Sexual obscenity on the wheel

Soumyajit Ghose

One of the most attention grabbing view while riding on a two-wheeler is watching couples expressing their abundance of love on the bike itself. This is in itself a very spectacular view from the point of view of an amateur onlooker. Considering the fact what you are viewing right on the road, the sight creates ripples in your mind as to what has occurred to these couples so as to express such profound love while on the bike and more so on the road.

We (I and my friend) were returning on the bike after attending the special classical programme of famous singer Shubha Mudgal on the evening of the Independence Day at Ravindra Bhawan, Bhopal. Under the spell of classical music (with constant rendition by the singer) and discussing the same, it so happened that suddenly we came across a couple who were profusely busy in an obscene act of love on the bike itself. The sight could be well distracting for anyone riding so close. Immediately another bike with two young lads was seen viewing the same act with utmost interest. They made some ugly remark which was smartly ignored by the couple. The incident was really an eye-opener as it revealed the intricacies of it and the ensuing acts.

The attitude of the couple can be described as an act of public notoriety causing inconvenience to others. With the law banning public obscenity, the couple seems to be consciously engaged in the act knowing the lackadaisical attitude of the law keepers. The couple was mindless of the consequences of such act that seem trivial to them while having the potential to blow into a crime. Such small act of unprovoked illustration of love amounts to sending wrong signals to the onlookers. They seem to view it as an open invitation to the privacy of the couples. This open invitation is quickly transformed into an eve-teasing act with young lads finding it easy to eve-tease the couple. With a little more provocation, the act turns ugly with molestation and sexual abuse. Such acts of eve-teasing are very common in the city streets considering the high numbers of couples engaging in public obscenity.

Such incidents increase in number with the profile of the city. With the huge amount of eve-teasing in the city streets, both registered and unregistered, it is not surprising that the figures of cases involving sexual abuse, molestation and rape are very high. With the police too busy in curbing the acts of terrorism, such incidents are considered a minor thing until it transforms into a major incident.

What is really disturbing is the people’s reaction to such obscenity and their stance on the issue. The couples engaged in the act consider it to be their conjugal freedom while the onlookers seem pleased at teasing them in the public. The fact missing is restraint, both on the part of the onlookers and by the couples. The couples on their part do not want to restrict such act to their privacy while the spectator seems to be free to eve-tease anyone on the street. The question lies as to who should exercise restraint? - the Couple or the spectator.