• Musings & Short Stories,  Opinions & Commentary

    They Do It With Mirrors

    Enough has been said and written about the fact that we live in a hyper-connected world. The “Sociosphere” is constantly buzzing with activity- some frivolous, some thought-provoking and some meaningless stuff. Simply put, it demonstrates and proves what has been said all along. “It takes all kinds to make the world!”

    People have always had opinions and they always have wanted to voice them. Today more than ever before there are platforms that provide all of us means to air these thoughts, as, how, when and where we as individuals deem fit. Probably, also the most commonly held perception of what the Right to Freedom of Expression is.

    It may be pertinent refer to some known to be liberal constitutions v.i.z. USA, France and home turf India. All of them guarantee freedom of speech/expression as a fundamental right. However, through the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States or even by the First Amendment to the Constitution of India (1951- within 15 months of India declaring itself a Republic) this constitutional guarantee was brought within what are popularly termed “reasonable restrictions” that could be placed by the State through other laws. Even the French Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen ab initio through its Article 4 prefaces the other articles. I quote it only to illustrate how simple and pure the spirit of these so called reasonable restrictions are or ought to be.

    “Liberty consists in being able to do anything that does not harm others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of every man has no bounds other than those that ensure to the other members of society the enjoyment of these same rights. These bounds may be determined only by Law.”

    Does this mean that we need to have a measure of exactly how thick skinned or thin skinned people around us (aka society) are? Moreover, is the State the authority to determine the same?

    There are many determinants I would argue, all of them pertaining to time, place and context. Simply put who is in control/has authority on one hand and on the other, one who wants to question it or at least question the extent of it if not rebel against it.

    Often this rebellion or questioning of the so called authority finds its way into art. Contemporary art often engages directly with the complexities and urgencies of the current world, responding to personal, social, or political concerns. Yes it is true that art does exist for art’s sake to borrow from MGM’s famous Latin tagline Ars Gratia Artis.

    The gratification for the artist more often than not lies in her ability to evoke a response – any kind is fulfilling. Yes, it is to this end that content creators create the content that they do. That said, it would be naïve to believe that there is no desire to profit from what has been created. However, let’s put a pin on that thought.

    Getting back. The history of mankind has literally been pieced to together with the help of art of the times. Good, bad, happy, prosperous, dark or tyrannous all periods of history have been defined or labelled so basis what has been written, painted, sculpted, edified or erected.

    Contemporary art, in today’s context embraces diverse mediums, techniques, and concepts. It encompasses everything from traditional painting and sculpture to digital media, performance art, installations, and conceptual pieces where the idea behind the work may hold precedence over aesthetic execution.

    Essentially, art is not the preserve of a few. It is consumed by many and interpreted in their myriad ways. So what is funny to one may be insensitive to the other, who hasn’t seen or been hurt by the school yard bully. What is erotic may be construed obscene by some and many more such diametric views and opinions may exist about everything – including art.

    If I was just to trace the journey of India in its first 75 years of existence as an independent nation. We have as a society showered our love upon celluloid heroes who have played the downtrodden common man, the con man, the criminal with a troubled past and the rebel. Their ends almost always justifying their means. If observed closely, one would find undeniable inspiration coming from the socio-political and economic context of the nation.

    Were there no controversial artists then or were people more tolerant or were people less insensitive?

    Regardless of the times this content was created. Even without taking names, people who read and/or are generally aware would be able to guess the individuals or organisations being referred to just by a five-word description of the art or content genre. For example – The woman with weird clothes or the woman who makes bold announcements or the man who painted naked goddesses or the man who wrote a controversial book or the paper that published the cartoon.

    Mind you, not all have consumed the content in question yet they have a point-of-view about the content and the creator of the content. That, in essence, is the power of content – it can provoke as much as it has the ability to evoke.

    It is easy to point fingers, assign blame but the jokes we crack, the rumours we spread, the gossip that we partake in and the acts that we deride or applaud are all material that is fuelling the content or art that is being created today.

    The artists and the content creators are just the ones holding up the mirrors!

  • Musings & Short Stories

    Where the Mind is Without Fear

    As I write this post on the occassion of Independence Day, the patriotic fervour has been higher than I have ever seen in my conscious years. In an age where the distance between thought to tweet is 140 characters and an entire nation can be bridged with seven degrees of WhatsApp group separation; thoughts and opinions can travel….fast.

    69 long years since India became an independent nation. Time enough for an entire generation to pass. Today’s senior citizens are not those who fought during the Independence movement. We have a Prime Minister who was born in independent India. For a large part of the population today the mention of Vande Matram evokes images of the Bharat Bala produced A.R. Rahman rendered Maa Tujhe Salaam and not the original lyrics penned by
    Bankim Chandra Chatterjee that used to float liltingly over the air waves every morning and perhaps still do.

    The symbols of Digital India’s pride are different from that of the previous generation. The binding glue of today’s India is the mobile phone. If there is one asset that is availble in a majority of the 200 million households which have 996 million mobile subscribers it is the mobile phone and with 280 million of them connected to the internet!

    No other medium today can promise this kind of reach or penetration. The various messengers services have woven a web where dissemination of information happens real time as it happens.

    Rural-urban, literate-illiterate, the haves- the havenots, young-old there is no chasm that is not bridged today in terms of a common platform of presence. Today, more that ever before the average Indian speaks his mind, airs his opinions and views to the world at large, he tweets, blogs, creates and forwards WhatsApp messages. Today support is not silent, anonymity is not a required condition for going anti-establishment or for that matter anti anything.

    The growing confidence of being one of the faces in the crowd and not afraid of being seen as one. Being a part of an uprising or a movement much akin to the crowds that were a part of the independence movement. Only difference, they now do it with a few key punches or screen touches on their phones. In the comfort of their homes or while on the move.

    The dream of using the mobile as a vehicle for upliftment, progress, betterment (pick a term of your choice) is not a distant one. The first step of embracing change has been taken and how!!

    Today, more than ever before, we really can understand the meaning of Rabindranath Tagore’s immortal words and maybe, just maybe, hope to make our tryst with destiny! To close I quote the poem that inspired this post.

    Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
    Where knowledge is free
    Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
    By narrow domestic walls
    Where words come out from the depth of truth
    Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
    Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
    Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
    Where the mind is led forward by thee
    Into ever-widening thought and action
    Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

    Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

    Wishing that all of us find and revel in the greatest independence there can be… THE FREE MIND!!