Three stories three different issues

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The unfunny destructive Indian comedy  

Anchor 1: “Women get raped in bus, bridges, while at work, at leisure, why do this happen? why do you do so? (directing the question to the comedy character)

Anchor 2: yeah why 

The comedy character: yeah we do so much and still why wont you learn, I was thinking; there’s assault and rape happening everywhere and yet why won’t you women learn

This is a snippet from a popular Malayalam comedy show “comedy circus”; on scene were anchors Pearly Maney and Aleena, the scene  followed with huge applause and approval.  The rise on the sexual assault cases, the advent of the metoo movement, the discourse on harassment cases in the entertainment industry but yet an entire crew at the production including the audience couldn’t spot a problem in this happening, let alone airing it. How could this have affected and is still affecting rape survivors? Will they ever hear their story right through the media? 

The irony is when the news anchors at the same channel hold discussion on looking into increase of rapes and sexual assault probably using a different set, in a different time but the same media channel condone rape jokes in the name of humour.

“It’s just a joke”, “don’t be the last to get the joke “and “take it as a sport is often the gasligting tone towards disgusting and demeaning jokes that perpetuate rape culture. Hannah Gadsby puts them in the right place, she says help me take care of my story”, she says she identify as “tired” , it is shows like Nanette and people like Gadsby who cuts through the system and helps one see what is disguised as jokes is humiliation to people in margins.

The way Indian comedy tells stories is destructive, there are comedy characters particularly to devalue people in margins, the exaggeration of existing stereotypes is lauded despite having no meaning. Like Gadsby puts it,  “Sensitivity is strength”, she also notes “ punch lines need trauma ,trauma needs tension and tension feeds trauma”, throughout the show Nanette, she says I want to tell my story properly and this matters because only if we learn to understand stories proper; violence to bodies and minds wouldn’t pass on as jokes in the shows ,music, movies and conversations we indulge in. Its high time we watch and re-watch Gadsby’s Nanette and Douglas; as they could help one turn off the dangerous yet camouflaged rape jokes and understand that stories hold value.

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Shortage of Life “Saving “ Drugs is a cruel death game

The recent reports show a lack of availability in the antiretroviral HIV AIDS drug , this means there exists a life interrupting problem. When a drug is changed patients need constant care and observation of their liver function, renal function and glucose levels. Medical officers are changing the drugs haphazardly." We are playing with the lives of people,” The Hindu reports. 

 As a person living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA), a sudden change in antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs by her doctor has left Rathna with severe headaches, fatigue, pain in the hands and legs and difficulty in walking. The reason for switching drugs is non-availability of stock. Amid Covid in 2020 there were shortage of drugs and it led to a fall pushing people out of treatment .This is further keeping the HIV/AIDS community back in the line as especially amidst Covid there's a high probability of infections that poses the risk for life and health. 

As drug doses change there is also probability of patients developing drug resistance . When combinations of medicines change not all patients understand that the change will take a toll on their health, that is an information the health officials should be briefing them. There is no information given to the patients and they only realise on receiving a different "coloured" pill that ends up in severe sideffects. This involves over 30 lakh people, documenting what ,why,  how and until when this medical concerns would be taken up in news is a worry as thorough follow-ups on this is unavoidable.

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A series of dowry death haunts Kerala and the death of Vismaya Nair was the matter of a range of discussions from awareness on dowry acts to learning to say no. What is not discussed on the line is the actual root of the problem "caste pride ". 

Priyanka's grieving mother had been trying to explain how they were put through caste violence and dowry harassment by in laws who are also late actor Rajan P Dev's family . The  uppercaste cis hetero men's caste monopoly and ownership over women's bodies are the root of dowry harassment  here as Priyanka's mother says, "  There was no part of her body that wasn't in pain, she had to end her life to end pain, they threw her out of the house, she stood their waiting for help in the cold and she could barely walk, her husband and his mother beats her everyday ,I thought her husband would take care of her since he wanted this marriage to happen".

Dowry ranges from land, money ,jewellery ,  gifts, and more money in the name of support to the groom, some even pay for the education of the groom. 24-year-old Archana from Thiruvananthapuram was found dead with burn injuries at her husband Suresh’s house . In Alapuzzha 19-year-old Suchitra was found hanging at her in-law’s .When NSS ; the Nair society  pacified Vismaya to stay in the marriage inorder to maintain the pride of the family and when Priyanka had to suffer the casteist slurs spewed against her ,it is to look into the core of caste unions practising dowry . 

In the past five years, 66 dowry deaths have been reported, and 15,143 cases of harassment over dowry registered in Kerala.It is sad that the most gruesome incident only gets to the worthy of attention .

If it is asking for money to form an alliance ,auctioning their sons ,this institution is approved  in caste unions and the lower in hierarchy succumb to this violence.