Stuck in the same loop.
(and we know it)
I am in the midst of watching a show on Netflix titled – A Suitable Boy and so many thoughts and realities emerged inside me that I had to pour them out somewhere. Firstly, I am sad that I didn’t read the novel and now that I have seen the show it wouldn’t make sense to me to read the novel. I can do vice versa. I can read the novel and then see the film based on the novel. I take immense pleasure in mocking the films adapted from novels. It is quite rare that a film does justice to a book, to its words, to its ability to bring the words to life and carry along with it the readers.
It is not like that I am not to be blamed and I missed reading the novel by mistake. I have not really been inclined to read the fictions written by Indian writers. I have indeed a lot of times ignored taking out a book because it’s been written by an Indian writer. Yes, I am to be blamed but wait, not entirely. I’d like to give some credit to 14-year-old me reading Chetan Bhagat’s novels for some dire reasons. I think his books were the first and the last encounter of me with the Indian writers until now.
Watching the show has surprisingly instilled in me some deep realizations. It has in a way forced me to think things through and trust me I am not a big fan of ‘thinking’. I let things be. I have never really been a curious person and it never really has bothered me. I stay content and quite busy in my own life affairs. In that way I am selfish. I only care about me and my very loved ones. I am more of the cliched - my hair, my back, my Netflix and my snacks type of girl. And I have never felt bad about admitting it.
Coming back to the show and the rather deep thoughts- the show is based in 1950s. India is just out of the shackles of the British rule. The elated feeling of free India is super fresh and so is the pain of partition and the anxiousness of starting over fresh. Development, recognition, education, technology, business, and most importantly the social notions.
One would think that India and the Indians would get over the old social stigmas that actually led them into the chains of Britishers, that actually were the biggest weakness of India which made it hollow inside out. But turns out all of these are in a way invincible and are deeply rooted in the Indian soil. Casteism, religious riots, the old maharajas trying to hold on so bad to their positions of exploiting the poor people.
But the show is periodical, let’s not forget that. Hold on, wait! it is 2020, Indian – Muslims still locking horns, casteism still exists, Gita is belittled by Muslims. Quran is mocked on by Hindus. There are still Brahmans exploiting the lives of Dalits, spitting and cursing them, treating them like animals. Opportunities are still scarce for many sections of people. For a large number of people, the thought of literacy is nowhere to be found.
Not just India there are so many nations still fighting over, ending innocent lives, spreading hatred on the same topics which once they fought over so hard. USA fought over racism for decades. Apparently, equality was placed. And what is the hashtag trending topic around the world? George Floyd a black man killed brutally by a white officer. No rules followed; no procedural police duties followed. Plain cold murder. Black Americans still under presented, treated unfairly, given less opportunities, prosecuted in the court with insufficient evidence.
It is immensely funny how we humans spend decades to fight over same things and all goes out the drain. We still are fighting over the same issues, lives are still lost, land and building burns. All of it just comes around.
What does this mean? The lives of people who stood up against the injustices around the world who believed on their death bed that they have changed the world just a tiny bit is all futile?
All the efforts and lives of people like - Bhagat Singh, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela are in vain.
Do not take me wrong, I am pretty much an optimistic person, a cheerleader for people. But I have given up on the human race. Seeing how naïve and how ruthless humans can be to fight over and over the same stuff, stuck in the same loop very well knowing it themselves.
The only difference is that now the conflicts go ‘viral’ too. They become a trending topic, most viewed topic, most retweeted topic, most shared and liked topic. They go global within a few seconds. So now if some riot happens in Delhi between Hindus and Muslims, they will spread like fire, cross the oceans, climb the mountains and reach to other countries where Muslims and Hindus who were earlier living peacefully will be infected by it and the baton of these conflicts will be passed on.
Earlier there were just candle marches now people change their DP to plain black color. Earlier there were only posters and placards made, now along with it hashtags are made and circulated . along with riots and people running around like maniacs burning people’s personal property there are hatred comments and death threat messages in people’s DM and comment section.
This is the only true level of ‘development’ which the human race owns and will take away the credit for.
But the mindless , absurdness tussles between humans over race , gender , caste , power will be everlasting.
2020
