Religion?

Religion is an identity. One more identity along with many others. It is an identity we live with every day - for MOST of us, it decides how we eat, dress, pray, marry, live and exit strategy. And this is an identity that is far more longer and deeper than our identity as a citizen of a sovereign country. You like it or not, whether this is ideal or not, this is how we live, atleast as of now. Whether this identity is deeper than our identity as a citizen is very much debatable and varies from person to person. “Idea of India” cannot be something a bunch of people who called themselves “founding fathers” defined in 1947.

So, my question is, in a country that celebrates diversity and wishes to uphold it (I think) - why should we have to hesitate/scoff at proclaiming this identity – who decided to attach a taboo to religion? When I say, I am an IT professional or a mother or a Dhoni fan, nobody tells me, “Hey, but you are an Indian first and we are all equal”. So why is mention of religion and caste frowned upon, when it is a reality we live with every day – isn’t it presumptuous to think people identifying with a religion and caste can only be regressive and divisive? The real problem is about hypocrisy and demonizing/wishing away something so much, that it became the elephant in the room. Ordinary people and harmless citizens are made to feel bad when they identify with a religion and caste – whereas it is totally NORMAL/REVOLUTIONARY to put up an elevated pedestal with loudspeakers talking about others’ religion and caste. Me identifying with my religion and caste destroys the “idea of India”, but NOT people addressing hundreds and thousands of others about every caste and religion but their own or about all castes and religion put together. Real change should be about calling out this bluff, and not about imposing taboos on religion and caste for the average man and expecting people to change who they are or what they know about their identity. When we expect people to be ashamed of their religion as identity, we have already conceded that there can be no Unity in Diversity, unless there is an intermediate sameness factor. The idea of India is simply too fuzzy/complex, but stronger and deeper than what people can imagine or hope to achieve with forced ideals like secularism. And Indians shouldn’t be expected to dumb down to fit into SOME people’s unidimensional theories and logic boxes.

So, what really happened? If I were to write a hilarious satire – the script would go like this -  somewhere, a group of people who had a large identity crisis with respect to religion, called themselves free thinkers and liberals, but couldn't stand how much the religious/believers were at peace with their religious identity. So, what they tried to do was force their identity crisis on us, believers. They defined that religion must be personal, meaning if you really must have anything to do with it, no one needs to know. But in India, we don’t live like that – expressing is second nature, we are not known for our subtlety - it is who we are. Archimedes shouted Eureka once and the world can’t stop talking about it, Eureka is a way of life in India. We marvel at everything, we celebrate everything, we fight, we are passionate, we can bow down to everything, we laugh together, we cry together - really our culture is one big song and dance. Telling us suddenly to be ashamed/downplay who we are, is sort of like caging us back again. Only a deeply joyless Western ideal/ism can define such rules for us.

"Why I am a Hindu"- I don’t have any such identity crisis. I am a Hindu and I can be one, without having to be Indian at the same time, and I can be Indian without being restricted by the fact that I am a Hindu. I don’t have a problem with my identity and I don’t expect anyone to have problems with me proclaiming this identity. And this is the same of any religion - Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Parsi, Jainism etc. and should be the same of any caste, language as well. There will always be some ups and downs in society and inequalities, but that won’t be levelled out by parroting hypocritical narratives that don’t mean much in everyday, practical life. It is the same sham as some liberals/feminists thumping their chests and imagining that women's rights and progress happened because of some people on the streets and placards. You may push and push and push a woman to go out and work, but it will never happen until there are jobs that don’t need brute strength and working in harsh conditions. The growth of technology and digitalization made sure physical strength and skills that were unique to men were irrelevant and we needed the kind of skills which both men and women could provide equally. Society evolves by discovery - of self and of needs and opportunities around us, by inventions and innovations and not by ideologies and theories. Most importantly, it evolves by active contribution.

Coming back to my favourite - religion :) - Expecting citizens to push back their religious identity as a necessary condition for the country's unity is well, it will just be an expectation, far removed from reality, it will be a sham and subversion of how people genuinely feel and how they live. When every other identity is valid and legitimate and considered healthy for a nation, why not religion and caste? A society must be able to extract the best of diversity, not judge which differences are needed and which should be done away with. India is still a very religious country. Most people atleast. AND we must be very proud of that. If not, we must ACCEPT this. As normal and healthy.

