Posted:
MUMBAI: Palash Sen, lead singer of Euphoria band, drew angry comments after a blog post by an IIT-B woman researcher on his 'sexist' remarks during a concert at the institute's cultural festival went viral.
Sen, who shot to fame with a unique brand of Hindi rock songs in the early 2000s, is accused of having made controversial remarks last Saturday at the Mood Indigo festival. "It began with the most pressing concern of IIT boys on campus " do boys have enough good-looking girls to look at and hit on? So he asked, "Are there good-looking girls in IIT-B?" wrote Arpita Biswas, researcher on caste and gender in her blog arpitabiswas.blogspot.in.
While men raised their hands in solidarity to signal 'no', it made "women at IIT feel small". The singer went on to cheer the men up: "Don't worry guys, you will find the best looking women when you leave this campus. Aur woh tumhaare liye roti belenge (The women will make rotis for you)." Another blogger at solepiece.wordpress.com wrote that the singer continued with the dated, stereotype about marriage when he said the husbands will reciprocate by massaging their wives' feet (tumhare paanv dabayenge).
As a consolation, Sen is supposed to have said that "women are the most beautiful creation by God (sic)," wrote Biswas, who took offence to physical appearance being used as a yardstick when it comes to women. "Beauty is the limit of women's possibility while men are entitled to do everything else! What gets lost on him and the sexist junta is that not only (is) beauty subjective in the first place, it is not the end of the world."
When TOI spoke to Sen, he said his comments in the middle of a rock concert were misconstrued and taken out of context by a few. "I couldn't hear the girls' voices. When I asked where were the IIT's girls, the guys said there were no women there," said Sen.
When he asked who were the "beautiful girls" in the audience, the men said they were from outside. "I was surprised by that and said 'God's most beautiful creation is a woman'."
Sen said he wasn't referring to physical appearances. "One person misconstrued my words," he said, adding that he was a rock musician. "Am I supposed to say politically correct things on stage? I was speaking to young people, their sense of humour is different," said Sen.
A few well-wishers supported Sen saying it was all a joke, but blogger solepiece, who also went backstage like Biswas to complain to the organizers, said artistes have responsibilities. "You are entertaining a crowd of young minds in the process of maturing as adults. When a big idol says the same stereotypical statements, you are having a big psychological impact. To them, it ceases to exist as a joke."
Sen, who shot to fame with a unique brand of Hindi rock songs in the early 2000s, is accused of having made controversial remarks last Saturday at the Mood Indigo festival. "It began with the most pressing concern of IIT boys on campus " do boys have enough good-looking girls to look at and hit on? So he asked, "Are there good-looking girls in IIT-B?" wrote Arpita Biswas, researcher on caste and gender in her blog arpitabiswas.blogspot.in.
While men raised their hands in solidarity to signal 'no', it made "women at IIT feel small". The singer went on to cheer the men up: "Don't worry guys, you will find the best looking women when you leave this campus. Aur woh tumhaare liye roti belenge (The women will make rotis for you)." Another blogger at solepiece.wordpress.com wrote that the singer continued with the dated, stereotype about marriage when he said the husbands will reciprocate by massaging their wives' feet (tumhare paanv dabayenge).
As a consolation, Sen is supposed to have said that "women are the most beautiful creation by God (sic)," wrote Biswas, who took offence to physical appearance being used as a yardstick when it comes to women. "Beauty is the limit of women's possibility while men are entitled to do everything else! What gets lost on him and the sexist junta is that not only (is) beauty subjective in the first place, it is not the end of the world."
When TOI spoke to Sen, he said his comments in the middle of a rock concert were misconstrued and taken out of context by a few. "I couldn't hear the girls' voices. When I asked where were the IIT's girls, the guys said there were no women there," said Sen.
When he asked who were the "beautiful girls" in the audience, the men said they were from outside. "I was surprised by that and said 'God's most beautiful creation is a woman'."
Sen said he wasn't referring to physical appearances. "One person misconstrued my words," he said, adding that he was a rock musician. "Am I supposed to say politically correct things on stage? I was speaking to young people, their sense of humour is different," said Sen.
A few well-wishers supported Sen saying it was all a joke, but blogger solepiece, who also went backstage like Biswas to complain to the organizers, said artistes have responsibilities. "You are entertaining a crowd of young minds in the process of maturing as adults. When a big idol says the same stereotypical statements, you are having a big psychological impact. To them, it ceases to exist as a joke."
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