This was the topic for Telegraph – National debate this year. It was on last Sunday in Lake Club, Kolkata. The speakers were eminent names from all over India.
I must say, it was a good show.
Suhel Seth put up his usual Indian Eminem act with much more vigour – table banging, loud laughing, looking crimson with frustration…all of it. Dhritiman Chatterjee quoted blood-boiling poems by Shakti Chattopadhyay (though the relevance to the topic was, at best…confusing) . Vivek Devroy did his Salsa in the narrow space in front of the podium with a smirk. And of course, Mamata Banerjee was all guns, providing most of the headlines in the local dailies the next day.
In a word, everyone did their best to justify their plane fares and honestly, it was great entertainment.
However, there was something about this topic, which struck me hard. Maybe its just me, as none of the speakers seemed to give it much of a thought. In fact, I guess I wouldn’t have thought much of it either, but for the recent happenings in our state politics.
Actually, I found the topic very…..arrogant. Had it been “A resurgent Bengal is impossible”, I would have had nothing to say. That, of course, is debatable.
But, I had a problem with the word ‘dream’.
How can a dream be ‘impossible’? Or have the authorities become so audacious that now we should justify the dreams we have?
Not their feasibility of coming true, but just having them.
I know it sounds a bit far-fetched. Perhaps, every one of you would say, this is forced imagination. Of course, they meant whether it is possible for the dream to come true. In fact, some of the speakers even hinted, “It’s a possible dream, but an impossible reality.” Probably, you’re right.
But….. the recent social and political picture of my state leaves me skeptical to take that for granted.
Frankly speaking, I would call myself neither politically conscious, nor socially aware. But, I read the newspapers and what I have seen on the headlines in the past months have left me wondering about the sanity of our current existence. I have seen bleeding bodies of women and children withering in front of armed police, a chief minister proudly justifying the smoking nozzles by terming the corpses as ‘them’ (he termed himself as a part of ‘we’). I have seen an opposition leader campaigning in the elections with the picture of a burnt and raped teen aged girl, whose dignity she promised to avenge. I have seen a Government employee abducted and his house burnt by mao activists, his ‘sin’ – he was a government employee.
Today, if I say anything against the current government, I’m a part of the opposition. If I say anything for the government, I’m a spy. I cannot have an opinion without being marked as having a political stand.
It’s a war.
And you might ask me, “That’s all fine for you to sit in a couch, reading a newspaper and analyzing how this state is going straight to hell. But what have you done for it?”
Much ashamed, I admit, that’s true. I haven’t moved a finger to change the system.
The reason too, is equally shameful. Its because I figured like everyone else, “since a poor boy is dying of hunger in some part of my state, someone other than me must do something about it. Anyway, what can I alone do? Besides, its not like I know the boy or something……”
I know you are thinking of me as a worm. Heck, I’m thinking of myself as one. But, that’s not my conscience speaking.
That’s my fear.
It was fine until it was in the newspapers, and we could muse over a pot of tea, how things can/might/should be much better. That was despicable, yes. But, that was our right.
To dream.
Not because it would make any difference, but because we can.
And that’s where this motion stabbed its bayonet. Now, its not about a hungry kid we hardly know, its about our own freedom of choice. We don’t have to be big-hearted or conscientious for this, we just need to have an ego.
Thankfully, ego has never been our problem.
We might choose to have this government, we might choose to bring in the opposition, or we might choose to have anarchy. But…….. it should be our choice, our dream.
We might be cowards, but we would not let someone else decide what we should hope for.
That is my dream.
We want the freedom to debate whether “A Resurgent Bengal Is Impossible”.
The day we have that, maybe…..maybe, a resurgent Bengal would seem a little more possible.
I must say, it was a good show.