Unwritten Rule: Return Gifts!

I couldn't afford to take it easy - at least not like the other tasks I fervently undertake - making dhabba lists or making my daughter's scrapbook or even doing finger painting with her every Sunday. This was huge and a big deal and the real acid test for being 'the perfect mommy'. My daughter was going to be 4 and unlike other birthdays, I had a distinct intuition that I just couldn't run with the usual cake-cutting and dinner-out-with family routine. My daughter's individuality and earliest opinions of her life was carved when imagining how her birthday should be celebrated. She had utilized every birthday party opportunity to make her own opinions of the 'hows' and 'whats' of birthday parties. She had seen and learnt enough to know that these 'things' should not be left to parents alone - she needs to spell out her requirements 'loud and clear' - else the 'kaamchors' that they are, her parents will take the easy way out.

Thus began our plan and the first of the many shopping trips to find the 'perfect' everything - cake, refreshments, invites, entertainment, games etc. I thought I could at least decide who I could call for my toddler's b'day party. But my daughter reinstated at every available opportunity that it was HER b'day and it was either 'Her way or Her Way'. So my list went from 15 children to about 32 children, because she reasoned out that she couldn't ignore children she played with maybe once a year or saw in the corridor once in a while while running up and down the stairs and not to forget children she never knew, but whose parents usually gave wonderful gifts. Fair enough. Long story short, we did finally manage to meet her expectations - 2 cakes instead of 1, colour coordinated decorations and invites, party games, refreshments with high junk quotient.  But we never knew the best was saved for the last.

By then our budget had spiraled somewhat out of control, but what the hell! it is our only daughter's special day. Then my daughter matter-of-factly asked me, 'Ma what about return gifts'? I was mentally and physically not prepared. I tried to reason with my daughter that nobody would mind because the food, music, cake and games were all lavish and brilliant. She wouldn't hear any of it - she told me wisely that none of the other things mattered if there were no return gifts. I thought she was being dramatic. But she was adamant and in hindsight, I thank her for drilling sense into my out-of-date, laid back mind. I finally had to give in - does any parent have an alternate choice especially when it is a birthday in question?

I reminisced about the no-frills, but meaningful birthdays my parents gave me. 'Ma let's go now' - she shook me from my useless reverie. The hunt for the return gifts turned out to be the mother of all birthday party efforts - 32 meaningful gifts - alike but customized to the sex and age of every child and wrapped and packed likewise. It meant finding the one shop that had the number of gifts I needed, in the budget I needed and the way I wanted. I was tearing my hair in agony wondering, who invented this concept of return gifts? Sheer torture for 'far from ideal' parents like me!

Come D-Day and my daughter is in the best of spirits. We have a gala party, play games and there is a boisterous debate on who gets the Barbie's head, crown, face, shoes and everything in between. After a frantic, helpless intervention and what seems like an amicable agreement, the cake is cut and I manage to calm the kids with a platter of cake and food. I mentally made a note that anything that is remotely home-made or healthy gets passed or wasted. Then the children get restless and I know its time for them to go home, so I am ready to bid them goodbye when they remind me that I am forgetting something. I realize my grave error and rush to get the gifts and ruefully moan that I have not named or packed them according to sex or age. So I let them open the gifts and exchange it themselves and lo! the most fierce childish battlefield unleashes in the very confines of the place that had dancing feet and smiling faces, just awhile ago. Wrapping paper flew all over the place - 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' be damned! There were children crying, screaming, sulking and I had to finally call parents to drag wailing kids away from my house. Despite my best efforts, I felt tired, shaken and extremely sad to have invited children over to my place, only to return home crying. The only saving grace were some wonderful kids who came up to me and said 'Aunty, thank you for the beautiful party'.

