While on the debate on Free Speech, here comes the latest news that Hindus in India are protesting against the display of Hindu goddess Lakshmi on an one-piece swimsuit and on a bikini. The swimwear was worn by a model during the Australian Fashion Week. The swimwear is designed by Byron Bay’s Lisa Blue fashion house. However, the famous fashion designer Roberto Cavalli had made similar swimwear some years ago. The spokesman for Cavalli said that the designer wanted to "celebrate Hindu culture." In Lisa Blue's swimwear, the image of Lakshmi is on the backside of the bikini bottom. The fashion house apologized and promised not to make the swimwear available for sale anywhere in the world. A statement included, “The use of images of Goddess Lakshmi was not in any way a measure of calculated risk taking, simply it was a desire to celebrate different cultures and share that through our brand.” Lisa Blue, it is said, lived in India and should have been aware of Hindu sensibilities. Australian yoga instructor John Ogilvie, who studied Hinduism for 30 years, said, “There is a lot of clothing like that in India with images of the Goddess Lakshmi. But the image of the goddess on the bikini bottom, Hindus would consider that very tasteless." Many years ago the Hindus in America were in arms against a sanitaryware company having icons of Hindu deities on toilet seats. A US company had also started selling slippers with Hindu icons. In 2005 the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi condemned the name of Ballina-based curry house Handi Ghandi and called the Indian-accented jingle the local business used, “very offensive.” In Toronto, I ate at an Indian restaurant called Ghandi House. Chatting with the owner, I told him that Gandhi would be turning in his grave to his name used for a restaurant that served meat dishes. He just gave me a blank sta Years ago, Hindus in US protested against a film by Ismail Merchant, Shakti, in which rock singer Tina Turner plays the role of goddess Kali.
Eugene Correia