Talking Shop: Apathetic. Therapeutic. Copacetic.

“If trouble comes when

you least expect it, then

maybe the thing to do

is to always expect it.”

—Cormac McCarthy

Every 100 years comes a pandemic that decimates a large part of mankind, exacting a toll that runs into millions. Planet Earth knows it well, as the battle with COVID-19 is still stark raving fresh in our minds. Every few decades comes a tsunami, a towering wall of sea-water travelling at 400-800 km per hour and flattening everything in its path, obliterating people like toothpicks. The last big tsunami hit our nation 20 years back, when a 9.1-magnitude quake shrugged off its slumber in Northern Sumatra and raced towards coastal areas in several nations, including India, its 18-meter waves decimating everything in its stride.

If we talk COVID-19, it was different in that it hit the world when medicine had made great advances. Yet, the virus gnashed at everything, outclassing any resistance and driving home the grim reality of unstoppable death and man’s impotence to do much about it. Also, the toll from the scourge remains a matter of debate. World bodies claim an ‘excess death figure’ of 14.9 million, but what India alone experienced makes one believe that the count has been deliberately understated, manipulated or otherwise. As for the tsunami, its toll in India was pegged at 10,000, primarily women and children. Ask those in Veerampattinam and Machhilipattinam, though—they vociferously differ on the headcount.

Fast-forward to today… We have a different animal with the deathly smile of the pandemic and the throaty snarl of the tsunami walloping us—General Elections. Protagonists armed with microphones smile as they make claims and assertions as untrue and ridiculous as they themselves are. Some try their hand at haberdashery, stitching together garments that fall apart at the seams for they go against our social fabric itself. Some redoubtable others utter guttural sounds, unwittingly divulging their own origin and destination. Each day dawns with unearthly sighs, preparing us for the cacophony that visibly erupts, disrupts and corrupts.

Awful lot of noise

It is time for introspection and dissection, for it is a perplexing phenomenon that we witness today. Never has so much sound been made with so little substance. Never has such frenetic and overzealous movement of the limbs led to such little actual action. We have leaders and wannabes flailing their arms (even legs) trying to whip up universal fervour and frenzy; no (d)ice. We have ‘massive public gatherings’ with empty chairs and emptier, glazed expressions on the faces of the few paid attendees. We have leaders who thunder in to venues waving party flags to address rallies, only to be seen running away with torn clothes and bloodied noses as those blessed with their ‘maha-nirdesh’ scamper after them.

The paradox is when those addressing these ‘massive gatherings’ appear either surprised or stunned with the pushback they are receiving. They shouldn’t be. It is they who have written a dreadful script, the ghosts of which are now surfacing to secrete ghoulish reverberations that are shaking the Earth under their feet.

Admittedly, some ‘nirdeshaks’ (directors) of this bizarre blockbuster are waking up, but many are still in their Machiavellian reverie… Some mimic the flying of kites while sporting zany costumes that border on being a screwball; some dig up sensational historical facts where none exist; some sport beards to look like superstars of the yesteryear; and some really far-out ones educate the masses about the birds and the bees, and what such shenanigans can lead to. Not only are they not saying anything of any relevance whatsoever, they also forget they are addressing the most populous nation on the Planet.

Silence where it counts

On the real issues being faced by the people on a daily basis, there is a near-universal and palpable silence on the part of almost all with political ambitions, and therein lies the trigger for the extreme reaction exhibited by many. When the chubby and noticeably well-fed ambitionistas speak at rallies and articulate things Utopian, they perhaps overlook the fact that they are addressing people emaciated in both stomach and pocket; that the need of the hour is not to speak of the rose that shall be plucked and nestled in a lover’s lovely locks 10 years down the line, but of what this lover’s family of four or five will eat that evening.

Yes, we are proud to be running ahead of other nations on many economic parameters and are now the fifth-largest financial power in the world. Sure, we have outstripped others with the sheer number of new billionaires we have today. And undoubtedly, India’s SUV sales are amongst the highest in the world, with EV vehicles also being gobbled up as if fossil fuels will go out of fashion sometime very soon.

However, we are also a country with historically high unemployment rates, which recently hit a four-decade high. Our real GDP growth rate is at its lowest since Year 1990, when economic reforms were brought in to fan to life and bail out a country that was barely able to stagger around on its knees. Inflation on food and related commodities continues to be at record highs that are changing eating habits and foreign investors are pulling out like never before. Even the world’s largest middle class is in trouble, with household savings at their lowest levels in 47 years. These are issues to be understood, spoken of and tackled before the final tipping point is reached.

An ordained arsenal

For now, the solution is simple—it is each man to himself. Given the state of affairs that surrounds their very existence, people have to dissociate the sensible from the malarkey, discard the irrational and uncover the nous. The powers that be are apathetic, almost as a rule, and the world we live in is anything but therapeutic. These are troublesome times, calling for sharp minds and wisdom beyond the ordinary. With election-mongers in rabid mode, the average John and Jane have to create the ground to be copacetic.

“Sometimes, the best weapon in your arsenal is just a good, sharp mind,” Robert Downey Jr. aka Tony Stark said in ‘Iron Man 3’. That’s a good reason in itself to get the whetstone out of kitchen cabinets; arguably better than the one touted by our Godmen and -women turned politicians; for their malevolent diktat invokes the brandishing of crude religion and razor-sharp knives. It is time to sharpen minds, not unsheathe knives—it is time to watch out. The instigators are waiting, licking their chops as hordes of innocents march towards them.

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