free chandra mohan!

Yes.. the debate surrounding freedom of expression has got more ridiculous thanks to Baroda incident..

i would like to answer two common questions that people who object to nude paintings of hindu goddeses raise:

q: would you like it if someone painted your mother in the nude?

a: i would like to ask a question back.

what if your brother painted your mother in the nude? and what if he did so because it was a centuries old tradition in your family to honour your elders by painting them in the nude. what then? could you still object?

here's the best part. OF COURSE. this is a democracy. You can object to whatever you want.

The small part that is forgotten is that while protesting you're not supposed to beat people up or burn buses and so on. its a small thing but one i hope we can learn. and its nice if you dont get people jailed. especially hapless young painters who have no resources to defend themselves.

for my rant on offense as a marker for deciding what is good and what is bad see here..

q: you cant even draw mohammed (peace be upon him), what gives you the right to paint hindu godesses, that too nude?

yes about that.

the first thing that boggles my mind when people say this is that but correct me if im wrong, arent hinduism and islam COMPLETELY DIFFERENT RELIGIONS?

muslims aren't supposed to eat pork or drink alchohol. does that mean all hindus should give these things up too?

do we want to stay in a society where if a thing offends one religion, everyone needs to give it up?

we'll already done this for beef but think about it..

that means living in a state where all women are in veil, no bars, pubs or clubs, only vegetarian restuarants .. if jehovahs witnesses had their way their would be no hospitals ..so on and so forth..

is there a specific bar in hinduism that prohibhits nude depiction of goddeses?

no. far from it. if there was such a bar the controversy would be completely different..

it is the west that teaches us that nudity is something to be ashamed of and to potray someone as nude is disrespectful.

point is.. stop acting like good naturalized victorian brits and face facts.

hinduism sees nothing wrong with nudity. you can believe anything that the west tells you but you cant change history.