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Obscenity According to the VHP

Being a teenager, I very rarely have very strong opinions on anything political. However, one article in this morning's papers caught my eye and it had nothing to do with my immediate position in life (you can find it here if you're interested in reading it). The article, in essence, stated that the VHP wanted to ban white-water rafting in Uttarakhand. According to them, it "leads to many illegal activities" in the holy town of Rishikesh.



According to the article, the VHP thinks that white-water rafting leads young people of both sexes to "mingle, drink and indulge in objectionable activities" on the banks of the holy river. This somehow disturbs the sadhus and sants gathered there to meditate. Now, from a purely economic standpoint, Rishikesh draws more than over 4 lakh adventure tourists. 320 or so firms have jobs to do because of these tourists. The government then levies a tax of ₹5000 on each of these firms, earning it some money in the bargain too. What would these firms do if some moron convinces the government to outlaw something as harmless as white-water rafting?

I personally disagree with these ideas, not least because I myself quite enjoy white-water rafting. Seriously, don't young people have a right to mingle? Honestly, I ask you. While I'm all for teetotalism and what not, I don't think outlawing an activity as harmless as white-water rafting is going to do anything to further its cause. It's a big river - I'm sure the sadhus can find space far enough from these people to meditate in peace.




For once, I actually have a suggestion to solve these problems in one swoop. First, I think it ought to be a punishable offence to be a member of, donate funds to or in any other way support extremist organizations, right or left. Then I think we ought to lock up all these idiots who're considering outlawing white-water rafting as promoting illegal activities for being mentally unfit and a danger to society. Last but not least, we ought to force these lovely chaps to hand in their brown skirt/shorts and make them wear pink ones instead. And not a dim, almost-purple pink, either - a nice, bright fluorescent pink, the kind that they'd no doubt be proud (wink, wink) to parade in.   

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