FASHIONABLE DISSENT

This is the age of dissent. I don’t mean to imply that people have not expressed discontent before. They have and there have been several revolutions that have been successful enough to bring us to this point. Where for one, everyone has relative freedom to express disagreement and even more importantly, it’s so easy to do this and broadcast one’s opinion without too much personal effort or risk.

One does not have to be a Julian Assange and paint a target on oneself for the superpowers of the world to aim at or be an Anna Hazaare and endanger one’s life to get attention to one’s cause. One does not even have to leave the house. A simple ‘like’ on Facebook is all it takes to have an opinion and declare it. Twitter and status updates, online petitions and blogs – technology has made it easy to participate, so even the lazy and politically disinclined can create the illusion of a political stand.

It seems as if everyone is for or against something today. And the canvas spreads all the way from the larger issues like environmental concern to the seemingly trivial like the appropriate age for drinking. Today nothing is trivial anymore. Nothing is small enough to brush aside. Every issue is important because it seems to have enough passion both for and against it. A political stance is the must-have accessory for the fashionable and the unfashionable alike. And having one doesn’t mean that you have to really care to be consistent with it.

I happened to be on D N Road when Sunday’s protest turned violent and my brush with the incident was nothing like I might have expected. There was little anger or fear emanating from the people around and the people fleeing. Instead there was a palpable excitement. A thrill to be part of something so out of the ordinary. Rather than seek safety, many were clicking away on camera phones and composing their versions of the incident to be shared and dispersed.

It seems as if we don’t know how to protest without adding to the problem. We protest a riot with a riot, an economic slowdown with a bandh that leads to further loss of productivity, lack of political action with an opposition movement that only serves to further distract the government from the real issues at hand.

It’s time to question our own motives – do we really want something to be done or do we just want to act out and ensure that we will always have something to dissent against? Do we want India to emerge victorious and claim its place as one of the leaders of the world economy? Or do we want to bask in the prospect of it, while making sure that we get something out of the process even if it is got by standing in the way?

Dissent has become so important to the political process in India that it seems to be all that has survived from the legacy of Gandhi. We forget his self-discipline and commitment to getting things right. So let’s participate in a rally, add a Facebook like to our profile and tweet our opinions to the world. Let the Baba Ramdev’s come out and exploit our boredom to bring down the government. It will be replaced by another of our choice and that one too will be stuck in the quicksand of our dissent till another self-serving politician comes along to manipulate us into bringing that down too.

The freedom that previous generations fought so hard for is actually the freedom of choice. To have the ability to make a choice on anything that concerns us – from the choice of religion and political views to the choice of clothes and lifestyle. Even the choice of which soap or shampoo we want to use. This is the part that we all celebrate and support. But we forget that with a choice, also come consequences which belong as much to us as the choice that led to it. If we buy a soap we don’t like, we made the wrong purchase decision and are quick to correct it the next time we shop. But if we choose the wrong politician, we don’t accept responsibility. If we choose an expression of dissent that actually compounds the problem, we don’t see that.

There is an important role that dissent has played in our history. But we need to face the fact that we have things pretty good despite our pettiness. Now it’s time to do some hard work if we really want to move forward. And this calls from some real introspection when we choose a political stance. Why do we want one? Is it to make a difference to the country or just to have something to say? When we disagree, is it to solve the problem or compound it?

UNCOMMON COURTESY

Bob Biswas (from Kahaani) has become a cult figure. As the media notices this trend they also seem puzzled by it. He is neither young nor styled to be good-looking. Badly-fitting obvious wigs are not the latest fashion trend. The 6-pack abs, tough guy stance and smart stunts are missing. So what gives? How does a character become this popular without the obvious ingredients required for popularity, as defined by Bollywood pundits?

Notice the popularity of Dexter and there seems to a parallel trend on TV. Dexter Morgan’s vigilante status and better looks aside, he seems a kindred spirit to Bob Biswas. Both are unassuming, not likely to stand out in a crowd. Yet the simmering undercurrent of violence is easy for the common man (or woman) to identify with. The likelihood of being overlooked, underestimated or dismissed that might enrage the rest of us is what these men use to their advantage. Rather than make them feel ordinary it reinforces their sense of being different, and therefore special.

Bob & Dexter deal with everyday insults and onslaughts with humble ease because they have an outlet for the anger and impatience engendered by the stress of modern living. The rest of us seem incapable of shutting off the frustrations of daily toil in overcrowded, polluted, high speed cities. Few of us have opportunity to vent in the right direction. So rage at being overlooked for a promotion is taken out on a hapless domestic employee or family frustrations are relieved by aggressiveness at the grocery store. For those who drive, the most common outlet are the roads – dangerous maneuvers to get ahead of everyone, honking irrationally at the slightest delay and refusing to ever give way to another driver, a pedestrian or even a red light.

Perhaps the fact that we are not psychopaths is excuse enough. Or is it?

