I returned my blue jeans! : Blog #243

I returned my blue jeans!

There was some neighborhood dispute in our residential colony. We youngsters went to meet the residential association president and talked to him trying to present our perspective. He wouldn’t hear any of it. I swiftly went home and searched for the blue jeans which my parents gifted me 6 years before. After dinner, I quietly returned my jeans to parents. Before they could wipe away the bewilderment from their face, I told them “ I am protesting against the residential association’s autocratic policies!” . As my parents continued to contemplate if we should rush to a psychiatrist, I told them “All the writers are returning their awards to Sahitya Akademi. I thought I will follow their footsteps.”

I feel all the eminent writers returning their awards one by one is as pointless as me returning my 6 years old blue jeans to my parents. To begin with, they are not registering their protest with the right body. Yes, the Akademi should have raised its voice when the freedom of expression was under threat and one of its tribe was attacked. That was wrong on Akademi’s part. But that issue got the public’s attention when the first award was returned. I feel the actions of all the writers who followed suit lacked originality and creativity.

Writers or artists are expected to come up with novel thoughts, processes or ideas which will give hope and happiness to people around. They are the ones who shouldn’t pay heed to comforting calls of a herd. They should express themselves in as varied ways as possible. How could they even think of huddling themselves in to a crowd and to move in the exact same direction? They are the ones who are supposedly advocating pluralism. Isn't protesting in different ways the best way to draw attention to the importance and need of pluralistic ideologies for a thriving society?

If you ask me, these people should have done what they are best at – use words to express their differences and concerns. They could have written a story which would have stirred the entire nation. They could have written a poem which would have inspired all of us. They could have voiced their opinions in an invigorating debate. They could have waged a war of words where the deaf ears of small minds will be forced to listen. They could have delivered a moving speech which would have sent an army of progressive people marching against the archaic mindsets. Alas, all they did was to return their old and dusty trophies!

Arun Babu

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