Stupid adults...get some life people!



Column in Hitavada on Dec. 1

I never wanted to write this. But the stupidity in people - those who pride themselves to be educated and well-positioned - has gotten me here. Am helpless like them, but am ashamed unlike them.

I am not an expert or a scholar nor am I interested in dissecting the government's demonetisation policy [I stand corrected. It's Modi's demonetisation. It's not the  government's nor the nation's. It's the Prime Minister's I'm given to understand]


Demonetization is like a massive tornado ripping apart everything along its way - families and friends

I am appalled by the impact the new policy has unleashed - it's like a massive tornado ripping apart everything along its way - families and friends are torn apart because they fail to anchor themselves.

And, yes, I'm not interested in talking of corruption either - apparently, the root cause for the current scenario in India.

My only concern is the divide the new policy has exposed. The great divide in the hearts and minds of the adults - the stupid, immature adults. And to imagine majority of adults are divided is shameful.


Modi-ism is the new scale of patriotism his supporters use to silence non-conformists

I've seen WhatsApp group arguments turn into ugly fights and buddies spewing venom on each other and calling off their friendship of decades because they do not endorse each other's opinion.

Modi-ism is the new scale of patriotism his supporters use to silence non-conformists. Modi-ism has also become the new licence for non-supporters to blame every vice around in the country on the government. The chasm is so deep that there is no middle path. While, the supporters are intolerant of those who attempt to reason or question, the non-supporters are intolerant of those who try to explain.


Modi-ism has also become the new licence for non-supporters to blame every vice around in the country on the government

One cannot merely state facts or empathize casually any more. You need to check in which august company you are in - else you'll be left in the cold to prove your identity to begin with.

Simple jokes aren't tolerated. Previously those who laughed together at husband-wife, Alia and Rahul jokes, now reach for the others' throats. At an event when an innocuous joke was made about Trump and Modi, a woman booed the person aloud and announced "I will not tolerate anything about our Prime Minister and his demonetisation policy." In yet another group a demonetisation supporter complained that she cannot tolerate some communities speaking non-sense.


Religious and community divide has always existed in our country, but we'd always remained buoyant

This is dangerous. This is pathetic. This is sad. The undercurrent has always been there. Religious and community divide has always existed in our country, but we'd always remained bouyant. However, the current intolerance is unprecedented.

On the one level, if experts and scholars debate on demonetisation vis-a-vis its economic, national and future impact, then on the mundane level common man debate the policy  vis-a-vis religion, faith and political allegiance.

What's the use of having a booming economy and a corruption-free system, if common man cannot tolerate each other, if they cannot accept one another? If political allegiance dictates friendship and religious allegiance dictates patriotism, then we should be ashamed to call ourselves humans.

Politicians - those in power and those powerless - will never acknowledge this divide, for they feast on it. And with the by-elections on and the major one fast-nearing, they will only stoke it, with social media adding fuel to the blaze.


If political allegiance dictates friendship and religious allegiance dictates patriotism, then we should be ashamed to call ourselves humans

It's up to us common man to break ourselves free. To begin with at least acknowledging the fact that irrespective of whether we endorse the new policy or not we are all equally helpless. Either group knows just as much. Both supporters and non-supporters of the demonetisation policy are fed by the same news channels and social media. The only difference is in what they choose to see and promote.


Policies and laws do not make life. They only aide in living. It's people who make life worth living

And given the fact, that social media and news channels need to be taken with a sack full of salt, isn't it wise to use our own grey cells and be inclusive in our approach towards our fellow human beings. When you are gone, if you dream of leaving a thriving land for your kids, then it has got to do with a change in mindset now. Simply because, policies and laws do not make life. They only aide in living. It's people who make life worth living.

A little faith, much love and... some gooey curry

My little girl's charcoal sketch of The Enlightened One... A coincidence that she shook me awake after this!

When I said I will not eat a dish placed precariously in delicate china near a yellow candle that seemed to croon and blush the maroonish-glistening gravy, I was told, "People come from far and wide enduring traffic, toll and weather, sit in queue to savour this and you don't even want to taste it?" My gregarious friends exclaimed as they scooped up more than heaps of dollops into their plate as the husband passed me the raitha.

"Why is she like this?" They continued, as if I had fought tooth and nail and forced them on a trip to Iceland only to complain about the weather and sit sipping Horlicks I carried along.

"I have faith in my organs," I replied.

"What!"

"I have a deadline to meet tomorrow. I can't waste time in the loo." I explained.

"Common on, yaar!"

"If my eyes don't approve of it, my stomach will not accept it. Simple."

"That's your misplaced belief," said one from the other end of the table. Seconding him, came a few comments. "Yeah, yeah. This is all unwanted beliefs." "You should be open to everything." "You tend to be stuck in a one-off incident...". "You are even otherwise very rigid in your beliefs..."

What the heck? I thought. My stomach, my body, my mind, my decision.

As I began saying, "Even you guys are rigid in your belief...", the husband shushed me leaning across asking, "Want more raitha?" scuffling the rest of sentence, "...that only non-vegetarian dishes can complete a party," into his armpit.

It sucks. No, not his underarms. That ilk and their eeky beliefs.

This incident happened two years back.

But its only today I realised my ignominy of having tugged along defending gluttonous delight using magnanimous words such as belief and faith, when I was confronted with a situation that questioned my belief and faith.

As in Belief and Faith!

I forced my little girl to visit a holy shrine of which she had no idea of only to honour someone else's faith in the deity. In my blind belief to appease the person I love, I thrust my belief on to my daughter expecting her to follow instructions in good faith. And the project cancelled at the nth hour. An hour that proved costly only to my little girl as it came after she missed two days of school.

Lessons learnt.

1. Never thrust religion on your children. Enlighten them on all. Even talk to them of your beliefs in a particular faith and believe, yes believe, in the knowledge you impart and leave it to them to choose their faith.

2. Never mix faith and love.