While Bob & Dexter are the kind of people we might not want to encounter in an isolated setting, the adulation we feel for them suggests we do not fear them. They do not fit with our conventional beliefs on what makes someone a villain. Violence itself is not sufficient to determine villainy. Bob & Dexter bring us that rare quality which is increasingly disappearing from our daily interactions – courtesy. If someone treats us with unfailing politeness we’re ready to forgive them almost anything. Villains are branded as such by their failure to be polite. The lady who elbows past you in a queue, the driver who cuts you off on the road, the retailer who is unnecessarily rude – these are the real villains in our lives.

That’s why we love characters like Bob Biswas or Dexter Morgan. Even if they do kill us, at least it will be done with kindness.

JOBS WITHOUT WORK

There is an overlooked epidemic sweeping the country. I’d call it the Indian Flu but it doesn’t quite fit the requirements to be a noveau-vogue disease like Swine Flu. It is not new, not fatal and definitely not something that can be cured or warded off. In fact, once afflicted one may as well abandon hope. And the one fact that especially distinguishes it from other diseases is that the suffering is almost exclusively borne by other people, those around the afflicted rather than the afflicted themselves. The effects produced by the illness include frustration, anger, anxiety, stress – in other people, of course. In the case of the afflicted, the biggest and most telling symptom is an extreme reluctance to do anything even remotely of use to anyone.


And anyone, absolutely anyone is at risk! It could be the cab driver who refuses to actually drive anyone anywhere. A waiter who quite literally makes everyone wait forever. The contractor who frequently goes over-budget but is nowhere close to finishing the job. The bank teller who is always on break. The executive who never returns a call or replies to e-mails. This disease like death does not spare anyone. Lofty parliamentarians and humble construction workers are equally likely to fall prey.


The disease is contagious but no one knows how it spreads. We just know that it does spread. Entire organizations from the BMC to the Indian Parliament have been afflicted. Why else would Mumbai roads be in the condition they are despite an annual spend of hundreds of crores of rupees over the last 20 years? And why else would critical debate on the Lok Pal Bill be adjourned in favour of a discussion of what the Russians may choose to censor in their own country? Anyone who has ever awaited a Tata Sky repairman in a building other than Bakhtavar (where Ratan Tata lives) knows what I’m talking about!
This insidious disease is doubly dangerous! It does not seem to affect those who make up the high unemployment figures in the country so much as it affects those who are effectively employed. Once the disease strikes, the income continues even though the work becomes negligible.


Is there a cure? Well, we haven’t even understood the causes yet! Is it an infectious attitude of helplessness, hopelessness or despair? An inborn inertia, inefficiency or incompetence? Or is it simply an act of deflection, opposition, defiance towards the progress of the nation or any of its citizens? The truth is that we just don’t know!


All we know is that despite the general optimism in India and the world regarding Indian achievements and prosperity, there is a large part of India intent on dulling this shine and negating the progress. These afflicted are determined to hold onto jobs but do no work. Since they do not directly suffer, they have no motivation to seek treatment. It is then, up to the rest of us, those not yet afflicted but suffering all the same, to understand the causes and seek a cure on their behalf. If more of us succumb to the epidemic then there is no hope for us or the country or our rosy expectations of the future!

THE JUDGE AND THE JUDGED

Like many others, I am angry at Kapil Sibal – the current minister for communications & IT, who recently suggested censorship of content posted on the Internet. Unlike many others, I don't think the issue is just about freedom of expression. A related freedom is at risk, one that is rarely acknowledged. I want to retain my freedom to criticize and judge!

Indians can be justifiably accused of being a judgmental people. We pass judgments on everything - from a person's race & culture all the way down to his clothes & accessories. No wonder "what will people say" is such an important consideration in our own lives. Every decision we make from life-changing ones of careers and marriages to seemingly meaningless ones like Facebook status updates is driven by this.

When other people's judgment is such an overwhelming presence in my life, my judgment of them is a hard-earned perk of putting up with it. It's a never-ending game of tit-for-tat where unwritten scores are being constantly tracked. When we say offensive things we mean to offend. There is no nice diplomatic way of provoking the reaction we intend.

We are a culture of clashes - our 'unity' doesn't come despite our diversity but out of the resulting clashes. Each of us judging and metaphorically putting each other in place are simultaneously being judged and shifted. This constant chaos is the energy that drives us and makes us who we are.

Coming back to Mr. Sibal: who is he to break out and say he will not be judged while casting his own judgment on the rest of us? No one is exempt from judgment, not even those who think they are. Especially not 'public servants', a term politicians like Kapil Sibal choose to use only when seeking election. Once elected, he may see himself as a Maharaja with the right to judge his public but come the time for re-election, he will humbly need to seek and submit to the public's judgment. I suggest he remembers that!

Everyone may pass a judgment and offend anyone he chooses provided he understands that the same rules apply to him. Better a war of words on the Internet than a war of bombs and guns. If Mr. Sibal succeeds in censoring our words, we will have to resort to other ways of criticism, like slaps and shoe-hurling. Our right to judgment cannot be taken away - it will find an outlet of expression. I'm sure the honourable minister must have realized by now that in seeking to escape, he has effectively painted a bulls-eye on himself!

