Perils of the tolerant Indian society

In the recent times, there is an immense hullabaloo about the rising intolerance in the Indian society. This intolerance is apparent from the recent incidents of violence against Africans supposedly driven by racial discrimination along with the perpetual tension along with religious fault lines ranging from location of the clichéd Ram Mandir along with the food preferences particularly in context of beef. The saffron government and its undefined relationship with the RSS doesn’t provide a comforting ambience and thus aggravates the background noises regarding growing intolerance. A group of intellectuals led by prominent artists have pioneered a fervour effort against rising intolerance in a typical Gandhian manner. The mainstream media has cashed in big time and has become extremely opinionated especially with regards to the role of the government. In this backdrop, certain facts need to be highlighted.

1) As per official estimates, nearly 45% of the girls in India are married before the age of 18 while more realistic estimates peg the figure in excess of 50%.

2   2) As per WHO, 626 million people continue to defecate in the open and this population constitutes nearly 60% of all people who practice open defecation worldwide.
    3) Since 2001, the incidence of rapes amongst Dalit women has increased by nearly 500% with an estimated 60% of the population subjected to sexual abuse.

    4) Nearly 15% of all metropolitan population continues to live in slums due to lack of affordable housing and a plethora of schemes pioneered in this regards.

     5) As per a World Bank study, out of 35 cities with million plus population, only 2 cities have water availability in double digits.

6   6) As per the latest available government’s data, almost 20,000 villages are not electrified even after 67 years of independence.

    7) There are regular incidents of human trafficking with women selling their daughters for negligible amounts such as INR 500.

And the list goes on. Infact, I have not even touched the tip of the iceberg for the above are only a handful of the blessed issues that are covered by the mainstream media. With absolute certainty, I can assure you that there are regional issues that would never even see the daylight of the mainstream intellectual debates. In a society, with pressing problems revolving around “Roti, Kapda, Makaan” i.e. food, clothing, shelter coupled with dignity, the lack of dissent is harrowing and heart breaking. Ours is a “Democratic” society but the voice of the poor or the invisible people is a mere squeal which is pacified by the fake promises at the faithful rituals executed by the unscrupulous politicians with merciless proficiency. With a society as plagued as ours, this tolerance is deafening and one is left wondering at the continued existence and celebration of a democracy devoid of soul and substance. We tend to flaunt the human rights that we have as compared to China but it is mere symbolism which does not amount of any noticeable progressive change due to the inherent tolerant nature of the Indian society. The majority of the population practice Hinduism and ironically while the religion propagates tolerance towards religion, Indians have tolerance in all others spheres except religion. The “chalta hai” attitude has laid for a solid foundation for a society where even an incremental change is celebrated. Further, any positive change has to pass the test of the majority which is flawed with the presence of a fractured society divided by multiple fault lines. In such a society, change happens only at a snail’s pace while the politicians and vested groups tend to spend their energies on more productive ventures which invoke passion and so called “nationalism” amongst people. This diverts the attention of the people from the real issues of the day and hence the stalemate continues. Hence, I appeal to all my brothers and sisters to flaunt our much famed intolerance that has captivated the attention of the elite in a form of a progressive wave. Lets remember that great nations are not born but are nurtured.

“The pompous and intuitive display of tolerance by our society is a retrograde gesture. We need to grow more intolerant regarding the critical issues of the day and channelize our anger into providing an impetus in the forward direction instead of acting as puppets in the hands of shrewd politicians whose actions are driven by political gains”

Random Thought - V

At times, it feels that most of us live in two worlds simultaneously. The mythical so called perfect world that we aspire to live in i.e. woven around our relatives and so called ruthless worlds with its pervasive and idiosyncratic injustice and immorality that is portrayed in news on a daily basis. We are so efficient in convincing ourselves that the world portrayed in news, debates is not our world unless the same permeates through our inner circle..If we just see the good, who will improve the bad.. I wonder..

Random Thought - IV

Invariably we have happy memories about the first woman in our life which is our mother . However, gradually the experiences start becoming grimmer and eventually we end up at times having the worst memories of the last woman in our life.. Ironical isn't it..

Random Thought - III

“Ah.. Women!!  The topic always attracts a plethora of comments but almost all of them are not applicable to the individual’s mother. Just wondering what’s the real issue.. Women or the relations we build with them” - Me

Random Thought - II

“The most beautiful relation is that which has no labels attached and hence is simultaneously non-existent but all pervasive. It is free from all compulsions on behalf of either of the parties and mutual reciprocity is not bound by the definition and contours of the underlying tag. This is pure, sacrosanct, timeless and hence worth seeking” - Me

The Curious Case of Christine Chubbuck

Christine Chubbuck is not exactly a household name but has her name engraved in history as being the first news reporter who shot herself on the live TV in 1974.  On July 15^th, 1974, Christine was reading the morning news when she flipped the script page and with a slightest of hesitance began reading the following.

“In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts and in living colour We bring you another first.. An attempted suicide”

She gazed into the camera with eyes that were direct and challenging. From under the anchor’s desk, her right hand came out along with a 0.38 caliber revolver. Before any of the crew or the audience could understand what was unfolding in the anchor’s room, she placed the gun on the lower back of her head and pulled the trigger. A sudden lull, a puff of smoke and her dark brown hair flew as though they were caught in a sudden gust of wind. Exactly 14 hours after this incident, she was declared dead in the nearby hospital. The obvious question what had led a 29 year successful anchor to commit suicide. The prime reason explained afterwards was the extreme dearth of close friends and romantic attachments. In fact, it bothered her that at 29, she was still a virgin. Despite her best attempts she couldn’t register with people and hence was excessively depressed leading to loss of desire to live. This was later confirmed by her relatives and psychiatrist who had been giving her sessions since weeks before her death.