There are a lot of things you realize about yourself, your child and children in general at a kids' birthday party. Most of them wonderful, but some of them are unsettling - like how we feel it is alright that children are conditioned to expect something in return for something they give or how we unwittingly let children imagine they are entitled to everything they want. It is unsettling how our sense of right and wrong flies out the window when it is our children in question - how children bring the best, but also the 'worst' in us. Family feuds over property is most definitely because we want it for our children, most of us become materialistic after we have children. We cease to believe in good manners once we have children - we think its okay to let our children misuse apartment premises, run amok in restaurants, throw tantrums in public and lastly that its okay for them to sulk and be disappointed or bored at their age. Why cant we reserve the fairy tales for bedtime alone and acquaint them with real people and the real world? What is so wrong with saying 'No' or saying 'I cant do it' or 'I cant afford it' or 'You don't need it'? What is so wrong about expecting them to be polite, kind and simple?

Like everything to do with children, it is a battle between reason and affection. But I do not believe in overdoing things for children and so its always best to stick to the truth. Talk to them, sell them your simple problems and grandiose ideals. Be creative - give them new and meaningful ways to do something, encourage them to be different and stand for what they think is right.

I have still not come to terms with the return gifts, hence birthday parties have flown out the window since my daughter turned 6. Its not been easy - but I am glad I have shown my daughter other ways to celebrate her birthday. It is up to us to teach children that life doesn't end when a door is closed, but that it gives you room for other possibilities. So what if they don't get a return gift or get the wrong one, nothing should wreck their endless party.

Speak Easy!

It finally comes off as a breath of fresh air when people can talk your language, quite literally. Especially after the much publicized, ultimately dud of a TV interview people were served up with some weeks ago. So its quite possible to speak exactly to the point, without being ambiguous and pretentious, grandiose even. It was a great read... RBI governor Raghuram Rajan's talk with Mumbai school children couple of weeks back was a brilliant piece for a number of reasons and not just because he said that 'ours' will be one of the greatest economies of the future. Leave alone, 'walking the talk and talking the walk', even 'talking the talk' is a generally tall ask.

The RBI governor's address comes as a bright gleam in a starless, mysterious backdrop that even the deepest and most complex things in the universe can be explained with clarity and ingenuity. He proved that 'simplicity is profound'. Because what indeed could be more demystifying and complex than explaining things like how banking interest rates work, how home loans get paid off, how inflation and insurance works. I have have always wondered why things meant to work 'for the people' are never really understood by them. You can never really explain interest rates except without a calculator or a spreadsheet. Or understand, don't worry. You never dare ask what is the work of a banker, economist or a policy maker involve. Those are deeply guarded secrets shrouded in secrecy and complexity by a very capable and successful cloak of jargons and financial rhetoric.

Simplicity and innocence are fast dwindling reserves and no one is aware or bothered even. The prime KRA of many of the top bosses in esteemed organizations and committees is to keep things off-limits to the common man, not by openly putting a 'No Entry' sign, but by complicating and encrypting it with names, numbers and policies that are not supposed to make sense to an ordinary man, so that RTI (Right to Information) cannot touch them. Don't worry, schools and hospitals are extremely competitive ( a proof of our thriving economy) and not ones to be left behind. Recently I heard a playschool claiming horrendous things like "path breaking and comprehensive solutions for quality learning and teaching" - please note you could interchange path breaking, comprehensive, quality and still make the same sense or nonsense. Where the hell is the child in the above corporate tag line? The hope in all this is that if we can chew and digest these, rocket science is not out of reach.

Anyone who knows his stuff well or is an expert ought to take his wares to the common man - be it arts, economics, politics and even finance - maybe that's what Rahul Gandhi secretly meant when he spoke of "empowerment". At least let's hope so! I wish people were as simple and entitled as that portrayed in the Maruti advertisement where after a long, scientific explanation, they can just ask, "Toh kitna deti hai", quite literally. So who will shout out about the "Emperor's new clothes" and ask naively, "But where are the clothes"?

The Mad, Mad Rush...

It's that time of the year when the nation is not only caught up in elections and seats, but where its citizens are scrambling for seats of another kind - school admissions for their kids. If you are a newly married couple or someone who has nothing to do with school-ready kids, you may ask - so what is the big deal? Well ask your dear friends who have or who are trying to gain admission for their precious cherubs - their decision awkwardly balancing between their idea of fine schooling and the devil in this case, affordability. Yes, newbies, marching your child off to the "perfect" school is a milestone and ordeal by itself. One wrong turn and you end up failing the society, your all knowing parents, parenting and lastly maybe your child even. Or so it seems.

