Obscenity and Indecency at Public Places and Within Society

I came across an article in the Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad edition reporting about a drunk couple indulging in kissing acts publicly during lunch at a hotel and fighting with the gentleman and the hotel staff objecting to it.


This may not be a single case of such indecent acts. There may be many more such cases of obscenity and indecency like embracing, lip locking and other such acts which occur daily at parks, cinema halls, buses and many more public places.

Normally, newly married couple and dating and co-living people always look for occasions to indulge in such acts. It is but common and natural to have such feelings of enjoying sex for any person especially when young in age.

• Enjoying sex and love in itself is not an offense or a sin. 

• But there should be some boundaries and limits for enjoying it.

• Sex enjoyment is a private, normally closed-room affair. It should not be indulged into at public places. 
• Public display of sexual activity is to be refrained from as it amounts to obscenity and indecency. Further, it can cast bad effects on children and teenagers.

You are living in a traditionally cultured society.

You should learn to respect people and relationships.

Acts of obscenity and indecency can tamper your relationships in your circles and society.


We are human beings and not animals.

Animals may not be able to control their instincts and do not have any moral standards. But even in them, sometimes we do find great discipline and decent behavior.

As human beings, we are empowered with more wisdom and the ability to discriminate between what is proper and improper according to circumstances. We possess the ability to control our emotions and instincts accordingly. So why can't we be more decent and ethical in our actions?


We can learn things by observing the behavior of our parents and other elders of our society.

You will notice how dignified their behavior is as compared to our present, modern, so-called civilized behavior.


So, what I would like to emphasize here is that we must not indulge in such acts which may project us as indecent and vulgar beings. It can be very much embarrassing to our elders and society.

Hindu Religious Practices & Rituals - A Glimpse

The Hindu culture and scriptures have prescribed different types of rites and rituals to be performed on different occasions during our lifespan, from the time of our birth to death. All these have their own significance and impact on our life.

Important Religious Functions in a Person's Life

• At birth, we perform the birthday pooja and Graha Shanthi, etc. for the well-being of the child and his future. 
• On the 21st day of the baby or afterward, the naming ceremony known as Naam Karan (Barasala) is performed.
• On attaining the age of six months or so, we perform the Annaprasan ( giving the first meal to the baby) ceremony. 
• At the age of three, the Aksharabhyasam ceremony (the ritual of starting to write the first letter of Alphabet) is celebrated.
• Thereafter, after attaining a certain age say 12 or afterward, we perform the Upanayana (sacred thread ceremony) for boys and the Rajaswala function (Girl Maturity) for girls.
• Then comes the engagement ceremony and the marriage ceremony, the pregnancy ceremony, etc.
• Many other ceremonies are also performed according to your customs and circumstances.
• The final ceremony of life is the death ceremony that lasts for 12 to 13 days and thereafter the annual death ceremonies performed by his/her children.

Most of these ceremonies are to be performed by us to show reverence to our elders and the age-old traditions, even though we may not be believing in all these things.

Many people may try to dismiss all these functions to be superstitious and senseless and as a waste of time and money. But, look at the pleasure and joy it provides to you as well as your elders and family circles. Besides, it creates an atmosphere of family reunion and happiness for some period. You are meet and spend time with your people due to these occasions. Further, it provides a nice satisfaction and remains a sweet memory in your life.


Guidelines for the Performance of These Rituals

While performing these rituals, you may have to take a bath, wear the Dhoti (the traditional attire for performing ceremonies), and may have to bathe and change clothes again and again for some of those ceremonies, in order to perform the next step of that ritual. This may be awkward to you but it is to be performed for the sake of your family members and relatives.


In the case of performing the last journey of the deceased and their death-rites, it might be too much unbearable and undesirable for some people to follow the procedures. Your ego will be coming in between to perform such acts as washing the feet of pundits with your hands (fully wetting their feet with water) and then sprinkling the water on your heads. You may have to dry their feet with your towel and offer them a clean seat to sit. You may also require spreading your towel or Dhoti on the ground for them to walk over it and then, wear it again while performing the remaining part of the pooja.

Be Generous and Positive-Minded

All these practices may seem very silly and irritating to some people. It lies in your perception of things. If you see things as they appear to you it will be wrong for you. You must not perceive these things and interpret them as they appear to your physical senses. You must go in-depth and think of the spiritual and moral values of such practices. If you understand the essence of these practices, then you will not feel hurt or humbled down.