Suhel Seth put up his usual Indian Eminem act with much more vigour – table banging, loud laughing, looking crimson with frustration…all of it. Dhritiman Chatterjee quoted blood-boiling poems by Shakti Chattopadhyay (though the relevance to the topic was, at best…confusing) . Vivek Devroy did his Salsa in the narrow space in front of the podium with a smirk. And of course, Mamata Banerjee was all guns, providing most of the headlines in the local dailies the next day.
In a word, everyone did their best to justify their plane fares and honestly, it was great entertainment.
However, there was something about this topic, which struck me hard. Maybe its just me, as none of the speakers seemed to give it much of a thought. In fact, I guess I wouldn’t have thought much of it either, but for the recent happenings in our state politics.
Actually, I found the topic very…..arrogant. Had it been “A resurgent Bengal is impossible”, I would have had nothing to say. That, of course, is debatable.
But, I had a problem with the word ‘dream’.
How can a dream be ‘impossible’? Or have the authorities become so audacious that now we should justify the dreams we have?
Not their feasibility of coming true, but just having them.
I know it sounds a bit far-fetched. Perhaps, every one of you would say, this is forced imagination. Of course, they meant whether it is possible for the dream to come true. In fact, some of the speakers even hinted, “It’s a possible dream, but an impossible reality.” Probably, you’re right.
But….. the recent social and political picture of my state leaves me skeptical to take that for granted.
Frankly speaking, I would call myself neither politically conscious, nor socially aware. But, I read the newspapers and what I have seen on the headlines in the past months have left me wondering about the sanity of our current existence. I have seen bleeding bodies of women and children withering in front of armed police, a chief minister proudly justifying the smoking nozzles by terming the corpses as ‘them’ (he termed himself as a part of ‘we’). I have seen an opposition leader campaigning in the elections with the picture of a burnt and raped teen aged girl, whose dignity she promised to avenge. I have seen a Government employee abducted and his house burnt by mao activists, his ‘sin’ – he was a government employee.
Today, if I say anything against the current government, I’m a part of the opposition. If I say anything for the government, I’m a spy. I cannot have an opinion without being marked as having a political stand.
It’s a war.
And you might ask me, “That’s all fine for you to sit in a couch, reading a newspaper and analyzing how this state is going straight to hell. But what have you done for it?”
Much ashamed, I admit, that’s true. I haven’t moved a finger to change the system.
The reason too, is equally shameful. Its because I figured like everyone else, “since a poor boy is dying of hunger in some part of my state, someone other than me must do something about it. Anyway, what can I alone do? Besides, its not like I know the boy or something……”
I know you are thinking of me as a worm. Heck, I’m thinking of myself as one. But, that’s not my conscience speaking.
That’s my fear.
It was fine until it was in the newspapers, and we could muse over a pot of tea, how things can/might/should be much better. That was despicable, yes. But, that was our right.
To dream.
Not because it would make any difference, but because we can.
And that’s where this motion stabbed its bayonet. Now, its not about a hungry kid we hardly know, its about our own freedom of choice. We don’t have to be big-hearted or conscientious for this, we just need to have an ego.
Thankfully, ego has never been our problem.
We might choose to have this government, we might choose to bring in the opposition, or we might choose to have anarchy. But…….. it should be our choice, our dream.
We might be cowards, but we would not let someone else decide what we should hope for.
That is my dream.
We want the freedom to debate whether “A Resurgent Bengal Is Impossible”.
The day we have that, maybe…..maybe, a resurgent Bengal would seem a little more possible.
2 comments:
Rangan, kudos...now I know what I wanted last time...man, it's not only your pen that has the power, it's the pain behind it (pun unintended)...pain so intense that makes you write...and that's what it takes to voice the emotion, opinion, ups and downs of your fellow human beings...from all walks of life...and that's what an author basically does...to voice himself, to voice all...once more, keep writing, it's a real pleasure to have you as a friend and all credit for that goes to Polu...so thank you both...keep writing...
Saranidi, Thanks a lot for the complements. They truly mean a lot. But please you also keep writing in your blogs... i really miss them.
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