Art, artists and the rest
Let’s begin today’s rant with the most precious of all topics: art. One way to gauge human progress is to appreciate the distance we’ve covered in grasping the world around us. Another way is to stare at the amount of art we continue to believe behind us. Both these paths take us to different destinations though. Because after taming the nature, we’ve been constantly looking inside very selfishly — bar those few instances where we peeked outside for inspiration — while taking the word ‘survival’ to extreme levels. The bleak state of our planet today reminds us of the cost we will have to pay in the near future for our utter lack of discretion. Fortunately, art does its magic quietly in its many forms, shapes and sizes. It won’t be hyperbolic to suggest that when sciences and commerces fail to deliver us, arts just might.
Speaking of perverted relationships, we see too little of pure art nowadays for our own sake. A simple design in the middle of a mitt your grandma knitted for you is the closest you’d get to it. Otherwise, thanks to the cogs of commerce, everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. Which could explain why you find a ridiculous (but popular) piece of artwork boring. You stare at it for long but can’t seem to figure it out. It doesn’t appeal to you even though it tries too hard to stand out. In fact, it stands out so much that it’s beyond your realm of creativity. You want to yawn but you don’t. Strangely, such artworks go on sale for millions, bought out by the richies of our world. Wonder if these individuals understand the intent of the artist in the first place. Or whether they only have the luxury of yawning at it in private.
If you care about art, you must care about your conscience. And if this axiom is true, then I must say that Hindi film superstars don’t care about art. They are business-folks who concern themselves majorly with commerce. They have too much to lose and thus, can’t let their good heart get in the way of a better bank balance. In the ongoing uproar against the government, not one maven from tinseltown managed to put their fist out in support of the protestors. Not one. All the industrywallahs who showed courage are relatively tinier fish with little to lose. There could be two explanations for this sad state of affairs: either we were the fools of the highest calibre to expect Bollywood to believe in principles, or we must rely less on reel-life heroes and invest more in real-life heroes to save our democratic asses.
Is it too early to say that 2020 sucks? No? Same page. Let’s be optimistic. There is a lot that can be done differently and to greater impact. We don’t need to harp on the failures of our past. The person you were earlier doesn’t have to dictate the terms for the person you want to be. Sounds like a tall order? Well, it isn’t. Simply needs a classical approach towards problem-solving. You don’t like the way you talk? Focus on improving your diction and thought process. If you start now, maybe within a few months, you’ll be at a better place. However, if you aren’t going to work on a given issue, you will stay like this and continue to be miserable. Of course, as always, there is always a way out: it’s called ignorance. If you’ve learnt to be happy with whoever you are, then you deserve bliss.
One of my favourite things to do on a daily basis is check the world population. It’s mind-blowing to see those numbers jump. Our species might be going down but our population is only moving up. Apparently, over 175,000 die everyday but close to 300 babies take birth every minute. There is no match here. Life is winning. Death is winning too but with a far lesser margin. 10 years ago, I tweeted: Death retweets itself. Just like Life. Seems like I was mistaken.
Why do idiots have so much power? The answer is quite obvious: the sane ones are least interested in power. It’s lame to declare idiots as wrong and the sanes as right because action and inaction aren’t the same. If the idiots are winning, it’s because the sanes aren’t putting up a fight. At the end of the equation, it’s all about conversion. When idiots are in power, they convert people to idiocy. When sanes are in power, they convert people to sanity. And if our recorded history is anything to go by, the idiots have been winning through and through. Even the Internet, the womb of information, has failed in rectifying this habit of history.
Last month, our prime minister made an ill-advised remark on the garment worn by a section of our society. People judging each other by looks is a reminder that we are a product of our ugly past. Turns out a man with a beard belongs to a particular faith. A concept that overlooks the fact that beard is older than Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and Sikhism — four of the many religions with emphasis on facial fuzz in one way or the other. Anyway, NaMo was, as has been his modus operandi from his chief ministerial days, playing to the gallery of his vote base. From the overwhelming videographic evidence pouring out from UP, it’s clear that the police force acted more irrationally than the “white-clothed” segment. But the worst part is, instead of building confidence with the public, the Yogi government — such an ironic name for an entity that supports thuggery as long as it’s committed by the “khakhi-clothed” policemen — has chosen the opposite direction. We can only hope common sense prevails before it’s too late. Particularly when it’s already too late.
I will complete 5 years in Gurgaon in a little while and I must confess that I’ve been ungrateful to this concrete city. Before moving north, we (fellow Mumbaikars) used to joke about its status as the worst city in India (a title conflated with the number of recorded rape cases here). However, in my experience, the place hasn’t been very bad. Yes, there are a lot of things missing, including a functional sewage system but still, it’s alright. Time to acknowledge the good in everything I guess. Besides, I am not perfect and neither are my fellow residents. In any case, this Gotham doesn’t deserve a hero.
All kinds of stories — the good, the bad and the dull — merit our attention. Different versions contribute to our learning of dimensions of a story. From what is what to who is who and when is when… and so on. Each question lead to multiple answers and that’s the purpose of storytelling: to coax us onto the quest of complete understanding. For example, when I start a story by saying, She has been to only two places in her entire life and one of them is Hell…you are intrigued to know about her whereabouts more than her howabouts, right? A good storyteller covers all corners with utmost care.
