Talking Shop: When faiths collide

“Democracy is not a spectator

sport. Democracy in today’s

contemporary world demands,

among other things, educated

and informed sets of people.”

― Marian Wright Edelman

& Elizabeth Bishop

Edelman and Bishop have quite succinctly summed up the essence of this column through their quote and I should perhaps shut the laptop and watch a movie on the many hot apps that adorn my home giant TV screens. I refer to apps since watching vanilla telly is out of the question now, because what passes for news makes for anything but palatable viewing. This once, though, the venom and vitriol will not be directed at media anchors (though they thoroughly deserve it), for there is a new belligerence in town—political bandicoots brandishing a particularly virulent verbal version of malevolence, so bitter that anyone with sensibilities is forced to cower, shiver, even quiver.

What else could we expect, though, when we combined cricket and elections in India in recent weeks? This was bound to happen, for this potent mix was brewed just after we acquiesced and submitted in the Cricket World Cup final, making sparks fly through the polluted winter air and creating an electric conflagration across a nation that was anyway smarting and hurting. Cricket and politics are more powerful and emotive than any faith in our country—and while neither might make people visit places of worship, both crafts inevitably make India tick, much like a time bomb, may I add; tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…

There is a potential bushfire in the works and the only thing that can stop it is calmness and composure. Unfortunately, both are in short supply at the moment—in political forums as election campaigns hit fever pitch and on the Cricket field as losing finalists India take on ICC World Cup 2023 winners Australia in a new T20 series, and the media cries out for ‘revenge’. Revenge, in cricket? Well, that’s today’s mainstream media.

New media reality

What is happening in the media, you ask? We have had rancid vehemence, so much so that even if you might close your eyes and cover your ears, you will still visualize, hear the evil and taste the foetid flavour. Name-calling is hitting highs, with even celebrated anchors resorting to words and statements that go beyond crassness and asininity, creating a tinderbox that is just itching to blow to Timbuctoo the once beautiful political wit and repartee that our leaders used in yesteryears to woo and win over both the opposition and the masses in politics, as also stalwarts in sports. Those days are gone.

What do we stand for today? I wish you wouldn’t push me to recount the unimaginable reality of sordid political canvassing and one-upmanship, or media reportage bordering on journalistic impudence. But you have, and I shall thus talk of Mohammad Shami, labelled ‘anti-national’ because he comes from what some call a ‘different colour’. Shami was lambasted, his personal life denigrated and his family put to the sword. Virat Kohli, India’s run machine, stood by his team-mate, showing the appropriate finger to inappropriate critics, as only Kohli can. When it was Kohli’s turn to be berated, Shami gave a fitting reply to detractors by emerging as the highest wicket-taker in ICC World Cup 2023.

Justice had prevailed, but the damage had been done too… as it was when politically wily but otherwise crooked Babas (self-proclaimed Godmen) were put on a pedestal and celebrated. Hell, some even got yet another taste of parole while serving out sentences for grievous crimes, perhaps so that they can partake of in the hustings. All in all, it was business as usual.

Everything that is bad

The conversation has now turned gory, with some leaders being labelled as the harbingers of bad news, bad vibes and bad blood; in fact, they are being painted as everything that is vile from a Tarot-reader’s perspective. In turn, they portray some others as modern-day Don Quixotes, astride a humble donkey and charging foolishly at windmills, faithful Sanchos following in their asinine footsteps. Amid the clatter and cacophony, one can only wish that better literal manifestations of such mindless attestations were on display on podiums and into microphones.

If that had been the case, the masses would at least have been blessed with repartee and vignettes from a literary era bygone, one that is sorely missed. We might have heard: “Prabhu, iska dhairya aur mann nasht ho gaya hai. Vinaash kaale vipreeta buddhi. Jo aag se khelega, woh usi aag mein bhasm ho jaayega.” (“My Lord, he has lost his patience and mind. Pride cometh before the fall. He who plays with fire will get consumed in those very same flames”). How very sweet.

Such words of yesteryears’ Godly wisdom could have been a grand finale, a fitting curtain-downer on today’s exacerbated rush of rashness, sans the banned fire-crackers display. But then again, who says fireworks are gone? Thanks to Delhi-NCR’s AQI numbers, we may be deprived of FOs (flying objects) that take off with a match-stick and go boom in the sky, but we are nevertheless being served a scruffy mix of expletives and vitriol, going pow-wow on the ground itself. How naughty (knotty). We have to remember it is often a belief in one’s own invulnerability that brings about one’s downfall. The corollary is that realization of one’s dwindling fortunes triggers blasphemous vocal spasms and sparks imprudent profanity, un-barrelling frustration and situational impotence. How very un-sweet.

When angry, stay focused

Our leaders and rulers perhaps need to take a looksee at some immortal wit by Mark Twain: “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” Nick Calhoun followed up in a similar vein when he said: “Jealousy is the only poison that affects the container that’s holding it”. Twain and Calhoun espoused that negativity never solves a problem or worry, for it only makes people more stressful and starts controlling the emotions, eventually leading people nowhere. Then why not avoid it before it spoils the beauty of the mind and tranquillity of the heart?

That is something that we need to work fervently towards, and this is where kindness, greatness of thought and gentleness of the tongue can help. For this, let’s rewind 45 years in time, when former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked Leader of the Opposition Atal Bihari Vajpayee to represent India at the United Nations, in the midst of a crisis. Questioned by a reporter on why he was supporting his staunch critic Indira Gandhi, Vajpayee said: “A rose adorns a garden, so does a Lily. Each is beset with the idea that they are individually the most beautiful. When the garden falls in a crisis, it is no secret that the gardener has to safeguard its beauty as one. I have come today to save the garden. This is called Indian Democracy.” Poignant. And how very, very sweet.

There are no two ways to achieve a ‘new India’, nor can here be two tongues—singularity of purpose and collectiveness of wisdom hold the key. It is high time then that we set aside our differences and work towards a common goal; to save the Indian garden.

The writer is a veteran journalist and communications specialist. He can be reached on narayanrajeev2006@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal