Yes. The last week has been quite eventful. It is a real event to watch how a silly video by a budding comedian can sway the netizens who conveyed their anger against the bitter-words used for their idols. And, again, when NYT published this news article (who knew it was so important!) and mentioned the Indian Nightingale as “so-called” playback singer and then went on to define briefly the concept of play-back singing which is relatively unknown to US citizens – the civil society again exploded in anger. How can they use “so-called”? The context in which it was used was not important.
Actually, the context is never important to us. The nation which boasts of “the most lucrative” economy is still struggling with employment. A change of government can’t overnight gift extensive employment opportunities. Accepted. But, the fact that tells that the organised sectors (mostly Information technology) accept a meagre 2 percent of the total interviewees, reflects the un-employability of the applicants. And, in this case, the applicants are technical graduates. This bluntly signifies the degraded education system of our country. The education that is provided to the average Indian is literally terrifying. But, this context was never important to us.
Coming to the context of average Indians that I mentioned, I sometimes doubt who it is comprised of.
If only 2 percent of Indians have paid tax last year – the social strata defining the upper, middle or lower class may go for a toss. Then, if I still consider this 2 percent which is comprised of middle and upper class based on pure economic differentiation – I don’t find the cultural progressiveness that an upper 2-3 percent of a progressive society normally shows.
We still find a major segregation between stars and actors here. It is very acceptable a fact that a star may not be a good actor or his/her film may not be even considered as a good film – but still the tickets in the multiplexes rise to 300 odd bucks and the theatres go houseful. Who shells out this amount to watch those movies? Undoubtedly the upper 2 percent.
But,I don’t remember when I last paid for visiting an art exhibition. Besides, the movies with sensible content struggle to release in theaters. Well, the sponsors are still carrying on some ghazal or classical concerts. Otherwise, there is hardly any movement in that area while the tickets of the operas or museums are priced really high in other countries. Even the publishing industry is flooding the market with not-so-well-written stuffs. And, as we know, demand decides the supply – the quality of demand not in any sense signifies that of a culturally progressive one.
When we speak today about the potential of a double digit GDP growth, whom do we depend on to drive this growth? Not these people at least. With poor education and a shallow culture, we cannot expect that.
Well, we depend on the messianic qualities of our PM, Mr Modi. Our age-old habit of making a hero of someone is being applied to him also. The so-called “bhakts” are busy defending him, economists are busy beefing up the growth story, while there are people condemning him for every silly thing. But, the paradox lies in the fact that we as a society never raised our voice with a single slogan. Our demands have always been politically mobilized or motivated giving a way for manipulation. And, this perhaps makes our voting system a failure which makes way to many accused/criminals in the parliament.
Who are to show the way? A major part of the civil society is busy protesting against silly videos or condemning or praising Modi; or at least busy proving them happy over others. Though the civil society has erupted several times in the near past, the continuity has faded away in a while. These are where the vanguards are needed in a society. To show the way. To lead the path.
And, these vanguards are missing from our society. They are lost in the midst of our failure to provide good education and inculcate sensibilities. Or perhaps, in the silly snapchats or the eerie selfie-posts.
By Sankha Ghosh
Tags: Snapchat Tanmay Bhat Your Voice
