To Kill A Rocking Word

Words can kill as good as a gun, but we seem to be killing words minus guns. While most kosher words are dead, others have lost meaning. Some have been mutilated so badly that they have become jokes. For example, look at what we have done to the word enquiry. ‘An enquiry will reveal all’, says supremely efficient Shinde in his signature bumbling style. Hello sir? Even the most naïve in remote Jharkhand is aware that an enquiry equals sham. Despite the grammar and spell check, if any worthwhile fiction is being written today, it is in the fact finding reports of investigations.No wonder people are on the streets and justice is gasping for breath.

Then we have more than generous sprinkling of secularism. Notwithstanding the thesaurus definition, secularism today means appeasement. “We will not allow ‘sampradayik takats’ to come to  power,” say the champions of secularism. Those singing the siren song of secularism have shoved such huge amounts of secularism in our eyes that we are now semi-blind with deceit.

This brings me to another dead gem - Principle. “Those are my principles, and well, if you don’t like them…..I have others,” said Marx. Did he have a premonition or what? The word has been trampled and mutilated so often, that it is officially buried. Try using the word in your speech and I promise you a Lok Sabha ticket from any constituency.

Accountability passed away recently. It was killed with help of a remote control. Accidental leaders say ‘Power is poison,’ and yet continue to hold the remote and drink copious amounts of poison. Since accountability died, we must be the only country headed by a silent man of honor presiding over the most inept government.

Debate is not dead. Yet. But it has lost meaning. Debate is synonymous with trading accusations, ending on a note that several wrongs make a right. If you hear a citizen laughing hysterically, he is either watching a debate in the house or on prime time.

The lashings of morality and integrity are the worst. Morality died decades ago, but has become a joke posthumously. When was the last time someone said, ‘I resign on moral grounds’? According to the contemporary thesaurus, morality equals total, unadulterated, hypocrisy. Try using the word in your daily conversation. People will think you are either an alien or Sherlyn Chopra.

Is it any surprise that after the demise of principles, enquiry, and accountability, governance is missing in action?

While kosher words are dying, rogue words stay true to their nature. Scam, injustice, rape, barbarism, brutality and terror are alive and kicking. Scam being the most popular, it is raining scams. Left, Right and West Bengal. Is it any surprise that the met department has promised a normal monsoon?

Why did we allow this to happen?

We can debate the issue. Or maybe an enquiry will reveal all.


Picture Courtesy: Google Images (www.someecards.com)