A good critique demands positivity in the underlying faculties of our minds. Dickens. Oscar Wilde. Bernard Shaw. Or, Orwell. All of them, great satirists. We know the amount of positivity that bubbled out of their literary works. Thinkers prepare the world for progress. It is in the restless janglings of our minds, wonders come into being. One should be able to challenge the status quo and set things in the right order to reap benefits. Well, it might not happen in whimsical ways buttering our hyper fancies - as many would gladly presume. It takes the hardest of efforts to stand out from the crowd - to merely prove the point that only dead fishes swim with the flow of the stream and live ones strive against the current.
Yes, people have faced death in their pursuit to scripting a better society. But that cannot be reason enough to hold us in the recron cushions, in the prevailing felonies, yes, in the safer back-seats. Someone has to take the wheels, drive the vehicle, yes of course 'safe', face reality's brunt, take the first hit and get hurt if accidents occur on the way and if the air-bags do fail, die a blood-splashing death on the spot - Tarantino style.
I recall my dad's words. My brother and I - we were school-going kids when he sowed these seeds of wisdom. He would tell us that there is no such thing called 'darkness'. That it is just a name which explains the 'state of no light'. Darkness cannot rob the light; but light, by its mere emergence - be it a small candle flame or the angelic glow, dispels darkness. But as I grew up, I understood that darkness, in token of symbolism, carried 'substance' in its allusions to life and the living. That substance, allow me to present to you, relishes and grows obese by the passing of time, is the ever exciting - 'hypocrisy'. And there are these misnomers and misdemeanors that serve as scary rooks of the dark to sustain the oblique occulence of the light in this death-ridden world which refuses to rise from its rot.
Misnomer. Yes, the name that simply doesn't fit - in its meanings and usages. We all know the story of the famous false etymology of 'fu*k'. You must have read all those floating sms rumors about its origin in the Christianized Anglo-Saxon England - that it is an acronym for 'Fornication Under the Consent of the King' and all the related crap. Well, I do not go by any story of the origins even if it could sound so convincingly true. The greatest lesson learnt from history, Tharoor writes, is that history can teach you wrong lessons. So no, no blind yes to history. Look at the profane usage of the word (that actually means sexual intercourse) now. If you're frustrated - fu*k, if you're happy - fu*k, if someone pisses you off - shout fu*k you!, if you want to appear cool - use fu*k a 100 times in one sentence. Fu*k blends well with any situation.
Extracting cues from what I've penned above, let me take you to a different level of fun. In corporate houses, you would hear a lot of misnomers too. Advocacy, networking, perception and quite a lot. Well, these are great words if meant and used in the right way it ought to be applied and used. Please spare the discomfort of opening one more tab and googling for its meanings. Trust me, these are beautiful terms - all of them. But sadly enough, what advocacy would actually mean is - to lube superior arses with teasing licks to make the wrongs look so very right; networking, most of the times, is done intentionally to open up leeways for special interests and to exempt a few from the egalitarian yardstick measures; and perception, every single time it is in use, refers to conjectures that are made to carry the weight of certainty primarily to maul someone.
The uber comedy of affairs rests in the example of our nation in its present state. One, take - for instance - 'the word' Prime Minister - it is a pity that it has to be listed under misnomers. Two, there is a joker in the blood-line of the intellectual Nehru - so we could no more relate to the Nehruvian era upon hearing surnames starting with a G. Three, there is a RSS-pracharak turned BJP politician who takes the name of Sardar Patel to bring down the image of Congress. What he lacks is the knowledge of national affairs and conviction to his own beliefs. Because it is the same Sardar Patel who banned the RSS after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi - and if you could get access to some historical archives, please read about the fiery speeches made by one M.S.G - against 'the Iron Man of India' who is now contrastingly being idolized by the RSS-controlled BJP.
