Sense and Sensibility
It is Independence Day week. There are miniature flags being sold at every other traffic signal and car windows are being rolled down to purchase and mount them on dashboards. Hoardings and newspapers have their facades and pages full of Independence Day advertisements, just as the online platforms are screaming ‘Freedom Sale’. Offices, schools, clubs and organisations of various types have sent out e-mailers announcing Independence Day flag hoisting, topped with a curated menu and a freedom-colours dress code for the day. On the other hand, many are making the most of the calendar and are set on their weekend getaways. All in all, we as a nation, in ways big or small, continue to mark and celebrate this special date as the one that got us our freedom. So far, so good.
But what happens if we switch the lens from the collective to the individual in today’s woke times? No, I am not speaking of the freedom to wear and eat what you like, speak your mind or even go out with who you like. There is enough activism, discussion and debate around it all. I am hinting and trying to work out what independence might mean in this strange, never-before time of being connected, every single waking minute of our lives.
Connected to what? To an avalanche of information that ranges from the most banal to the absolutely bizarre! From the local and regional, such as visuals of waterlogged streets in every other city, to melting glaciers in some very far corner of the world. From advice on everything from your daily diet and making money to getting married or getting a divorce! From visuals that spell out every eatery and destination in such detail that you either reject it based on a reel, even before trying it or are too busy clicking it and raving or ranting about it - everything except immersing in it and experiencing it for yourself.
Today, whether you’ve felt a tremor or not, your phone has buzzed 10 times within 10 seconds of a tremor, which, to begin with, you didn’t feel! ‘WhatsApp’ groups swing into immediate action with reactions, reports and retorts. Your vocabulary must adapt to all kinds of terminology instantly - epicentre, hypocentre, seismic shift, foreshock, aftershock and whatnot. Almost simultaneously, you are juggling five other pieces of information that you are directly or indirectly connected to that could once again be anything from the stock tip of the day to Trump’s latest tariff tremor. Mind you, over and above all this, there’s always your own to-do of the day - the work you must get done, the bills you need to clear, the pills you need to pop and the wedding you simply must attend. The list goes on.
One may turn around and argue in favour of the proverbial silver lining. The information, the opinion and the access to it all, which was once restricted to an elite few, is now available to all. And should one find it overwhelming, one is free to choose not to watch it, be it a reel or a TV show and not to participate in it; be it a chat on ‘WhatsApp’ or a post on social media. But is it that simple to log out and live under a rock?
It is believed that one of the first things monks and sages did was to distance themselves from society. Hide away into the forests or up in the Himalayas, not because they had anything against human society, but because they needed solitude or ‘ekant’ to look within to come closer to their own voice and self. Once upon a time, physical distancing was distance enough. And while the jury is still out on whether ignorance is truly bliss or not, ignorance was available; it was possible!
Today, instead, we must continuously try and process and make sense of every teeny-weeny bit of trivia, fact and statistics of every hue and sensibility that comes our way, by way of our ‘connectedness’.
Is it any wonder then that attention deficiency, stress and fatigue are now par for the course? It is said that freedom without discipline can lead to the loss of freedom itself. While we will surely celebrate the 79th year of our freedom, is it time we claim our right to silence as fiercely as we claim our right to speak?
Supriya Newar is a widely published writer and poet from Calcutta. Besides being a music aficionado, she is also an avid traveller. She may be reached at [email protected]