You must think of the Pundits as representatives of your God. While washing the feet of the pundit, you must know that you are washing the feet of God who is receiving your offers.

You cannot contact or come in touch with God directly. So you are keeping a medium in between you and God. That is why you are washing the feet of God represented in the form of your pundit and taking the blessings of God by sprinkling the water so washed over your heads. Whatever service you do to your pundit, think of it that you are doing all this to your God.


You may argue that we do not know whether there is God or not. But, at the same time, you experience some supernatural power controlling everything we do and at all times and all places whichever you cannot explain with all your science and technology. So you agree that there is some power above you. Name this power as God. Even if you do not want to personify Him, it is a fact that there is some Super Power.

• Think that that Super Power is represented by your Pundit. 
• Your pundit may be an ordinary simple man. 
• But to perform your pooja and offer your prayers and offerings, you are treating him as your God or that Superior Power and offering everything to him. 
• You need not go on his qualities or on his age. Simply offer everything to him in the name of God and think as if God is receiving whatever you are offering to him.
• When you think in this manner, you will never feel hurt or subdued and will be able to perform all these traditional rites and rituals with a purified mind and will be able to experience mental satisfaction and peace of mind. 
• You will feel happy and satisfied that you have done a good job.

Be Sensible- Don't Get Flown Away By Emotions

Sensibility means being rational and being conscious of whatever you are doing as well as keeping an awareness of others' feelings.

You must be aware of your surroundings whenever you do something or express something either through your words or actions. You must think of others around you and of the civilized society that you live in whenever you speak something or do something. You must be aware of the consequences of your acts, words used, and reactions.

That is sensibility. Sensibility reflects your personality.

Sensibility vs Sensitivity

Sensitivity is a feeling of being vulnerable to your environment or being too much attached to it.  

But, Sensibility is the awareness of being conscious of your surroundings during all your actions and deeds.

• People are sensitive and emotional by birth. 
• But Sensibility comes with maturity. 
• Sensibility shows your level of maturity, your culture, and your civilization.
• Sensitivity shows your weakness or softness often.

Now, coming to the point of our present topic, some recent speeches and statements of our prominent personalities and their actions/reactions have prompted me to write this article. I may not want to take their names or disclose them but in general, I would like to draw their attention too to my topic. I wonder how could such prominent and mature people ( maybe most people think them to be so ), could utter such insensible statements in our society and make irrelevant references which downgrade their personality and that too on public platforms.


Nowadays, politics has become the ground field of some insensible people.

Not a single day passes without some strike, some dharna, some group clash, etc.

Politics has spread in every field. Schools, Colleges, Working places, Temples, Sports. All our world has got polluted with politics.

Everywhere there is the nasty habit of falling into groups and clashing with one another on irrelevant matters. The Twitter wars are good examples of this nasty habit.

All this is the result of the insensibility of people. Insensibility leads to indulging in various undesirable acts and destructive mentalities leading to clashes among groups and destruction of public property.


Take the instance of our public and/or students participating in some rally for some cause like separate statehood for their region, or for expressing their resentment against the construction of a particular dam, or some other social or political cause. Instead of taking out their procession peacefully, they indulge in stone-pelting at police and public properties like buses, shopping malls, etc. Is it not a sign of their insensibility and a lack of their reasoning power?

If they could think a while before indulging in such activities, they could have realized that they are destroying their own daily usage property and troubling their own people by doing so. They are hindering the normal functioning of schools and colleges, disrupting the transportation services which could affect the daily life of themselves, their children, friends and relatives and all their society. This is due to a lack of sensibility.


Not only that. We often witness noisy scenes, abusive word usages, and breaking of furniture, etc. on floors of our Parliament and Assembly sessions. One can observe how absurd our MPs and MLAs have become. Why do they lose their senses for the sake of a trivial matter? Why can't they behave in a mature manner? They could solve their differences in a peaceful way. By mere bench thumping, furniture breaking, or creating a ruckus, they can't get anything. It expresses only their insanity.

And, what about the social media platform? There also you can see how cheap and irrational these people are with their senseless tweets and hate messages.

All these things are clear examples of how insensible we are becoming day by day.


So, I once again stress the need for sensibility in all our actions/deeds, speeches/writings, and even in our clothing also.

Let us create a good atmosphere in our society through our rational, sensible, good cultured, and civilized behavior and activities.