So what’s the Outrage of the Day?
Does any of you have this regular
guy in your morning routine who starts off your day wishing you a good morning
every single day before ruining it for you by detailing why it really isn’t a
good morning?
Well, lucky you, if you answered
in the negative. I have this crabby colleague I travel to office with, who is
perpetually pissed with everything and everyone every-single- damn-day.
Nothing, absolutely nothing pleases him- be it the crisp morning air which is to
him a grim reminder of the office drudgery to follow or the cheerful Safai
worker who very courteously nods at us day after day (reminding him of
freeloaders in his society who don’t pay up society maintenance charges leading
to inefficient garbage disposal which is the root cause of this city becoming
un-livable) or my desperate humorous attempts at steering away from conversations that can
trigger off any of the above! As per him, potholes are meant to be repaired by
none less than the Prime Minister himself (since the lying, conniving mass-murderer
doesn’t deserve to lead our country) after he has found time to penalize
corporates (who run slave factories) and demolish slum rehabilitation projects
(since that’s where the scums of society breed ) Phew!!! I am sincerely praying
he clears the next interview, so that he can migrate on his H1 to the Promised
Land! Why should I alone have all the fun, no?
Outraging seems to be the
national pastime these days. Ban this, shut that, block them, and delete all! If
the TRP-hungry media and their never ending debates on prime time were to be
believed, we Indians are doomed, hurtling on a retro-regressive trajectory! Blame
it on the internet, I was told. Did the internet really do this to us? I mean,
before this net-invasion I would like to believe people still debated and
discussed all kinds of topics, but wasn’t it limited to those particular fora?
I could choose to participate, or stay away. Today, I dread going to ‘MY’ FB page fearing what all posts my
friends have tagged me on-to, wanting me to endorse what trivial comment ‘THEY’ have chosen to take offence at! Everyone
has an opinion today (rightly so) but I know of them only because folks ranted
nonstop over it all over my TL! Try
posting a counter-comment and invite more faux outrage!
So what the fish just happened to
the supposedly tolerant, all- embracing Indian society given the depth of
cultural richness and diversity of our socio-economic backgrounds? When did we
turn ? An adhesive advertisement had friends questioning each other’s sense of humor
and patriotism at the same time. Standup comedians have certainly started
scouting for jobs after the #AIB fiasco. We even outraged over President
Obama’s personal concern about our "acts of intolerance possibly shocking
the Mahatma” too. While we rightly welcomed our government’s stand of “any aberrations
not altering history” we simultaneously tapped into our collective conscience
to ridicule the ungrateful (?!?) guest while adding “this is a case of the kettle
calling the pot black’ (ahem… should I use Afro-American instead?)
Political parties across the
board have proved that politicians will be just that, politicians, artificially
manufacturing environs of hatred and violence; internal harmony, national
security, economics and development be damned. The recent #Beefban had a friend
from Mumbai indignantly foaming at his mouth. When I brought his attention to
the fact that he wasn’t being served beef
even earlier (I read it here: http://www.firstpost.com/india/the-misdirected-outrage-over-beefban-calm-down-you-werent-eating-it-anyway-2132875.html
) he went on to warn me gravely, “you may need permission to breathe next, in
this state” before expressing his desire to relocate to Delhi , or maybe Bengaluru
where he can enjoy his rare steak in peace. Now Pune based IT folks unfortunately,
cannot think beyond the Bengaluru-Hyderabad-Delhi trinity, you see. I didn’t have the heart to point out to him
that cow slaughter is banned in both Delhi & Karnataka besides Maharashtra,
Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Punjab, Odisha, Puducherry, Madhya
Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana,
Gujarat and Bihar. (I read it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/03/03/beef-ban-maharashtra_n_6790006.html
).
As much as I would like to agree
with my PM’s conviction that, “India’s ancient civilization propagates acceptance
of all and appeasement of none’, the sceptic in me has this nagging doubt that
maybe, just maybe we were never ever that tolerant. Is it possible that we are
not as much tolerant as we are indifferent? This indifference just got
perceived as tolerance, that’s it. The Mughal culture was enforced as was the
British invasion. We just kind of accepted it and blended in. Oh sorry, is this
precisely what they mean when they say tolerant? We have forever been clashing
on castes and religion- a discussion I would consciously prefer to stay out of.
Communal –religious-secular issues have seen (and will no doubt see more)
multiple un-necessary communal clashes and endless debates online as well as
offline. Moral policing forced itself upon us while migrants (internal as well
as external) have been at the heart of many a storm. The socio-economic and
gender divides have claimed many a life.
Pluralistic democracies respect
independent, individual choices which cannot and should not be forced onto
anyone. If only we can accept this fact and work collectively towards taking
this country to the next progressive level. We have more serious issues than #SRKvsSalman
to discuss and debate and outrage on. Can we have a slight course correction, please?
Can we steer the discourse to things and issues more productive, please?
In an age and day when denouncing
our ancient identity has become elitist and slamming our government and its policies, people and their attitudes
is the norm, yet, when I look across the border and beyond, I feel extremely proud
and fortunate to have been born in India, with opportunities to learn and grow
and love and live, despite its societal failings ! A girl child, yet, in no way
unfortunate or less equal than my brother back home. Yes, as a society we do
have rapes and female feticides to fight against and yes we live and thrive
around filth and poverty. But, are any of these societal failings really
insurmountable? Can we not give in to forces that want us to fail
geo-politically , and instead focus our time, energy, effort and attention towards finding solutions to the
myriad problems we face ?
I have immense trust and respect
for India’s deep rooted culture and ethos and her constitution with its legal
framework and terrific faith in my countrymen, especially my generation. We
could be a flawed democracy, but let’s not give them a reason to write us off
again!
Call me optimistic, call me naïve,
but don’t tell me my country is doomed to fail. Night after night, debate after
debate; stop screaming at me out of the idiot box- The nation demands no more.
PS: This was Yours Truly’s
way of ranting and getting it out of her system, how dare others outrage her
with their outrage and escape unscathed ;) A friend summed it up for me with his standard
response of: "I do not believe a word of what you say, but I shall give my
life to defend your right to say so”. Am also aware of the fact that while our
great constitution gives me the freedom to express myself responsibly (emphasis
mine) it sure does give my friends the right to roast me :-P
#InMyOpinion #Outrage #India #Media #ProudIndian #Beefban
