Driving out early this morning, with my family to have breakfast at the popular restaurant, 'Mayyas' in Jayanagar, I had to stop as the road was blocked by a group of school kids on a road cleaning drive. As I waited, for the road to clear, I over heard one kid telling another one, while pointing at me, what a beautiful car, the 'Shitty' was.I was nonplussed and angry momentarily, till it hit me. Obviously the kid was referring to my 'Honda City', which is a beautiful car. The City was Shitty to him........
If 'City' can be 'Shitty', can 'Dixit' be 'Dickshit' as called by a New Zealand, TV anchor, on a recent morning show. If you thought it was a fauxpax you would be very wrong, because the anchor, kept repeating his statement, and chortling even as his co anchors desperately tried to correct him. The guy just could not be shut up! He was talking about the Chief Minister of Delhi, Shiela Dixit, no less and getting a kick by deliberately mispronouncing her name!
India has reacted with suitable outrage and has asked New Zealand to talk effective and demonstrable action, against the anchor. Is it going to happen? I doubt, because the anchor, is going to hide behind what is called, 'freedom of speech', in a country far removed from India. To me, the guy is the classical bully- small, a loser, and a bully to boot, who hides behind, a system to attack people who he thinks will either ignore him or not respond, while he gets his high by making his cronies laugh and he keeps his self esteem from dropping further.
I was a little perturbed by the importance India gave the incident, but I guess the best way to tackle bullies to get them , into the spotlight and ruthlessly expose their charade, which has happened.
As for Mayyas, the 'Masala Dosa', in today's parlance was an awesome experience!
6 comments:
I saw the video clip. It is very bad.
Sir,
As always thought provoking. Though I always adcvocated for freedom of expression, I understand this is the most misunderstood freedom pariculary in a country like ours.
Common wisdom on the notion of freedom of speech is that we are free to say anything we want as long as our speech does not impinge upon the ‘fundamental freedoms’ of others. The idea is that one’s freedom of speech must not cause ‘harm’ to others. This sort of reasoning leaves much unresolved, because in reality the problem of deciding what counts as ‘fundamental freedoms’ or ‘harm’ is not so simple.
The cases against Kushboo are an example of a primitive and dangerous slant in the public mindset towards restricting democratic freedoms in India. The only thing scandalous about the conclusion of the events here is that the government didn’t punish those who filed cases against Kushboo for saying there is nothing wrong with premarital sex.
As with the case of Kushboo, the issue of Hussain’s paintings and their widespread condemnation by communal elements is more a failure of society than a failure of government. The government’s inadequate response deserves its share of the blame for Hussain having to eventually accept Qatari citizenship, but it was Indian society, polluted by an ideology that demands automaton-like in-group behavior, that was the ultimate force that drove Hussain away.
The standard arguments that I have come to expect from those who support Hussain’s move to Qatar (instead of criticizing those violent factions that threaten his life) have to do with the moral imperatives concerned. “Why does he paint nude Hindu goddesses?” “Why not the Muslim prophet Muhammad?” “Hussain is mocking Hinduism” “Hussain’s ideas are offensive to Hindus” “Hussain is a provocateur”. One is, of course, free to make these arguments, and one may even be right. However, one may not in a democracy expect that these arguments are sufficient cause to take legal action against Hussain.
Those who make these arguments are missing the point about free-speech. Hussain’s motives are irrelevant as long as he is not promoting violent acts against people. The problem is that where religion is concerned, people lose the ability to see that criticism of all ideas is a human right. Moreover, many of those who criticize Hussain’s actions (which are protected under free-speech law) have made death threats and even sabotaged Hussain’s shows and art works.
To re-iterate, we must draw a clear distinction between discussion of ideas and endorsement of acts that are intended to harm. It is understanding this distinction that can liberate India from the popular undemocratic mindset that is constricting her, preventing the resolution of a vast many social and political issues that need be addressed using reason
Ashik,
I think you have made some interesting valid points.
Freedom, unfortunately, is still a nebulous concept. However most of us accept that, we may, live in any which way we want, subject to not disturbing the sensibilities of other people as defined by law.
One may be in a live in relationship but not wander down a road in the nude. Laws are framed by mortal men, so are subjective.
In short I would say, your fist must end where my nose begins, otherwise you reserve the right to extend your arm in any direction.
With regards to Hussain,he undoubtedly is one of our greatest modern painters. However it is also my point of view that he is a showman and courts controversy for no reason..........while one cannot condone, attacks made on Hussain, it is important, that he understood that religion is a touchy issue in this country. In this context, Javed Akhtar, has written, many songs portraying, Radha-Krishna and so on. Has a finger been pointed at him? The answer is a flat no.
I think the context is very important.Should he have lived in a country where religion is no big deal, I think, we need not have worried...........but not in India at this point of time, because freedom is a function of maturity of a nation and we are a young nation after all, with a long history.
Unfortunately in the case of Hussain, at this point in time, in India, it is best if he stays at Quatar, and display his paintings there, because as far as I'm concerned artistic freedom is fine but not at the cost of losing lives over senseless rioting. Maybe in 50 years this country will be ready to view Hussain's controversial paintings!
sir
i agree to this.what i personally feels that this story was given so much air because govt. is loosing face due to CWG.Media&people are talking about this issue.For deviation,they have blown it into proportion.
Sir,
These type of incidents are not new to Indians , every next day we hear something or the other happened with our citizen which is related to racism. I wonder is there something wrong in the way we behave which sends a negative message(in this case the CWG preparation) or something is wrong in their(foreigners) perception.
Hi,
From all accounts the CWG have been a huge success......in fact you cannot get a ticket for today's closing ceremony!
As for racism, I think, it is a deep rooted malice. We ( Indians ) can be as rasicst as any one else.
However it is obnoxious and must be rooted out!
Post a Comment