Well, you might think that there is no one who cannot be reformed. You might even put your best of efforts to point these mistakes to the offenders - not to damn them but to bring them to correction and suggest ways to improvement! To hell with you, they will all sing in chorus. Because, even if the scales of their eyes fall and they happen to see their mistakes as mistakes, they would smile sheepishly and tell you that these are not felony enough to be proven guilty - yes, these are only misdemeanors - and that they need no change. 'Way of life, dude!', 'You should learn to blind your eyes and let things go!', 'Don't eat up your own case!', 'If you want to live, listen to what we say!' - slogans such as these would resound in your ears. In this dark world with varying standards, it appears as if you could never reform anyone and that there is no value for progressive thought. Yes, hope flickers at these trying times. But no, it would not die out. Weary not! Hold fort. There should be some light somewhere. Keep searching for it within you and without, for all it takes to dispel darkness is a little light.
I recall my dad's words. My brother and I - we were school-going kids when he sowed these seeds of wisdom. He would tell us that there is no such thing called 'darkness'. That it is just a name which explains the 'state of no light'. Darkness cannot rob the light; but light, by its mere emergence - be it a small candle flame or the angelic glow, dispels darkness. But as I grew up, I understood that darkness, in token of symbolism, carried 'substance' in its allusions to life and the living. That substance, allow me to present to you, relishes and grows obese by the passing of time, is the ever exciting - 'hypocrisy'. And there are these misnomers and misdemeanors that serve as scary rooks of the dark to sustain the oblique occulence of the light in this death-ridden world which refuses to rise from its rot.
Misnomer. Yes, the name that simply doesn't fit - in its meanings and usages. We all know the story of the famous false etymology of 'fu*k'. You must have read all those floating sms rumors about its origin in the Christianized Anglo-Saxon England - that it is an acronym for 'Fornication Under the Consent of the King' and all the related crap. Well, I do not go by any story of the origins even if it could sound so convincingly true. The greatest lesson learnt from history, Tharoor writes, is that history can teach you wrong lessons. So no, no blind yes to history. Look at the profane usage of the word (that actually means sexual intercourse) now. If you're frustrated - fu*k, if you're happy - fu*k, if someone pisses you off - shout fu*k you!, if you want to appear cool - use fu*k a 100 times in one sentence. Fu*k blends well with any situation.
Extracting cues from what I've penned above, let me take you to a different level of fun. In corporate houses, you would hear a lot of misnomers too. Advocacy, networking, perception and quite a lot. Well, these are great words if meant and used in the right way it ought to be applied and used. Please spare the discomfort of opening one more tab and googling for its meanings. Trust me, these are beautiful terms - all of them. But sadly enough, what advocacy would actually mean is - to lube superior arses with teasing licks to make the wrongs look so very right; networking, most of the times, is done intentionally to open up leeways for special interests and to exempt a few from the egalitarian yardstick measures; and perception, every single time it is in use, refers to conjectures that are made to carry the weight of certainty primarily to maul someone.
The uber comedy of affairs rests in the example of our nation in its present state. One, take - for instance - 'the word' Prime Minister - it is a pity that it has to be listed under misnomers. Two, there is a joker in the blood-line of the intellectual Nehru - so we could no more relate to the Nehruvian era upon hearing surnames starting with a G. Three, there is a RSS-pracharak turned BJP politician who takes the name of Sardar Patel to bring down the image of Congress. What he lacks is the knowledge of national affairs and conviction to his own beliefs. Because it is the same Sardar Patel who banned the RSS after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi - and if you could get access to some historical archives, please read about the fiery speeches made by one M.S.G - against 'the Iron Man of India' who is now contrastingly being idolized by the RSS-controlled BJP.
Well, you might think that there is no one who cannot be reformed. You might even put your best of efforts to point these mistakes to the offenders - not to damn them but to bring them to correction and suggest ways to improvement! To hell with you, they will all sing in chorus. Because, even if the scales of their eyes fall and they happen to see their mistakes as mistakes, they would smile sheepishly and tell you that these are not felony enough to be proven guilty - yes, these are only misdemeanors - and that they need no change. 'Way of life, dude!', 'You should learn to blind your eyes and let things go!', 'Don't eat up your own case!', 'If you want to live, listen to what we say!' - slogans such as these would resound in your ears. In this dark world with varying standards, it appears as if you could never reform anyone and that there is no value for progressive thought. Yes, hope flickers at these trying times. But no, it would not die out. Weary not! Hold fort. There should be some light somewhere. Keep searching for it within you and without, for all it takes to dispel darkness is a little light.
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