The world lacks solutions…..simple, effective, enduring solutions…..
Its complicated, its not that simple, things are not what they seem….that’s what they all say……
I hate reading newspapers……there’s nothing new…..movie reviews - yes, sports - not interested, comics - definitely, editorials/social news - maybe……………But the main page is monotonous…….
We sign one deal and get entangled in another……there’s no single stand taken in the last 10 years that has been of any significance……yes, we have had events…….we have even had declarations and obviously, ramifications, permutations and combinations of the same……and of course, we have death’s and births.......much more than we ever envisaged.......and bloodier than we expect, every time....
When we were growing up, we read history as being a series of events that were linked by one simple word – significance…..
Significance in the manner that meant as a rudder, as a wind vane, a lighthouse perhaps……significance of direction, of endeavour or even culmination of effort…..I would read news papers as a school kid and convince myself that this was history occurring, something that predicted the way forward……did you ever feel the same?
Or were you too worked up about board results to even sit back and consider what you were reading, besides being useful in the next GK unit test?
And somehow, we were entangled in consumerism that destroyed journalism…..We are entangled in liberalization that has crushed traditional evaluation of self, society…..We are entangled with our understanding within any given structure…….
I am wondering where we are and what we would describe ourselves as…..
Rishabh, my younger colleague at work asked me a few days back, “what’s the solution?”
“Solution to what? There are no solutions, only resolutions, dissolutions and absolutions.” I quipped back.
He was after a solution to this entire issue of terrorism and its eventual solution……I wondered if I had ever posed queries like this, at his age or younger…….After exactly 30 seconds of thought, I decided that I had and I still don’t have answers……Like most people, I tried to make a difference till I finally learnt to let things ride by till they stop bothering me……….tolerance, forbearance, endurance…….whatever you call it……
So, do solutions exist?
Even as a cynical, pessimistic, seen-it-all, done-it-all washed up bum that I have become, I still believe in that one enduring truth……that’s there’s always a way….
(But someone’s got to pay…….says the evil and cynical bum in me)
I admit it…..I can’t answer questions that everyone asks…….but I can think of ways that might construe as means that would ensure an end…….not that they would NOT be easy, not that they would be acceptable or even understood…….but yes, they would be solutions…..
A solution starts with a revolution……..history teaches us that……Hitler found solutions, just like Churchill did, or Bismarck or Blenheim or even by the Borgia’s or by Charlemagne and so on and so forth, or back……just because some worked while others didn’t, doesn’t disprove the fact that they ALL started out as solutions to problems being faced……but the problem with revolutions is that they always come back to where you started off.....that’s why they’re called REVOLUTIONS....
There are many ways to solutions……I always preferred ol’ alex’s way with the geordian knot……We are always one sword slice away from the knottiest problems that can face us……..one sharp, hurting sword slice…….
So, yes……we can have solutions, Rishabh……..but it means a lot of things and takes a lot of people……and maybe some blood, sweat, toil and tears……..bones for bricks and blood as mortar……..and we are past the age of belief, forget about sacrifice…….
As I always say……..freedoms, rights, truth, justice…….it sounds all good…..but nobody ever said that it was nice……and no one talks about the prices paid, because we definitely didn’t pay it……..so, yeah, we can all talk up a storm……as shreya puts it, there’s nothing more stimulating than intellectual masturbation......
You say no revolution? You say satyagraha? You DARE utter Munnabhai or Gandhigiri and I’ll take the family war axe to you, you ignorant philistine!!!
I am sick of Gandhi and his satyagraha bullshit…….when will the world wake up the realise that for one great idea, one man and his multitude of mistakes, dithering, partialism, nepotism, manipulative politics cannot be equated together and all else be forgiven……
Our mistake is that we Indian’s suffer from the royalty complex…..we just want to touch someone’s feet and proclaim them lord god almighty……..although to our benefit, we also have developed the anti-thesis to this…..we expect our gods to perform miracles and if they cannot deliver, we move on to the next would-be god promising us miracles…..truly, as arvind adiga says, we’re a nation of arse kissers and we’ve got far too many arses to kiss, whether they be god’s or supervisor’s.
The bloody Brits were NOT driven out by Gandhi and his movements…..They LEFT of their own free will…..There were three other movements before the Quit India Movements……..Gandhi proved weak and indecisive……I don’t take this as a perspective, but an opinion……others are welcome to dispute my belief’s, but this is not the forum perhaps…..
What we always forget is that behind 1947 stood over 90 years of relentless struggle, most of it violent and singularly and collectively defeated by the British…..since 1857, there have been 90 bloody years of struggle that has been erased by one idea and one politician who was smart enough to push the envelope and become a saint through desperate politicking and insecurity......
What we forget is that India was not a Union of States but a collection of princely states, each with their own mandate, each with their own biases……..
What we forget is that the people were divided as sharply over differing issues and contexts then as they are today……the lines of caste have merely been replaced by bank balances…….the lines of regionalism have replaced the old beliefs of feudalism……not much has changed….As a people today, India within 61 years of independence has achieved the same status that it had in 1857, pre-sepoy mutiny……..
Divided, controlled and yet surging with a restless urge of economic and social transformation……our old lines of control have been erased leaving nothing in their place……
Our social mores & values have disappeared with evolving conditions leaving no solidarity of ground or platform, except that of economics and consumerism……the proverbial carrot to us donkeys…..and we’re still paying for the damn carrot!!!
Our unity is in disarray because we have no common ground, other than that of relentless movement, but even there we are directionless…..
So, into THIS, you want to carve out solutions…….through satyagraha?
Gandhi arrived in a boiling seething mass agitated by 60 years of unremitting activism, singly and collectively, on every possible layer of Indian society and consciousness……It was tumultuous, aye……It was enervating, true……it was perfect timing to leave South Africa and enter India…..of this cohesive whole, he fashioned his idea of non-violence........a brilliant idea, FOR THE TIME & PLACE ONLY.......
Today we have India Shining and its immaculate barricades under siege......as it has always been.......Yesterday it was a western hegemony and today its face of racial and radical hegemonies......
Do we have solutions which are not revolutions? I think not.....
We have to suffer more, be far more bereft and reach the boiling point of cohesion and unity to be ready for hammering out the steel of destiny on the forge of time......just like another generations, a few jumps in the past were submitted to.....
We have not the singularity of purpose with which we can reach a unified objective....
We do not have ideals or beliefs which are above daily, humdrum concerns....
We do not have anything in which the people of our nation believe in.......
We do not have leaders......
We are still awaiting the men of the hour who will take the stand to decide that democracy works when the mass understands the meaning of the vote.......
We are still awaiting the rise of those voices which will not be stilled by the relentless tide of consumerism and self-gratification.....
We still await the presence of sense.........just like me writing these lines and still hoping for the damn messiah!!!
As I stated before, we Indians are still awaiting the next fresh arse to kiss......
And you ask for solutions?