Image from cheekywipes.com

So this piece is dedicated to the majority of the parents who feel lost, confused and burdened by a such a mammoth rite of passage. What should you consider while deciding your child's school? Is there room for error? A fair amount of reading up, asking around and visiting around certainly helps. At the very least, we should strive to understand a school's heart and soul by asking the right questions and picking up the right signals, whilst we choose, evaluate and finally zero-in on the right school.

Meeting with the different members of the school is like meeting with your future in-laws. It is meant to be hunky dory on the outside, but a lot of awkward questions and doubts lurk inside. Don't be fooled by the flash and flutter of honeyed words, pompous attitude and astronomical numbers. Just like a good match is made by understanding each other completely, no matter how awkward the questions, it is better to get it out of the way first.  So here's what you should know about your child's school:

Going the Distance: Some people really feel their child must 'go the distance' for the best schooling experience. If you ask me, no! Choose schools not beyond a 4 - 5 km radius,lesser if possible. Initially this may not matter, but in the long run, it will save you a lot of worry and energy. And trust me, with sick people out in the world, it is stomach churning, till your child gets home safe and sound especially if travelling by school, public or private transport. Travelling miles back and forth at such a tender age is not going to win them any extra points. Life is tough - don't give them a taste of it already!

Play, Plays and Place: Though there is a paradigm shift in parents' expectation of what a school should offer - some schools are still stuck in the previous generation. And mind you, that includes some so-called top schools too. That doesn't matter - we needn't follow the crowd, if at the end of the day, we are hoping for balanced, well rounded kids who have the freedom to explore and choose. That is where a school environment becomes pertinent - otherwise I know of many capable parents who can really home-school their kids. So if a school doesn't offer play, enough place to play, enough opportunities to play and be part of events, plays, programs and meets, don't even think about it.

Middle class approach: Yes class is preferable, middle-class is mandatory. Suffice to say, its always better to choose a school that understands parents being anxious about their kids, that is quite frugal when it comes to demanding money, that believes in courtesy, heritage, patriotism and lastly treats children as children - neither as demigods nor as guinea pigs. Schools that begin and end their conversations with their pass percentage, what they have achieved in the 'past', strict admission procedure or about how many branches they have across the city, country and the world will fail miserably here.

Communication & Platforms: Many people omit to evaluate these aspects. Remember the first few years, you will never know how your child is faring or even what is s/he doing at school. And they are also too small to tell you what happens at school. In such a scenario, a school needs to provide enough open house sessions, events and parent teacher platforms to help you understand what is happening at school. Also no school is big enough to NOT listen to a student or a parent. So no matter how small or grown up your child is, you just should not have a problem meeting the right people. A good school understands that its most important foundation is its students and parents.

Approach to Outliers: You can never hope to educate your child in a place which does not believe in equality. And that means, a school that does not differentiate between abilities, background, potential and nature of children. Do understand their approach to children from underprivileged backgrounds and children with challenges, not to mention children with a learning disability as well as difficult children. If you feel this matter doesn't concern you, then just pray your child does not turn out to be aggressive, hyper active, attention-deficit or even a laggard now or in the future. Schools that don't accommodate outliers, are sure to be intolerant to anything but the best, unless you are affluent and powerful.

Remember the heart of any schooling experience are the teachers and even in a great school, the schooling year is shadowed by the kind of teacher/s that your child is destined to be with. If you ask me, the quality of teachers is the deal clincher in any school and since teachers keep rotating in and around neighboring schools, every school has its list of good, bad and great teachers. So if you feel you are hearing the right things as far as the above aspects are concerned, don't be too worried about academics - definitely a school that gets these things right can pack a punch when it comes to academics and numbers.

Essentially, it means that the most popular school is necessarily not the best one. Any school that knows the art of academics and the pulse of children ought to get these right. Look for goodness, not greatness in a school. Don't dismiss a school because it is new - being in the first batches of a good school is very rewarding. Avoiding the pitfalls of hearsay and popular opinion, ask your questions, form your opinions and make an informed choice. And finally when you do decide, remember the only person you ought not to fail is your child. It sure is an exciting journey ahead!

