Grace has become much less common than even common
sense! Indeed, rude behaviour, if that is symptomatic of a graceless society,
abounds in our daily social interactions, at home, in public places, offices
and finally on the streets where this can easily turn into road rage incidents
which sometimes lead to violent crimes.
Most people following politics in India today will
testify to the fact that the quality of grace is becoming conspicuous by its
absence in any political discourse either inside the parliament (or any other
legislative bodies) or out of it (say, in TV studios of big national news
channels). Political opponents are routinely seen to interrupt each other and
blatantly usurp the debating space to voice one’s partisan positions. These could be something like a speculative
promise of an intangible beneficial fall out of this or that government policy
as a foregone conclusion or an exactly opposite view expressing apprehension of
an unmitigated disaster and a dark future guaranteed to unfold from the same
policy, depending on their relative coordinates vis-à-vis the political divide.
Just look at the comments people proffer in the
ubiquitous electronic space, in respect of the e-paper or ezine articles, blogs
and the social media postings. The proclivity to post comments is often not
commensurate with minimum required knowledge about the subject, basic civility
to engage in a conversation, attitude to learn and contribute to take a
discussion thread forward. On the contrary, utter arrogance and extreme and
foolhardy self-righteousness often characterize such responses. The more
sensitive the topic is the chances are that the author has to walk a sharper
razor edge so as not to offend one side or the other and invite virulent
comments. To be fair, sometimes the original blogs/postings themselves are
tendentious, judgmental, make sweeping statements, and include tasteless
insensitive pictures, almost as if spoiling for a fight. And the extreme
sensitivity and touchiness about our opinions or beliefs on virtually any
subject is legendary.
Intolerance of any view, worldview or even perception
other than one’s own is often found in individual or group interactions, and
this probably is pointing towards a fact that Indian society is becoming
increasingly intolerant. Our prescription of economic development and the way
its fall out has been managed has unleashed not only irreconcilable aspirations
among various sections of the people but often an ugly conflict between
simultaneously prevailing centuries as a part of this modernisation project. We
are a divided, indeed, very fragmented society and have too many identities -
ethnic, caste-based, religious, regional (even sub-regional), and of course
political identities to defend from each other’s perceived pillory.
Just imagine, on the other hand,
how different our world would have looked if we, at least the majority among
us, could pause in our fast-faster-fastest track of furious one-upmanship
before complete derailment and choose, individually, to be the slower coach and
address each other with that famously under-used quaint Indian phrase ‘pehle
aap’ ! Or perhaps could have reconsidered the strategy of withering
contempt for our opponent, whatever his or her identity, in real life (or
virtual) and be prepared to acknowledge the inherent ‘otherness’ as a matter of
diversity of ways of life, much like the bio-diversity, to be protected and
celebrated rather than being demonised, hated and demolished.
I wish we could, in a new form of
Satyagraha, disown the inept puppeteers of our economic and political choices,
manipulators of our taste, and all those who goad us in our every waking moment
into frenetic competition, as if our life is but a dissipative T20 match
between India and Pakistan winner taking all, for space, for the right of way,
for the wherewithal for conspicuous consumption now and the security to keep
doing the same in a distant future. And make these choices and respond not in
anger and antipathy but in awareness of colours that the colour-blind would
never see.
(A modified and updated version of an older post of mine appearing in another blog)
