Three cheers!

Sir — The photographs of a Washington Redskin cheerleader at a match of the Indian Premier League and that of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Dhoom:2 flanking the report, “Body politics: bahu okay, others bawdy” (April 25), were superbly placed. The images should serve as an eye-opener to people (politicians in particular) who have been outraged by the presence of the skimpily clad cheerleaders during the matches.

While we talk about the need to preserve indigenous values, it is a fact that most of us have left our ‘culture’ far behind — imitating the West in every possible manner, and for all the wrong reasons. The item numbers, which have become a regular feature in Hindi cinema, are astonishingly obscene. But our politicians and senior bureaucrats have often been caught on camera enjoying these vulgar song-and-dance sequences in public or private functions. Girls today think nothing about wearing scanty dresses of the kind actresses wear on screen. In such a situation, the call for banning cheerleaders from cricket matches is nothing but hypocrisy. If films can change with times, why not cricket, or for that matter, any other sport? The cheerleaders are only doing the job for which they are being paid by the organizers. As such, they cannot be blamed for their ‘performance’. Moreover, the spectators are not so stupid as to concentrate on the girls when there is an interesting match going on. If the cheerleaders are being stared at, it is because the pom-pom girls are a new addition to cricket. Once people get used to the presence of the girls, nobody will pay them any attention.

Politicians who are raising a hue and cry over the issue should remember the old adage, “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” Before complaining about the cheerleaders, politicians should take a look at their own, hypocritical selves.

Yours faithfully,
S. Balakrishnan, Jamshedpur

Sir — First it was sex education. Now, cheerleaders have become the latest target of the moral police. If the self-appointed guardians of Indian culture are having sleepless nights over the cheerleaders, how can they live in a country whose films regularly feature obscenely suggestive dances? Are they also thinking of banning the Kamasutra, the ancient Indian treatise on sex? Perhaps their next demand would be that the rock sculptures at Khajuraho be put under wraps because they offend their puritan sensibilities.

Yours faithfully,
Saroj Kumar Mehera, Calcutta

Sir — Isn’t it amusing that we have so many people guarding our fragile culture? We have the information and broadcasting minister, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, who banned AXN for showing too much skin. He then cautioned FTV for its ‘immoral’ content. And now Amar Singh has called upon his friend Sharad Pawar to put an end to the vulgar acts of the IPL’s cheerleaders. If he finds these girls offensive, one wonders how he tolerated the bikini-clad Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, whom he calls his bahu, in Dhoom:2? Instead of acting holier-than-thou, these men should learn to give voice to the desires that they repress.

Yours faithfully,
A.S. Mehta, Calcutta

Sir — It is amusing to note that the transport minister, Subhas Chakraborty, has been perturbed by ‘indecency’ of the cheergirls during the ongoing cricket matches (“Hope 2008: Subhas targets cheergirls”, April 26). He should be advised not to poke his nose in matters that are not his business. This is especially so since the ministry he heads is one of the worst-managed departments in the state. Chakraborty should spend his time thinking about curbing road accidents rather than grumbling about the cheergirls.

Yours faithfully,
Kalyan Ghosh, Calcutta

Sir — Cheerleaders may shake their pom-poms and other assets as much as they wish. But why would we want to give them any attention if we are interested in cricket only? Do politicians think that all the citizens of this country are children, who cannot distinguish between entertainment and bawdiness? For all you know, they are as interested in the ladies as everyone else. If they think that our values are being threatened, they can visit the field with blinkers on.

Yours faithfully,
Asit K. Bhattacharya, Calcutta

Sir — If we come to think of it, cheerleading is not such a bad idea after all. It started in America in the late-nineteenth century as a way of pepping up team spirit in university or school matches. A graduate of Princeton University, Thomas Peebles, is credited with having introduced the idea. Cheerleading squads used to be all-male till the Twenties. If girl cheerleaders are popular today, it is a comment on the changing tastes. It is taken for granted that the majority in the audience in these cricket matches will be men who wouldn’t mind watching the girls. If the authorities cannot ban obscene films, they have no business nitpicking on these women.

Yours faithfully,
Asoke C. Banerjee, Calcutta

Erratum

In the review, “Those who bring the world to the breakfast table” (April 18), S. Nihal Singh says that Abe Rosenthal died in 1984. Rosenthal actually died in 2006, at the age of 84. The error is regretted.

— The Editor