Sir, I do not understand the hurt feelings of the women's
associations at a sentence from Arun Shourie's article in
The Asian Age. Why should they take personal umbrage to
what is essentially a metaphor? Haven't they heard of
reference to the "denuding of virgin forests" or "rape of
virgin land?"
There was a virgin queen who gave her application to a
state in Virginia, not to speak of the harpsichord called
virginal, presumably because girls used to play it. How
about the quite commonplace key and keyhole, termed
"male" and "female" as are many engineering and other
similar objects termed for ready identification?
In any case, till when are we going to be puritanical in this
rapidly shrinking world? We are not yet ready to accept the
four letter word in print but happily watch American films
with the most atrociously explicit dialogue.