HERE'S TO GREAT BEGINNINGS! CHEERS!

Resolve this New Year...

".... I never understand, but I believe. Help me hold on to it."

                                                                               - Anon

Are you one of those people who says, "New Year Resolution'....Nah!!! Despair not, you are not alone.But I was surprised though reading the list of New Year resolutions in the newspaper today and it hit me that, "Some people never give up". I was a naysayer too until a few years ago, but the tricky 30s kick in and alongwith it a sense of restlessness set in. Not just because it struck me that life can be meaningless even when and especially if it is perfect, but also because of the unsavory feeling that the best 30 summers and winters have already whizzed past you. I realized life can get pretty mean and miserly if you are way too complacent and even if you are way too comfortable. Purpose and meaning no longer become cliche`s... they become as potent and palpable as the sugar cravings you have after lunch. Ouch!

The 30s are a hard time - I give you that. The trick is to be forgiving, yet challenge every thing you took for granted about yourself and your relationships. Its about giving yourself a chance knowing full well when and how you will fail. So sail thro' the 30s and I reckon there's light at the end of the tunnel - I am simply saying who knows, the 40s could be kinder.

And every New Year - I give myself another chance. Maybe I will fail in a day, a week or even a month. But the important thing is to be kind - start again, continue... whatever! And the only thing that can scoop you up from massive disappointment is hope - even an ounce of it. The silly things begin to matter - those things you dismissed as juvenile and beneath you. You sigh that you, not your life is your biggest disappointment as well as your biggest redemption. You make peace with the fact that life is not about the large, big stuff - its about the small, almost invisible stuff - about being hopeful and positive and kind and not necessarily about being successful, beautiful and rich. And yes, there's also this distant nagging 'ding-ding' that the clock is ticking and there's so much to do and so little time left.

So don't scoff off New Year resolutions - people who made them never got hurt. They are just foolishly persistent people who invested in themselves every year. They are people who believed in the New Year, just the way we sweat to make our children believe in the Santa Claus and the tooth fairy and even the one eyed demon that would come at night if they did bad things. Now, that's not half so bad. So make a list, write a graffiti across the wall, hang a poster, post it on your fridge - whatever - remind yourself you have another chance and certainly deserve one. More people died of disillusionment than of failure. Maybe you are one of the many who says, I resolve not to make a resolution, but beware the numbers on the other side are certainly going up, year after year. Don't be on the wrong side of hope. So do yourself a favor and make up a New Year wish. And run along with it, as much as you can.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU. MAY YOU ALWAYS BELIEVE!

INDIAN FILMS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE!

Karan Johar and the entire Indian film industry were up in arms recently when being accused of the fact that the item numbers in movies were responsible for rapes and the general abuse of women in our country.  Agreed, it is up to each individual to not get carried away by the content shown in films and also the RIGHT to not buy a ticket to watch the movies we are offended by. Uh, huh but filmmakers playing safe and shying away from any kind of moral responsibility for the way films have encouraged or upheld women being objectified in our country is no good too.

Here's my account of how and where Indian films objectify women and are also equally to blame for male machismo and violence. To be fair to all, wherever possible, I am using recent movies as an example for each of the points below. I am not even going south - where heroes are considered the very avatars of the God Almighty himself, let's just talk about the recent Hindi movies, so our film makers will get off their high horses regarding "women empowered" movies they are making:

1. Let's start with item numbers - Item numbers themselves are not wrong, but how they are perceived and projected in the movie is. Don't all films glorify the men that are leering or being macho with the females in these songs? Most often, isn't it the male lead who is being flirtatious and all 'touchy-feely'  with the female character in question? Isn't it that when there is an item number with men, women around are rarely shown as lusting after the man, while inevitably IT IS ALWAYS THE OTHER WAY AROUND. MOVIES: Agneepath, Dabangg 1 & 2 etc
2. Again, with items numbers, is a rationale offered behind the item songs? Compare item songs in 'Dabangg' and that in 'Chandni Bar' or any of our yesteryear star Helen's movies. In most, if not all movies, Helen was a character in the films she did item numbers in and the most beautiful, evergreen and melodious songs were filmed on her. Does the picturization suggest that a girl is doing dirty dancing for her livelihood or that she just drops from heaven to give the 'hard-working, social do-gooder' hero a GOOD TIME? MOVIES: Agneepath, Dabangg 1 & 2 etc
3. In MOST of our films, isn't it an important scene, where the males give a morality lecture to the female of what is socially acceptable and why - like "..Children are 'God's gift' and you cannot abort", "You cannot be haughty or selfish - put your family first, listen to your elders even if they are unreasonable, narrow minded old cows", "..you cannot wear dresses you like  else...." MOVIES: Aitraaz, Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham etc
4. Some filmi stereotypes of women - If they are career minded, they are always portrayed as selfish, haughty, frigid and sometimes even unscrupulous. If they are sisters or mothers to the hero, they are always dressed traditional with their heads bowed down - all sister characters are not looked upon kindly if they fall in love, wear short dresses or abandon their hypocrite, male chauvinistic husbands. After a female character gets married almost always the dress code undergoes a drastic change. The MOTHER IN LAW is always projected to be interfering, loud, heartless and downright BITCHY.
5. Most often a woman is showed as being stupid or opinion-less, her only purpose in life being falling in love with the hero, making his home and getting the social activist hero to bed. MOVIES: Singham, RACE 1, 2 and every other sequel I am sure, Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani
6. Aren't only the males offered the right to infidelity, two-timing, flirtatiousness and promiscuousness, while it is portrayed in an entirely different light when it comes to females? MOVIES: Cocktail, Gangster
7. Isn't stalking, wooing, eve teasing all portrayed as perfectly rational and in fact a man's birth right in most Indian movies? MOVIES: Dabangg, Kal Ho Na Ho
8. Almost always, why aren't WOMEN in Indian films ever allowed to slap a guy or reprimand a man no matter what he does, whilst all men in films are 'slap-happy', their bravado is in fact measured by it. Well you know what they say, 'Indian NAARIS should know their sabyata'.
9. Why aren't women on screen allowed to take decisions on abortion, child birth, even marriage? Why are they always shown to be right and happy to leave such decisions to the family/the man? MOVIES: Aitraaz, Hum Aapke Hain Koun,
10. And, Mr Karan Johar, what is the whole brouhaha over weddings in all your films? Ever been to a real wedding - ever seen the omnipresent tension and unnecessary hardships borne by the couple's families. Its time you understand that 'marriage' and 'wedding' are two different things - get off your high horse as a pious torchbearer of Indian culture, by glorifying BIG FAT INDIAN weddings IN ALL YOUR FILMS. Please!
11. Aren't most 'hit' pictures about the 'boy's family accepting girl and vice-versa and everybody struggling by hook or crook to get 'liked' by each other's families. Why is being 'liked' such a BIG DEAL in our movies? MOVIES: You name it - SRK became King Khan acting in a host of those.
12. Do most of our films even warrant women characters or are they simply eye and arm candy? Why do we have three heroines in the movie RACE 2, when you are scratching your head as to why at least two of them are not even needed in the plot? Is it about keeping employment stats in the film industry high?
13. Does a scene picturized on a woman intend to capture her cleavage, her curves and her shapely bottoms or her personality and her role in the overall plot?
14. Don't all films mistake vulgarity, force, lust and male chauvinism for sex, passion and sensuality?
15. Aren't all films based on physical appearances and what you can do if you are beautiful and what a total failure you are if you are not? Don't films just make us cringe at our imperfect bodies, natural looks and tanned faces?
16. And how do we portray rape survivors in movies - as outcasts or as bravehearts, as tainted or as normal? Don't we show in our films that it is the end of the world for rape survivors, that men are doing a 'favor' by marrying them or 'accepting' them?

And, yes, we have the right to not buy a ticket to watch a 'Chikni Chameli', but God save us, if even seemingly thinking actors peg their otherwise not so bad movies' success to a seedy item number, in the name of commerce and entertainment. What's the difference between the policeman who bribed a victim's family to push the crime under the carpet and these so called film makers - isn't everybody just saving their ass?