COMMUNISTS SUPPORT CAPITALISTS!

Ever since Anna Hazaare's crusade against corruption gained momentum, India's politicians have injected renewed vigour into exercising their right to protest. They believe that if they create a noise big enough, public support will materialise from nowhere. Instant legitimacy for whatever cause has caught their fancy.

The cause in vogue today is retail FDI. The government is for it so by definition, the opposition must oppose. Regardless of ideology or the people they claim to represent. The opposition's most vocal protesters are from the 'left' parties, with communist leanings but whose interest are they really serving through this protest? Not the common public for sure. Retail FDI and big chains like Walmart expanding operations will provide many benefits like better access, cheaper prices and greater job opportunities, all of which will benefit most of the population. Those already employed in the retail sector will not be threatened. Their employers will be forced to treat them better as the risk of attrition becomes stronger.

Who, if anyone, will suffer when retail FDI opens up? A handful of traders who own retail shops and home-grown retail chains who will face competition in retaining their customers, employees and profit margins. This too is a short-term prospect if they have the willingness to adapt. International retail giants will bring more than just money to the industry - there is a real opportunity to learn from them and improvise, which is the key strength of Indian businesses.

So why the hue and cry? Communists are trying to gain political mileage by supporting a handful of capitalists, who have inadequate faith in their ability to handle market forces...as the saying goes, "it happens only in India!"

FANTASY MEETS REALITY

In an earlier era, fantasy was an escape. A vicarious view of the life we might have had; had we been allowed to dictate it. Tightly bound by the constraints of society, religion, economics, politics and indeed our own minds, reality was the life we looked to escape. Our attitude was fatalistic. One was born and could hope to die in very similar situations; sons and daughters pretty much filled the same roles that their fathers and mothers did. Where reality was narrowly defined, fantasy was imaginative and free.

Bollywood was built on fantasy. It presented the utopia we craved, the challenges we wanted to surmount, the rewards and respect that eluded us in reality. Ordinary men proved themselves and went on to live extraordinary lives on the screen, while the audiences went back to their ordinary lives, sustained by the glimpses of something totally out of reach. Fantasy was an escape and nothing more, a pleasant dream to soothe our eyes and minds. An interlude – a break from the monotony of real life.

Post liberalization as our reality has progressed; we have begun to fantasize of dreams within reach.

TV serials are built on accessible fantasy. They present the real problems, dilemmas and struggles of everyday life with a little glamour, showing us that reality need not always be so stark and depressing. Everyday life can be beautiful too, if we invite fantasies that thrive within our limitations. We may not have the red carpet but we can surely get red roses, we may not own the world but the exercise of power in our own sphere is still possible.

Reality shows are bringing fantasy down to real life. Real life transforms to celebrity life overnight. Not just through talent and hard work in competitions like Indian Idol & Dance India Dance, but also through outrageous & bad behaviour in shows like Roadies & Splitsvilla.

And anyone can get a ‘following’ on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. Air your views on anything under the sun, publish your writing, show off your exotic vacations. Complain, admire, shock, criticize, like, friend, trash, protest, put down – all within sight of a global audience.

Video & Internet games allow us to ‘live’ in other dimensions that though made of fantasy, feel just as real. Get a virtual life, fight in a virtual war and even have virtual sex. Anything seems possible today.

Living one’s fantasies was once impossible – who could reach for a dream that was elusive, as far out of reach as the moon? Today even the moon does not feel out of reach with space tourism seeming like a distinct possibility. A moment’s fantasy transforms rapidly into reality in a relatively quick passage of time. Perhaps, there is no longer much difference between fantasy and reality.

COMMUNITY CONSCIENCE

Anna Hazare has sparked off the revolution for India's post-liberalisation generation. And this one is not for 'freedom' but against 'misuse of freedom'.

Democracy is alive and thriving in India but perhaps our elected and appointed representatives are thriving too much at the public's expense. Corruption used to be something that even the corrupt were ashamed of...it existed in secret coded langauge and behind closed doors. Today, corruption is in the open...flaunted with a smirk and accepted as an institution.

The government response to the Gandhian protest proves this point. Even if I did not suspect the Congress of corruption before, now I feel sure. Why else be so defensive about having any sort of check on their powers? Democracy is about accountability too!

And I'm not naive enough to believe that the opposition is any better. I commend Team Anna for not allowing any political party to appropriate this cause and make it another empty electoral promise.

While Parliament consists of representatives of the people, the judgement of how to hold these representatives accountable should be left to the people too. Why give them the power to decide what they are answerable to?

As a concerned citizen, I support this movement. But I feel the need to add that this is not just a revolution to be fought in the country as a community - it is equally & critically important to continue the fight in the conscience as individuals.

We the people are India. So if we want the country to shed the persona of corruption, we need to decide never to contribute to it in any way.