely outnumbered by another twenty thousand trying to get a look in. Actually, things would not even get that far. The moment word got around, a couple of political parties would see a ticket to extracting their mileage for the month. They would cry hoarse about the insult to Indian culture and vow to prevent the event. They would do this without any debate on the subject or even considering the possibility that there may be nothing sexual about it. The police machinery would have to be brought into play in full force, for the event to go ahead.

There will be debates on TV about freedom of expression and how much is too much. I can just visualize Barkha Dutt moderating an animated discussion with someone like Shabana Azmi on one side and some stuffy cleric on the other. The cleric would say in a huff. “If you want to take off your clothes and do mujra in this studio, go ahead – who am I stop you?”

If a bunch of people want to get their clothes off and pose for a picture in a peaceful manner in a matter of half an hour, why waste so much airtime on it? Just get it over with and move on.

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It’s not just the traffic in the western world that is more orderly. Even the weather-gods seems to follow a strict timetable. March 1 is officially the end of summer and the onset of autumn. True to form, overnight, the nights have become nippy, and darkness hangs around much longer in the morning.