I normally look forward to penning my exclusive collection of cut and dried thoughts but of late I have been procrastinating this task. Unrest and turmoil everywhere fuelled with rampant unreasonable and passionate unpalatable debates and deliberations has reduced it to becoming a daunting prospect. It reminds me of the popular Miranda Warning of the United States – ‘You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you…’ Voicing one’s views especially on the social media, during these troubled times has indeed become frightening.
I’m not certain whether I should pride myself on being a perpetual fence sitter. I indulge in watching and observing patiently, what others say and do, and how what starts off as a normal harmless moreover a rational discussion progresses into an unrestrained mayhem where perfectly sane people start barking and bickering followed by biting each other’s heads off, leaving none the wiser. Gone is the era, where the thought of offending, invoking angst and moreover losing some precious friends, served as a restrain mechanism. Today we have a seamless, shameless system where respectability, sensibility accountability matter precious little.
It no longer comes as a surprise to see the so called self professed experts airing their distorted views, liked, appreciated, shared and supported by their own set of blind followers. These netizens thrive in the so called online ghettos, which are more like echo chambers, sounding and resounding the same thought processes time and again. Any form of dissent and disagreement, accidental or intentional is not taken kindly. The difference is quickly resolved by a predictably barrage of abusive and foul language and at times adopting such extreme profanity that it is indeed nauseating. Unfortunately, this has become a norm and is internalised by many.
My good friend who loves to be in the eye of storm and take them head on, advised me to be thick skinned and nonchalantly respond, something I’m yet to learn. Frankly, I’m not making any attempts in that direction.
Instead I carry on being the Fence Sitter, a mendicant of sorts in a mad world. The only aspect that disturbs me are the words of David George, who warns…’He has sat on the fence so long that the iron has entered his soul’. I don’t want that to happen, not ever. I want my emotions to flow, I want my intellect to acknowledge the happenings around me, I want my soul to process the fact that nations are bleeding, mothers are weeping, fathers are fighting losing battles, children are lost in conflict zones, animal are trapped in fires…
Sadly, the world has created a mess, by conjuring fancy neat boxes, labelled as ideology, religion, caste, race etc. There is no fluidity. Either you confess and calmly take a seat in these boxes else you will be deliberately plonked in them, much against your wish and will. I’m waiting for the day when these invisible and invincible boxes will be pulled down and all beings will be set free to live a life of their choice, worship a God of their choice and chase their own dream no matter how absurd it may be perceived by others.
John Lennon beckons, “…You may say I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one….”.
