Much of what Kaleidoscope remembers about his childhood revolves around water. Their kachha house used to submerge in water during the monsoon. The street connecting outside world used to remain under rainwater for weeks, sometimes months during the monsoon. Much of the games that Kaleidoscope used to play centered around water too. A typical day would have started with taking a really long bath in his pond, followed by school where he often had to maneuver through the water-logged lane. A typical holiday would surely involve a session of fishing and a couple of longer sessions in the pond.
As the development entered into his neighborhood, water started to disappear from Kaleidoscope's everyday life, except while he drank, urinated and took a bath inside a tiny room. He has however always fascinated with water logged places which range from sewage to ocean! River has been the most loved ones.
As 'development' rocked his life, it also gave his place a couple of highways, one of which actually goes through a lake. He never knew that lake exists. One-day while taking his parents for an eye operation he availed that road for the very first time. It was still boring stuff Kaleidoscope thought. Shops and vehicles. Soon the picture started to change. It was all low-land through which the expressway was constructed. To add to this good feeling, Kaleidoscope found a large lake on his left. The speeding car took a while to cross. Later-on, Kaleidoscope has used the road numerous times and always wanted to spend some time there, alone.
As he started riding a bicycle again, he took that road with app on to track how much he could do. Initially it was 8-10 kms would make him happy. He could see the low-land with all the vegetation which he used to make one thing or the other. The smell of dried up common water hyacinth, or the smell of drying mud under the scorching June Kolkata was slowly engulfing him. One day he reached a little far and while checking the map afterwards, he understood he was 'dangerously' close to the intoxicating lake. So, it was destined to reunite with water every once in a while.
Nostalgia has been a longing for a home that no longer exists... Kaleidoscope felt, at least he can see the home somewhere. If one doesn't really want to go back and stay inside, the home is there... in so far as we try to see it!
There was always a child somewhere calling up, everyday. The memories of rainy days, mudball (football in a muddy field), and those never ending swimming sessions were always there somewhere around the corner. One could easily catch that, but that was never touched upon. Procrastination - the word that seems more appropriate with people's pending projects, perhaps most suitable to define what people feel like doing, know they easily can do, but seldom do! One of which is to going back to the childhoods.
About five years ago, kaleidoscope in a rain soaked July afternoon, took a photo of a setting sun, glittering the mud-water soaked tract of land at Haldia where his students were playing football. He posted in the facebook to get flooded by messages from his school and neighborhood friends. Everyone, all of a sudden seemed very happy to see a small portion of their childhood living at Haldia, at the backyard of a little known degree college where once child, now grown up teacher was experimenting with his camera. Quickly it was decided that on 15th August everyone will participate in a football match at none other than their childhood playground Bharati Milan Sangha. Its very close to where Kaleidoscope lives, but he recalled he didn't visit that field for about five years. One of his friends urged him to inspect if it was possible to go back to the childhood memories through that place. The place was extremely important given the fact that memories are shaped around place and person. It was a known place, until Kaleidoscope paid a visit. One fine morning Kaleidoscope took a longer route to see the field. He found it was no longer a place, but it was converted to the space to him. It was fenced and a notice board was hanging that in order to protect the grasses playing inside the ground in monsoon is prohibited! Kaleidoscope couldn't believed what he just saw. So, if a kid has to play, he has to be 'disciplined' to be able to enter into what was now become a gated field. The club which used to remain open for hours was closed and he knew the last door to their childhood was completely shut. He felt alien facing an unimaginable space of disciplining. He had to declare that the plan was over. He knew that opportunities to live an unbinding childhood has disappeared (read My playtime, our playtime and vanishing spaces).
Kaleidoscope has also been a cycle enthusiast throughout the most part of his earlier life. A small accident, some pain in his lumber joints and a lot of other aspirations made him drift away from the pedal, spokes, wheels and the sound of wind that blows around your ears and neck. It was a decade long break from his usual routine that involved cycling to places. His long-term fieldwork was never complete without a cycle ride for about 25- 30 km per day. Sometimes, it reached to 50. Bicycle was not just a mode of commuting, it was also a bridge between him urban, car-clad appearances in the field and a relatable person on bicycle.
Fastforward to the Covid-19 led lockdown. He bought a bicycle. This time a little sporty one to go to distances at ease. So, now, the impossible to reach lake, open field suddenly became reachable. He wishes to share the stories of the repeated lake visits in a different post. Here he just want to ensure, that childhood does exist in nearly the exact form in which Kaleidoscope left it. On his way to the lake, which is about 10 km, there is this open field. Where kids play football, yes they do, especially when it rains.
Its difficult not to imagine a different world after Corona is over. It may appear that we are not there anywhere soon, but diseases have given us lessons historically. Diseases of this scale and magnitude makes it easier to make decisions which otherwise take years of deliberations and political will. Such decisions have the capacity to shape much of the future and when you are nowhere near the future you can only imagine that the future will be strikingly different!
Corona which 'only' kills about 4% of the people getting the virus, yet it has rocked everything at present. Nearly one quarter of the entire world's population is staying at home in order to fight corona. Countries like Italy has already collapsed completely to deal with the exponential growth affecting nearly thousands everyday. India, the country in which I live has taken one of the most toughest decisions of observing the complete lock down of the entire country for 21 days (which might like to increase).
What does the future hold? Certainly human population will not be wiped out of the planet and it is even more certain that Corona is not the only bio-cultural threat that human kind will face. What would be the responses?