While she is not the remote case of depression due to lack of adequate social bonding but the pivotal question that needs to be addressed is the utility or futility of social bonds. A cliche statement pops up into my head almost instantaneously whenever I start pondering on this subject. “Man is a social animal”. There is no denying of the fact that we seek company but is that quest so paramount to life that failure in this regard could lead to giving up the gift of life. The discussion becomes even more riveting when viewed in the backdrop of the newly found obsession with individuality. On one hand, individuality provides freedom from the bondages of family and thus allows for independent decision making resulting in precise choices driven by individual notion of happiness but on the other hand, individuality also enhances the likelihood of despair, anguish and hopelessness which eventually saps up the desire to live.

Ironically, the ushering information age with the stated intent of aiding communication has reduced the intensity of the same and hence superficial communication rules the roast. Nowhere is it better at display than the social media sites and the underlying dynamics. People share a kind of love and hate relationship with these since they need to project a particular image of themselves but in the same endeavor they tend to lose themselves. While, these users may have a plethora of friends, but the meaningful conversations never happen due to lack of emotional connect and profound understanding of real self. The pivotal question that keeps on banging in my head through is that where is this addiction taking us?

The very individuality and age of technological supremacy which we are unconsciously celebrating and inheriting bothers me, in fact it rocks me to the core. In the name of progress, development and gushing age of artificial intelligence, it seems that we are becoming more robotic with every new invention since there is an increasing need to emulate an idolized self rather than make peace with the imperfect self. With feelings become more shallow and meaningless, would it be wrong to assume that perhaps we are the future robots. I mean just think about it, deduct those imperfect feelings, irrational actions and gestures and what remains is artificial intelligence. Well, I today realise that indeed “Man is a social animal” and perhaps we should continue to remain so for it might threaten the very existence of our species. Once again I stand at the crossroads asking the same question which I have asked myself umpteen times before

“Oh Man!! You truly are most superior species to inhibit this planet. You can overcome all other so called inferior species but can you overcome the damage you so intrinsically bring about on yourself”

I truly wonder!!

An Insane Teacher’s Dilemma

In a commercialized era of education, while teaching standards and commitment have progressively declined, but a rare breed of teachers serve as a last bastion of light, those who teach not for making a living but are rather driven by an insatiable hunger to teach and to infest the “civilized” with some virtues of freedom and sensitivity. The first breed of teachers constitutes of those who view it as a profession (noble or otherwise) and thus have their focus on remaining bounded within the ambit of curriculum with or without the intention of minting huge money in the process. It is the second breed of teachers, I want to dedicate this post to. This breed of teachers is impulsive, quintessential and non-pedantic by design and thus is not restricted within self-imposed boundaries and aim nothing less than a fundamental transformation along with passionate unhindered love for the subject. For this insane breed, there is a constant dilemma of how hard the students need to be pushed in the pursuit of that fundamental transformation. A precise and artistic depiction of this dilemma is presented in the movie “Whiplash”. The movie ends on a high note but not without raising its set of profound questions. Without providing answers, I want to raise certain pertinent questions.

1)    Merits and demerits of pushing students through punitive measures.

2)    The question of free will of students to be pushed little harder as at times it may be hard to distinguish between teacher’s will and student’s will.

3)    That precise mix of pressure and motivation that works wonders.

Unfortunately but at the same time fortunately, the pedantic literature does not offer precise answers for these. The contours of the precise mix become even hazier for art based teaching particularly those dealing with music, theatre and painting. This is primarily because there is a certain madness that would produce the next great artist and thus probably it makes sense to push the pupils harder so as to perpetually pose the fundamental question.

“How badly you want it. This is critical since success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. This is especially true for artistic pursuits where the essential difference between being on the stage and getting lost is essentially the amount of blood and sweat put in that isolated room which the audience is blissfully unaware off”.

Often the unrestrained love and passion of certain restrained soul, for their subject is described as perfectionism and unprofessional. My only response would be the famous saying “Everything is fair in love and war”. As a self-imposed protagonist of these insane people, I would like to say just one thing.

“Believe it or not, the world thrives and celebrates only and only insanity. Strange.. perhaps cocky.. not at all.. All the great artists Mozart, Picasso along with the modern day reformers such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates all possessed this insane passion about their respective fields. The only reason why we cannot replicate these great men of stature is their insanity and relentless passion..”.

The modern Indian education system is systematically and efficiently designed to curtail this passion that instills from the curious world of a child. The education system aims to embrace uniformity in production whereby the final output should aim for materialistic success and in the process end up being a poster-boy for consumerism. In such grave and despotic times, there are these lunatic teachers who aim to retain that innate passion. Let us celebrate them and their abstruse choices that aim at a turbulent merger between I, me and self at a spiritual level. Just some last words..

“While we may embrace majority as the rule of thumb to resolve disputes revolving politics to the most hackneyed subjects, but it is minority that actually matters to the world and takes humanity a step forward. We are incompetent as a species to worship majority because driven by that law of demand, we are somewhere fixated with a quintessential idea that everything desirable is invariably in short supply. It’s time we conserve and cultivate this insane breed of teachers and allow them to instill life into our souls. ”