Provoking My Pen

I rushed to the playground with first-aid. My eight year old son’s friend had hit him with a cricket bat. Fearing an altercation, the friend’s father also reached the ground. He began telling me how my son had started the fight. I’m sure there was provocation, for no sane boy will bash his friend with a bat. But in that moment, I wondered if any provocation could justify the act. In that moment, I wanted the father to say, “I’m sorry this happened. We’ll talk about it later. How can I help you right now?” Fortunately, the bruise healed and boys were back to playing cricket the following day.

On a larger landscape where politicians fish in troubled waters, where mistrust runs deep and where it is easy to get provoked, I find it difficult to provoke my pen. What does one write when we have become humorless, hypersensitive, self righteous, identity driven prudes? Intolerant fumes are emanating from social media where having an alternate opinion makes your friend an adversary. What does one write when we risk being called a ModiToadie, Congilicker or a Bhakt?

While elements from within NDA revealed an unsavory face by making unacceptable comments, decades of patronage by one party ensured that the pen and the microphone are used to add fuel to fire.But let’s sideline politics, because when we blame others without accepting our own mistakes we continue to make the same mistakes.
An entire nation’s insensitivity can be explained by misplaced focus on pervasive negativity. More than sane voices, rabble-rousers spend time in our living rooms via television. Our brains are, perhaps, wired in a way that the ink smeared face of intolerance makes for a riveting story compared to a staid story of Indians raising funds for a Pak teen battling a rare disease.
The primary issue is often not the choice of food, movie, music concert, or book launch. For one, tolerance today is akin to weakness. With belligerent voices muzzling the moderates, it’s my way or the highway. Then, most of us have opinions that can’t be questioned. 

I’m a Modi supporter and his supporters can do no wrong. Wrong. I’m a Shiv Sainik and my party men can do no wrong. Wrong. 
I hate Modi and everything Modi does is wrong. Wrong.

Too much activism? Perhaps. Looks like, the argumentative Indian is now an opinionated Indian, unaccustomed to the discipline of reasoned disagreement. In a hurry to dispense opinions, we become pawns of a dirty political game. Worse, opinions on both sides of the fence face attack with Anupam Kher being called a Bhakt and Naseeruddin Shah called anti-national. Ironical, that a dialogue from Anupam and Nasser's movie, A Wednesday, 'Hum naam mein mazhab dhoodh lete hain,' imitates life like never before.

A year ago, I was overjoyed when Article 66A of the IT Act was scraped, but today when videos loaded with cow carcasses and communal undertones are being forwarded to provoke frustrated jobless men, I’m not sure if we understand the responsibility that comes with freedom of expression. A mischief monger who enters a packed cinema hall and shouts 'fire' is an undeserving beneficiary of freedom of expression.Thriving in the cacophony of freedom of expression, the inherent desire to validate ideology without ceding an inch is the bane of our social existence. The intellectuals, writers and journalists have joined the bandwagon too. Every week a controversy washes up our shores, displaying an unfortunate subtext of intellectuals falling for the identity driven ego bait. 

Then, there is politics of revenge.You call me Khaki Chaddi, I call you Bootlicker. With most of us in perpetual victim-hood mode, hanging our identities of a Hindu Soldier, Muslim Savior, Bihari DNA, Maharastrian Pride and AAP Follower as a proud placard, it’s easy for leaders to whip passions among cadres. Political parties have milked the insecurities of vote banks who have fallen into the trap of blaming the other community for their problems. It all boils down to economics. Unless Modi addresses the problem of unemployment, politically motivated mob activism is likely to rise says Amulya Gopalakrishnan. Having lost jobs owing to the agrarian crisis, frustrated with political appeasement and reservation, many have fallen back on unwarranted politico-religious machismo.

Finally, we have the malaise of Whataboutism. When we justify a wrong, we end up becoming mirror images of each other. This is not to say that any provocation should be disregarded because simmering resentment is likely to explode prior to every state election.
But regardless of the provocation, you don’t hit a friend because he provoked you. So what do you do? Leave the ground and look like a loser? Try to talk when no one is willing to listen? I don’t know. What I know is that provocation should not be an excuse for violence. Whether it is Dadri, Moodbidri, Paris, Mumbai or a playground, only violent people are provoked into violence. Every violent act must be condemned. Without any 'but'.