Information can be sacred too
Acting is a human trait. Your dog makes those puppy faces because of our species’ 15000-year-old bond. Basically, his ancestors learned the art of acting from our ancestors. Not a day goes by without us pretending to be something we aren’t. Let’s call it a way of life. And when you set these precedents against cinema — and its reliance on human farce — it’s easier to see why we do what we do to get by. It’s nearly impossible for us to be real all the time. Sooner than later, we will have to smile or gawk or chuckle to fit in.
In the world of wannabe stars, there are few wannabe actors; in the world of wannabe actors, there are few wannabe thespians. I’ve had these discussions with fellow cinephiles and have often heard arguments favouring those actors who can cry instantly. Although I am a sucker for tears on the big screen, I’ve started believing that tears are over-virtued. It doesn’t matter whether the person on the screen is able to weep or laugh naturally. What matters is whether they are able to make you cry and laugh along with them. Action is nothing without a suitable reaction. Which is why, in the presence of a rolling camera, to make you hahaha must be as difficult a job as making you sob.
There are many fundamentally flawed beliefs in our middle class (MC) ecosystem but none can beat the vileness of otherness. Instead of being inclusive, MC continues to drive the engine of exclusivity. And this common behaviour can be noted across cities, castes and religions. MC enjoys an enviable slot of not falling down while continuing to eye the upper berth. Once you reach MC, you can’t afford to lose ground. As a result, you tend to become indifferent to those who serve you. Provided you pay attention, you’ll notice the disparaging ways we treat those we know don’t have powerful agencies to back them: domestic helps, valets, watchmen, hawkers, etc. Of course, this accusation doesn’t apply to every member of this berth but it won’t be a stretch to pinpoint commonality.
Name a popular psycho killer from the past and my wife would spit details about him — they are mostly men hailing from twisted backgrounds —as if it’s a hot rap battle. She has watched almost all documentaries on this subject and it’s amazing how this peculiar subject continues to intrigue her. What’s more interesting is it contradicts her personality completely. I’ve known her since 2013 and never once has she lost her cool but somehow, she is interested in learning about these nefarious individuals. According to her, each one of us is fully capable of the worst; just that we choose not to trigger those features. Out of curiosity, given her knowledge in this topic, I asked her what is the most difficult bit about killing a person. She said, “Killing is quite easy. Disposing the body is difficult.”
Ahem.
If I disappear, you know who did it.
There comes a point in any game you play when you are dead sure of a win. It’s a beautiful, beautiful feeling; certainty is in the air. It’s like scoring the 7th goal in the 85th minute. Or having over a minute on the clock while your chess opponent is struggling with 10 seconds. You just know you’ve bagged it. It’s a rare event (for the likes of me) and must be cherished. When Trump won the presidential election, there were rumours running the mill that he didn’t expect to win and didn’t really want to be the POTUS. Apparently, it just so happened that he tried his luck and learnt that democracy can be skewed towards idiots. However, if these early conclusions were indeed true, why would he go and sign up for 2020 elections as soon as he got the key to White House? My theory is, when he won his first term, he thought — “Wow! This is super-easy. Why not an encore?” I guess he felt that sure-win thingie back in 2016 itself and going by the scent of the wind, he is bound to experience it again later this year. Reminds me of the famous auteur Francis Coppola who, on learning about the early favourable buzz on The Godfather (1972), announced that he will be creating a sequel as well. This, when the first film wasn’t even complete yet!
Speaking of The Godfather (1972), it’s a slap of a lesson in diligence, stress and patience. Today, the masterpiece enjoys pedestals on IMDb and other such rating sites, but the making of this monstrous project was marked by obstacles. So much so that the producer Al Ruddy later went on record — “It was the most miserable film I can think of to make. Nobody enjoyed one day of it.” And there were 63 days of shoot in total, not to mention the prep time.
Since I keep sharing Ranga-related content on Instagram (stories, mostly), he has built a fan base of his own. If I don’t post his stupid face for long, there will be DMs from his faithfuls inquiring about his well-being. Of late, thanks to the lockdown, I’ve been receiving feedback on how Ranga is getting fatter. I concur. Being a good rep, I earnestly explain that he is a lean dog who recently got lazy thanks to the current situation. But I don’t reveal the actual truth for reputation’s sake. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t run anymore. And you know why that is so? Because the neighbourhood dogs don’t chase his indoor ass anymore.
