Calm the fuck down

Read this if you are sick of opinions. Read this if you want to see no more ‘open letters’. Read this if you have ever tried to present a point of view on social media and have been bludgeoned with intense and scathing remarks on your intelligence, loyalties and choices.

I am not going to state the obvious. Okay, I am. We are a democracy. Every one, including people who are on this planet only because their parents couldn’t figure out birth control, is entitled to an opinion. But it’s getting annoying. It’s absolutely awesome that you choose a side. But after choosing the side, say your bit and relax. Stop shouting hoarse from rooftops and drowning out other people who also want to have an opinion. Stop calling them names and branding them with hashtags that invariably end with tards. Allow things to happen, let there be some fluidity. Everyone who doesn’t agree with you doesn’t have to be thrown on the ground and stomped upon till every inch of dissonance is snuffed out of them. Respect his right to have an opinion, a voice. Allow me to highlight this with a few examples.

Modi and the mania

Modi went to the US. We obsessed, people there obsessed, the American media obsessed, we even obsessed about our obsession about this visit.  Then, a small scuffle happened between a senior journalist and some people outside the venue. And we went beserk. You had to pick sides. You were either with Rajdeep or a Moditard. There’s no in-between. If you said Rajdeep was wrong, people quickly trampled on you to tell you how you’ve been brainwashed by the Modi brigade. If you stood with Rajdeep, you were either branded a Congress loyalist or someone who can’t judge things correctly when clearly because he’s been leaning towards the Congress and asking the hard questions and that makes him deserving of the treatment he received.

Women and their woes

You know the Deepika and TOI story by now. And what flared up again were questions about women, what they wear and if she ‘asked for it’.  Even as we were picking our jaw off the floor and shaking our heads in surprise at the madness, a vulgar disgusting display of the sick mentality of the men and even of women came to the fore. Facebook and Twitter exploded with battles being fought with ferocity by men and women who see females who bare skin as objects and men and women who cannot fathom the depths a tabloid has fallen to. Everyone disagreed but the remarks by some people left a bad taste in the mouth.

Flipkart and the flop

Flipkart had a sale. They faltered. They apologized. People couldn’t wait and made this about how Flipkart was cheating them and how they have always been crooks. How this was a big scam and they can’t believe they have been falling for this all this time. This is while some of them were adding items to their cart and wondering how to reduce shipping costs by adding more items.

STEP BACK. Take a deep breath.

Let’s take stock of the situation. Because we (by which I mean Indians as a whole) need to calm the fuck down. We have lost the ability to think straight. We are nasty, bitchy, spiteful and angry. It’s like the whole world has done us wrong. This needs to stop. And now.

The Rajdeep incident had lots of grey shades. It didn’t need the political shades we added to it. It wasn’t political. It was two people in a potentially explosive situation who lost their cool. Neither and the emphasis is on neither here, are a representation of their entire community or profession. What happened with Deepika was wrong. She did not give you or me the free reign to portray her body as we please just because she became an actress. She may walk around naked; we have to keep our erections down. Yes, it’s our duty to do that. Not her duty to cover up.

Let’s allow another species to breathe. The ones like me. Who are Modi fans because in the 30 years I have been alive, I have never seen young India so enthusiastic. Because suddenly I am optimistic about the future. However, I don’t go around chopping heads for everyone who isn’t in my frame of my mind. Who think women should be given every kind of freedom and every sort of right.  But don’t recommend going to lonely areas alone because that’s unsafe anywhere in the world. Who want to see young India succeed and move forward.

Lastly, stop waiting on the sidelines for people, companies and ideas to fail. When you climb on to the bandwagon purely for the bashing and the ego boost it gives you, it makes you a coward. Stop violently pulling down people who are gingerly making their way up. Stop waiting for people and companies to stumble because when they do, you want to point and laugh. Stop it stupid Indian, it doesn’t suit you.

Does this not enrage you?

How are we so complacent?

As Indians we are either asleep right now or are smoking something so potent we don’t really care. Actually, the fact that we don’t really care isn’t new or untrue. But, here as we park our bums on cushy chairs every day, our country is struggling in every aspect. Does it not enrage you that this is the government we chose? That we are looking like a bunch of monkeys to the world around us? That this is not affecting only our economy but our reputation?

Here are 5 sins of a government that is a tyrant and dense, a combination that caused a World War the last time it happened.  Every Indian, rich, poor, adult, young, urban, rural should feel strongly about these things and decide how much anger should dwell within.

Pride: Air India nose dives.

For the past few years, Air India has been incurring losses despite government bailout. Losses of upto Rs.28,000 crores have been incurred. This is our NATIONAL carrier. I am sure there are tonnes of us that are willing to take it just for the sake of our country but we alone cannot make this work. How can an airline which was once one of the best carriers in the world (top 5 apparently) be sputtering for breath? What is the government doing? Far smaller economies are doing better in this sector than us. Yes, this does affect us on a daily basis. But, does this not enrage you?

Greed: Pocket fires in economic crises

We are one of the nations the world is looking at and we are making a complete fool out of ourselves. A productive economy is teetering and unsteady on its feet. You could get Rs. 54 for one dollar just yesterday. We are a BRIC country – touted as the next decade’s super economies and again we are a mere caricature of good governance. Fiscal deficits are huge and foreign exchange reserves are so low that we can pay for imports only for the next 6 months. Yep, all this planning that our government has done will barely see us through 6 months.  What is the government doing? Does it not cheese you off that every day we are paying a little more for basic comforts because of this? Does this not enrage you?

Wrath: Comic disbelief

Take a look at the first two points. You would think that our government would be quaking in its boots. Turns out, not at all. What do we use the parliament for instead? Oh, for discussion about a cartoon. The said cartoon was published when the person in question (who is being made fun of) was alive and even he knew this was in jest. Some donkeys years later, a stupid, fucked up parliament breaks up a session about this.  Heads roll, resignations are given and apologies are muttered. The sorry state of the country stays the same. The weakened, surppressed classes aren’t better off and Ambedkar is like a demi-god to them. The education, barring this cartoon, will continue to be a business and is possibly one of the most lucrative avenues in the whole country right now. Does this utter waste of our money and time not stun you? Why are you silent? Does this not enrage you?

Sloth: Heading nowhere

This is one of the sins which means that you neglect the duties you are suppose to do. And how well we score on this front. Right now, there was 21 Public Sector companies that are headed by no one. Yup, no one to show them the way. They are all without a full time Chairman and Managing Director. These are the companies that are supposed to balance out the capitalist effects of privatization. Clearly, this is not a talking point. Such a sham this. When a country needs efficient and sharp planning to cut costs and improve welfare, the very bodies that are suppose to being doing this are floating around headless. Does this not bug you? Does this not enrage you?

Gluttony: A law system that has been spat out

A minister who has taken thousands of crores of rupees is let off on bail and so is a young driver who killed a pregnant woman. Our law system is at its best a joke and its worse the place where even terrorists feel safe. The government tells us that we can’t pin down a crime on anyone and even if we do it won’t take much to bail him/her out. We are a country where the price of a crime is paid by the victim with either a life or loss of money while the perpetrator will either walk free or serve a rudimentary sentence.  Who are we, the citizens of India, to turn to? Do we stare from the sidelines and hope the splatters of a crime don’t dirty our clothes or do we pitch in and get embroiled in years of harassment. Why are our choices so limited? We are a democracy. We have rights and not only duties. We pay taxes and we should demand returns. Does this not enrage you?