Dear Filmmakers - Don't wash your hands off of these depictions of women in the garb that films ape society - the society is what you and I are made of. Don't think you can dish up any cock and bull stuff and imagine you are being creative and realistic and so cannot be held accountable or responsible. Well, if you think you are entitled to make films objectifying women, please also remind us, while promoting your films that the content in your film may be offensive and that we have the RIGHT to not watch your movie. If nothing else, atleast have the decency to keep your mouth shut and not talk about women and women's rights and how films have nothing to do with what is happening in the country.

Free to speak, but...

"Girls arrested for a post on FB opposing something, something"

"Techie arrested for a tweet opposing someone"

"Some leader denounced and came under fire for saying someone's IQ level equals some one else's"

"Some leader denounced for saying he admires Hilter"

"Some cine-star made to apologise because she supports abortion"

'Someone's novel banned in India because he opposed something/glorified something"

"Some painter was banished from India because he portrayed Indian goddesses in his own way"

Maybe each of the above headlines are of a different nature and have different connotations - but to me they all have an underlying theme - You are free to speak, but not something that I don't agree with. And if you do, you hurt my sentiments and my pride.

Image from www.luckybogey.wordpress.com

This is very disturbing because, depending on who I am and what I can do, I could choose to react to your right to opinion in various ways. So if I am just an ordinary citizen, the 'aam aadmi' - I can curse you, give you gaalis on any social platform or make you the butt of my jokes near the office water cooler, or if I am really someone with power - muscle, money, political or underworld, I can put you behind bars, snatch away the dignity your work deserves, disfigure your face, break your bones or even have you killed. In short, the 'the right to be provoked' seems more fundamental than the 'right to speak'.

To me, it just seems unfair that people and media hype and react to the instance when someone was sent to jail for 'expressing her sentiments' and just ignore the other instances when a lesser fate was meted out for the same "crime"...Each instance was a violation to someone else's freedom of expression.  To me, the unconscientious trend of intolerance to another's opinion is dangerous enough, how someone opposes it is just an aftermath. As a country, as a class, if tolerance to another's opinion, no matter how irrational, insensitive and stupid, cannot be practiced, we are setting very bad precedents and transitioning a very explosive nation to the next generation. The tendency to be easily provoked, to be easily hurt and to be easily 'stupid and vulnerable' can cloud our rationale, our judgment and eventually our decisions and actions.

If you have seen or read or heard about mob culture, you will realize that people in a mob are generally good, decent people - often loving spouses and fathers - they just acted the way they did, because " their sentiments were hurt, they were provoked". People in a mob do not think, certainly do not understand, but almost always react. And my fear is, if we don't practise tolerance and restraint, we can end up doing more harm to our people and to our society, when 'provoked', if 'hurt'...the kind of harm we read in newspapers, watch in television everyday.

Sometimes, I think, freedom itself is a precious power that few people understand and fewer can handle - a power which needs to be handled responsibly and with incredible maturity. We are seeing everyday how the press misuses this freedom. A free society is one where you are as free to speak as I am and I have the duty to listen or tolerate as much as you do. A free society is one which is vociferous and intolerant when it comes to degenerative practices, actions and mindset, but upholds to the very end, the right of its citizens to speak and speak as freely as possible.

Sounds impractical? See, I don't understand how someone could admire Hitler the same way as how someone could blame women for rapes, but I think blowing something out of proportion, making it a national debate or giving such things more attention than necessary, is not what a true democracy should practise. Instead of focusing on what someone said regarding rape of women and children, let's focus on bringing about laws and empowerment which ensures culprits do not get away with any 'gift of the gab'...

For better and rational laws and to bring about changes to the society, we need free, independent, fearless speakers and sometimes we need to tolerate stupidity once in a while to be able to achieve that. This is the society that condemned Galileo because he claimed that the earth moves and is not stationary. We need to go beyond just opinions and views to judge a person and today we are a country that doesn't take kindly to frank (ok, maybe sometimes stupid) opinions nor does tolerate its head of state being mum on critical issues. By now, we have all come to realize that it is better to have an opinion and take a stand rather than being 'mum' and 'aloof'.

So unless we have the power of reasoning and restraint, we will continued getting 'provoked' and 'hurt', no matter how harmless the opinion or the comment. And let's always remember - "Everyone is free to speak, no ifs and no buts!