Even before Interstellar (2014) released, there was enough noise about Mars exploration and its ultimate colonization. Back then, being a poet, I used to feel bad for our moon. What’s the point of being a loyal satellite to a planet and not be considered as a potential home? It was much later that I learned the real issue. For the record, 12 people (all men) have walked the surface of moon whereas no human has ever been to Mars. But we aren’t dealing with the question of travel feasibility. We are talking about solving a bigger problem. The moon’s surface area is about 14.6 million square miles, which is less than the total surface area of the continent of Asia (17.2 million square miles). Probably why Elon Musk is keener on Mars and not our very dear moon. Space issues. No pun intended.
Have you noticed how people in India talk to their dogs in English? Intriguingly enough, the dogs are mostly given Western names too. Both these factors makes you wonder whether those adorable canines were raised and educated in Oxford/Cambridge. Several studies have proven that dogs don’t enjoy verbal retention except for a few words. Parrots tend to fare better at this exercise. What works for dogs is they relate to human emotions and are perhaps the only mammal around that will respond to your laugh and your frown. Osmosis at best, imitation at worst. If you are anxious, your dog will be anxious too. If you are cheerful, your dog will double it up. For them, your facial expressions mean more than your English vocabulary.
Social media doesn’t give you an accurate picture of anything. It’s only perfect for channeling our incurable narcissism. For everything else, you’ll have to be extra cautious. Phrases like confirmation bias and heuristic availability reign supreme on any given timeline. Very few of us are alright with contrarian views. Most dislike the practice of consuming — let alone engaging with — views that they don’t agree with. Before you notice, you’ve already created a vile image for people you don’t even know. This behaviour used to be confined to the online world but thanks to recent political upheavals, we are witnessing it unfold in the offline spheres as well. If anything, it shows us that history repeats itself before we tire out and reinvent ourselves. Until then, we’ll continue with this game of cat-and-mouse where either side assumes that they are the poor mouse.
I’ve written on this blog before about the conniving and unfettered influence of WhatsApp in India. In less than a decade, this app has managed to become something most of us can only dream of: the source of truth. Situation is so dire right now that if God herself were to come down and tell us something, the janta would still believe a message on WhatsApp. There are millions of people in this wretched country who instantaneously believe whatever they read on WA. It would have been incredible had it not been so scary. On Friday, based on some rumours spread via WA forwards, three men lost their lives to mob lynching. And this is not the first time in recent history that WhatsApp has played a part in conducting mob lynching. This time, the rumours were of them being thieves. Earlier, there were false rumours of child abductors and calf smugglers. All leading to brutal deaths in public. I wonder when will we reach that stage where misinformation and disinformation are dealt with as sternly as the Information Age deserves.
Empathy is the SI unit of humanity. However, going by the set standards of social media, what we have nowadays is e-mpathy. It is a clear line between deciding who to care for and who to not. On the surface, we like to call ourselves humanists but our words don’t match our preferred description. Our heart bleeds according to our prejudice. Turns out our agenda is more essential than the loss of a life. And in this tradition of score-keeping, we’ll see our society slip through the cracks soon. Injustice anywhere by anyone remains an injustice, just like lawlessness and disorderliness shouldn’t be a factor of geography. That said, don’t expect everyone to feel about something as much as you do. It’s human nature/flaw to be selective about concerns (offline) and outrages (online).
ISIS was the wealthiest terrorist organization in history. Although they are currently in decline, they proved that with the right mix of technology and bureaucracy, they can flourish at a rate no other organization from their ilk ever has. From 2014 to 2017, they literally ruled over 12 million people in the Middle-East. And even today, as sad as it sounds, the residents give them credit for keeping the streets clean — notwithstanding the innumerable public shootings, beheadings and hangings there. According to a detailed report by NYT, their source of income ratio from taxes and oil was 6:1. And while they were at it, they replicated the finest practices from the past, which included recording everything on paper the way Nazi Germany did and being extremely proactive with communications the way LTTE was. Tells you a lot about execution and strategy, irrespective of the set targets. In the middle of March, ISIS even issued a travel advisory warning its members to stay and not travel in the COVID-19 era. India went on a lockdown 10 days later.
In case you ever wondered how ISIS lured those young folks from Europe, you must watch the Swedish series Caliphate (2020) on Netflix. Eight episodes of intense drama and action. What I really admired about this show — apart from a fabulous cast — was how they tackled Wahhabism without mentioning it even once. The whole apparatus spins around family, education, security and faith. I don’t think it’s possible for a country like ours to come up with similar content. At least not as of now. The Family Man (2019) on Amazon Prime came remarkably close but dilly-dallied with the indoctrination process. It’d be insightful to watch a series on how young Indians, mostly from Kerala, ended up in ISIS.
