Bengaluru: On October 18, Matt Keith, a 21-year-old law student from Australia was taken to the Ashoknagar police station after a group of BJP party workers took offence to a tattoo of the Goddess Yellamma on his shin. DCP Sandeep Patil, who ordered a probe into the alleged misbehaviour of the Ashoknagar police, said, “We will submit a full report. We have opened the inquiry and are gathering data, although there have been some delays. However, it will be complete soon.” The ACP heading the enquiry said that he is in the process of gathering information and that the report will be submitted to his seniors, for the case to be pursued.”
However, instances of moral policing constantly on the rise across the country. Are the government and the law and order mechanism doing what it can to make expats and foreign tourists feel safe? Ema Trinidad, founder of ExpatLife, says the city has changed drastically in the nine years that she has been here. “This feeling of not being safe has only happened over the last two or three years,” she explained. “Before that, I have always felt that all is well. Sab theek hai,” she added. Expats, she explained, take their own preventive measures, by living in gated communities where other expats stay and added that women have been advised not to drive. “Whitefield has a large expat community, so we feel safe here, but the insecurity happens when we merge with more Indian localities. Public transport — autos in particular — make us feel very unsafe.”
Reacting to the ruckus that ensued over Matt's tattoo, she said, “If it was me - and this is my opinion - I would have apologised because I am very sensitive to religion. I met the BJP workers involved in the incident and they insisted that they did not approach Matthew belligerently. In India, people of different religions mix, but you cannot argue, you just remain tolerant."
Tourism Minister R.V. Deshpande, who termed the incident "unfortunate," told Deccan Chronicle that "such things should not happen. Bengaluru is a place for everybody; it has no religion and no caste. It is a cosmopolitan city." The Tourism Ministry, on its part, he said, will have the widely publicised Tourism Mitras in tourist-intensive spots across the city by the end of the month. "They have minimum constable powers and it is their job to protect and guide the tourists," he said. "Moral policing is a debatable issue, but I fully agree that anybody who comes here, whether for business or as a tourist should be treated with the utmost hospitality. Atithi Devobhava – guests are God.”
Taboos On Tattoos
While tattoo artists across the world follow an unwritten rule of inking spiritual or patriotic designs above the waistline of a body, at the end of the day, it’s the tattoo getter’s choice of where they want their tattoos to be, says a renowned Bengalurean tattoo artist, Deep Kundu who has inked several celebrities and cricket stars in the city. “Though it’s a responsibility of the tattoo artist to educate the tattoo getters of appropriate designs and placement of tattoos, most of the artists leave it to the discretion of the customers,” he says.
“I had an NRI woman from Italy who had come to me for getting a tattoo of an Indian national flag with the wordings ‘Vande Mataram’ beneath it on her leg. I politely refused and asked why she chose her leg and not her arms, shoulders or neck where the flag would be at a respectful place. Being Indian born and a resident of Italy where the game of football is worshipped, most of the football fans have the Italian flag and their football club logos tattooed on their legs, she replied to me insisting that she wanted the Indian flag on her leg to celebrate football, adding that her leg is as important as that of any other part of her body,” Mr. Kundu said to this newspaper.
“I ended up not doing that tattoo on her as I felt it was disrespectful and for her safety I even advised her that you could invite trouble if you flaunt that kind of tattoo on your leg in India,” Kundu added. “In Japan, if you ask for a Buddha’s tattoo on your legs, they would take offence. The swastika symbol that we have in Hindu mythology can land you in trouble in Germany. Although we look it from a religious point of view it has a completely contradictory perspective among Germans about the Nazi revolution,” says Kundu.
If you still go ahead getting a tattoo done without understanding particular religious, cultural ritualistic, or patriotic sentiments pertaining to designs or its appropriate placement on the body without conducting proper research, you might land in trouble especially while you are in a different country. If you are doing it in your own county you know where your boundaries are,” says Kundu adding that for a tattoo artist, the entire body of the patron is a canvas and beyond that if one want to go ahead and get it done, it’s his/her personal choice. One can keep it within one’s sleeves, not flaunting it to the world if they may find inappropriate at certain places.
The victims of the tattoo mishap - Matt Keith and Emily Kassianou told DC on Sunday, before they were advised against speaking to the press, that they did not leave Bengaluru because of what happened to them. “We had already planned to leave the city on Sunday night, it happens to be good timing,” said Emily. Matt added, after the overwhelming public support that came his way, that there are two reasons why he likes it here so much. “Number 1 best thing is the people. Number 2 is the vegetarian food!”
