Greetings Mr. Jeo Baby,

I am sure you would have heard of the cause and effect fallacy. In this, we falsely assume that one event causes the other. This is the same technique used by you to prime your viewers in the movie ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’.

The hen used to get up early in the morning and then see the sunrise. This happened for many days after which, the hen proudly proclaimed that the sun rises because I wake up. I am the cause and the sun is the effect.

Mr. Baby, when you depicted the cause (hen) you pointed out all the atrocities which are committed in a patriarchal society on women. Full marks to you for showing scenes where many types of chutney have to be made, two types of tea had to be made, rice has to be cooked on firewood, so on and so forth.

You primed us very well into believing that wives are glorified cooks, incessant house cleaners, and sexual objects who have to be ready to fulfill the man’s momentous bursts.

Very smartly and deftly you removed the mother-in-law from the picture, to bring about the fullest impact for our feudal, patriarchal thinking. Till this point, it went very well with me. I resonated with your depiction, as many women have been victims of our cultural backdrop.

Full marks for the cause – the hen effect.

Here is where the tale gets a U-turn. You brought in the subject of menstruation. The audience who had already been primed about the horrors women go through bought into it.

Now, it was your turn to do the magician’s trick. You equated menstruation with abhorrence; men would not touch such a vile creature with even a bargepole whereas young girl children never discriminate, even though they take the Sabarimala vows.

 Mr. Baby, as a woman my experience of the sun (Sabarimala temple) is radically different. I would not equate patriarchy and menstruation with Sabarimala. It is perhaps beyond your comprehension as you would not understand the concept of ‘agamas’.

Sabarimala has been the prime ingredient in my leading a beautiful family life.

The ‘Sabarimala’ process gives space to man and woman, brings romance back into their lives, makes the man respect the women and vice versa, inculcates wonderful habits in the family, and gives the man a chance to practice ‘sanyas’ while still being a householder.

My family has been vibrant, thanks to Sabarimala – which is beyond the comprehension of people who have neither experienced it nor have political intentions. I firmly believe that the crime rate in South India is greatly lesser than in the North, thanks to the Sabarimala factor, though I have no data to back it.

So Mr.Baby, let the hen (the cause – patriarchy) be the cause and the sun (the effect – Sabarimala) be the effect. Don’t make the twains meet. Let’s not mix chalk and cheese. Let apples be apples and oranges be oranges. I hope that I have put my point across.

Live and let live.

With best regards,

Savy from S & S Family First