KOCHI: Four days ago, Rahul Pasupalan, a 28-year-old aspiring film maker, burnt the midnight oil participating in the discussions on Facebook social forums like ‘Freethinkers Society.’
Most of the discussions were on the Yuva Morcha attack on an urban, modern cafe in Kozhikode after a news channel aired an alleged “sting” video showing couples kissing openly in the cafe.
This attack on the cafe is a classic example of moral policing.Before he went to sleep at 1 am, he created a FB page titled ‘Kiss of Love’ and made a suggestion about holding a public event at Kochi Marine Drive where people can kiss their beloved and hug their friends kicking aside the orthodox ideas of morality.
“A student from Calicut NIT floated the idea first. I thought it will be an open challenge to moral policing,” said Rahul, who had also organised a ‘Free Hugs’ campaign in Thrissur recently to support the rights of LGBT community. After inviting ten of his friends to like the page he curled up in his bed unaware of the wave of appreciation his page had generated.
By the time he woke up next day, about 300 plus people had hit the like button of the page. The ‘likes’ spiraled up in the next few days. It was 31,000 when the story went to print. Within a day or two the idea might go ‘viral’.Rahul is not the first or only youngster to think about holding such an event. In the age of social media activism, it takes only hours for the ‘like minded’ to fix a date and time for the event.
“We received good response, especially from youngsters, for holding such an event. About 1,000 people have said they’ll come to Marine Drive at 5 pm on November 2. We expect at least a one percent of them will keep their word,” said Rahul.
And what will they do at Marine Drive?
“We want them to share their stories and display their affection. They should carry a placard as well. The couples and lovers can kiss freely. Others can hug each other. We want them to be free from the fears of moral policing,” Rahul added.
Naturally, the older generation in the city are surprised. While senior citizens are yet to recover from shock, the youngsters are looking forward and eager to decide whom to kiss.
When ‘City Express’ tried to reach the team behind the event, we found that they were waiting in front of the City Police Commissioner’s office to discuss security issues with regard to the event.“We are getting threats. We want security. We would like to meet the Commissioner,” said Rahul.