Is India a nation of voyeurs?

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">It was a small news item in one of the papers a few years ago: about a Delhi landlord who got his cheap thrills by regularly peeping at his lady paying guests - as they showered in what they thought was the privacy of their bathrooms. The landlord got into trouble with the cops and possibly his wife, but shocked people who learnt of the incident could at least console themselves that it was a one-off incident.<br /><br />That was then, this is now.In the wave of voyeurism that''s sweeping across urban India - the Delhi MMS or the latest webcam peepshow in Pune - Peeping Toms armed with hi-tech gizmos are crawling out of the woodwork. There could be many more cases that go undetected and unreported, says P Ravindranath, DIG, economic offences, Bangalore. In Delhi''s seedy underground market Palika Bazaar, a haven for pirated VCDs, the code word is, "<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Koi</span> natural scene <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">hai</span>?" <br /><br />What''s really hot here these days is ''reality sex'' videos. Honeymooning couples in cheap hotels, lovers in parks - most of the ''reality'' stuff is shot through hidden video cameras by struggling photographers or by youngsters through camera phones. <br /><br />Basic instinct or base behaviour? Yes, sex always sells, but are we plumbing new depths of seediness and sheer sleaze? Is hi-tech, low-brow voyeurism the only thing that can possibly titillate us these days? In the age of exhibitioism is the real thing the only thing that sells? As a shopkeeper says with a wink, “<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Asli </span>reality<span style="" font-style:="" italic=""> maal hai</span>, sir.� <br /><br />"Voyeurism is very much a part of our psyche," says Bangalore-based psychiatrist B Kapoor. "It has always been there in every society across the world. It''s only because such incidents are reported with increasing frequency that we have an impression that India has gone overboard." According to Delhi-based psychotherapist Madhu Sarin, "what makes such behaviour ''sick'' is not the usual puritanical concerns. Rather, it is symptomatic of other social changes. In the psychological sphere, it reflects a compulsion to maintain distance and remain at the level of "looking" rather than engaging at far deeper levels." <br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal">Amateur tapes and skin flicks - "I think they are all part of the same phenomenon: there is some kind of attempt, rightly or wrongly, to make sex come out in this country," says actor Rahul Bose. "Unfortunately, in most cases it''s done in an infantile manner."<br /><br />Technology may have taken the innocence out of the whole thing and the commercialism associated with it has also made it sleazy. "Society has gone through a sea change. A few years ago, we did not have access to the Internet as we do now. Mobile phones, webcams and so many gadgets are at hand. Musical videos beam raunchy images and suggestive lyrics. It encourages people to indulge in such offences. They want to venture into more of it," says Kapoor. "Technology should be useful to society, but people use it for such wasteful things like recording someone kissing in public," says Vidisha Pavade, model. "When I open my email, I am just flooded with obscene junk." <br /><br />Sarin sums it up: "It''s very complicated. Look at how closed our society was. Now, suddenly, you have exposure to all kinds of norms from all kinds of contexts. The fact is, ours is a society in transition, it will take time to adapt to all this."</div> </div>