Public policy prioritisation:
As countries like Italy and France has failed miserably to control over the disease and its spread despite of their world ranking being the second and first in terms of healthcare (Click here), countries which perform miserably might have a huge push towards rapid development of the healthcare facilities. India with global rank of 145 (out of 195 countries) in terms of quality and accessibility of health services (click here) and blatant privatization of the healthcare services is in an ideal condition that the public sphere will push for making government's prioritisation right. Temple, Mosque dole politics might continue but its a golden opportunity for the people and opposition to push for creation of basic assets like public funded healthcare and education. The identity fault-line is expected to change rapidly as the disasters such as this one cross-cuts all the artificial boundaries, be it identity, nationhood or any other. Additionally in countries like India the upwardly mobile middle classes will start valuing the importance of public healthcare system and mechanism which has rather been carelessly and mercilessly destroyed by the rise of private enterprises. Corona will make people demand for an affordable treatment mechanisms and it can be expected that for once people will no longer feel proud to be able to consume high-end health care facilities just because they have more money than others. In that sense Corona is a great leveller, but for a thousand other reason it is not.
A lot will depend either on the extent of the disaster or on the opposition to keep otherwise weak public memory alive for quite sometime, so that people can place demands such as this.
Economic consequences:
Although, I am no expert, but it is needless to mention that all the countries affected by the virus will have to deal with toughest economic situations and India will have to face some more simply because it has more mouths to fed. India faces the toughest challenge to manage the informal sector workers and migrant labourers whose saving is minuscule and who cannot survive without getting paid regularly. Additionally, they lack most of the safety nets and India being torn apart through traditional hierarchies repeatedly these are the people who will face near annihilation. However, it is important to note that this section of the people have a variety of informal mechanisms through which a sizable portion of them would be able to survive this disruption and it is expected that the State and Central relief measures will ultimately reach to a large section of them. Given the corrupt channel of public transaction a sizable portion of the relief measure will definitely be siphoned away through a variety of informal mechanisms (click here). However, economic consequences will be far reaching than the serious problems that has just been discussed. There will be fall of productivity as there will also be a considerable fall in the consumption of the people. Large-scale layoffs are in the cards which will affect each and every sector. Consequently the purchase power capacity of a substantive number of people will be reduced leaving secondary and tertiary impact on the service industries, private enterprises (schools, hospitals, hotels, malls).
As an unprecedented recession is expected to step in a lot of people will loose job some of them of course insanely high paid. The proud 'standard' of living or 'class' of living is definitely going to get affected. As till date, the epicentres are located in traditionally the 'core' of the World Systems (click here) the peripheral dependency will definitely have devastating consequences which is going to shape much of the world we are going witness soon. First, the lack of earning and large-scale layoff will demand a lot of people to resort to basics. Consequently mushrooming bars, restaurant chains, hotels, spa parlours, shopping malls with consumables might face a tough time to continue. The booming real estate might face a stagnation with thousands of unfinished apartments - the typical manufactured middle class dreams.
Instead your ola driver might go back to the small village where he used to work in the paddy field, the hotel waiter might start a small business near the station of his village and the like.
The cultural resistance of the upwardly mobile middle-classes:
I have seen this section of the people from a close vicinity. Almost all of my school friends belong to this class. Baring a few, the rest belong to a lower middle class families. Most of their parents have tried their best to provide them with the best facilities. They could afford the best in the region primarily because single child or at best two children was already stepping in to the generation in which I am born. When it was important to make decision regarding the life course, in our time private engineering colleges were just opening up and nearly 95% of my friends jumped in. They already started earning about 20K as a beginner around 2005 when I was doing my masters. Some of them already started making plans to move abroad and most of them did eventually. A substantive portion of the people now has a consumerist selves which includes new flats, central air-conditioning living, cars, weekend parties, long drives, home delivery of everything. Their commuting is detached from the everyday world through their own cars or the appcabs, their office is on AC for eternity so does their homes.
There is Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo in their 2011 book Poor Economics showed through their fieldwork how difficult it is for people to adjust with the standard of living facing economic crisis. The poverty trap where income tomorrow is lesser than income today and a person can slip into an extreme poverty is otherwise cultural and it is most severe among those who resist lifestyle adjustments. While the waiter coming from a distant village in the Country Roads micro brewery would be able to go back it will be depressing for his customer including myself if they have to stop going to the place and grab a drink or two once in a while.
Technology led poverty and the public sphere:
Make no mistake human civilisation is not going to go back to even a century in terms of technology use. Even if Corona wipes off a sizeable portion of human kind the rest will definitely make attempt to bounce back to the life. The priorities of state might change but building effortless technology to reduce human involvement will be there and there is no way that large scale employment generation will be in the card. Rather, more corporations will now try to invest more in automation so that their liabilities to their employees are reduced.
A practical demand for initiatives like 'minimum income guarantee' might start to take shape in many places of the world, which will further the importance of state power and less on the need for large-scale privatisation. Again Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo in their 2019 book Good Economics for Hard Times showed why ensuring the minimun earning is not enough, people need the assurance that life is worthy of living. Which needs the creation of new myths, new signification, in sum work.
Mental health emergency:
The effect of global slow down, joblessness or pay cut will definitely put a lot of stress on the people who might have to adjust with their life choices. A lot of suicides, depressed individuals are going to touch dozens of families within coming few years and countries will have to bear consequences of demoralised workforce. While the public funding for employment creation will be rising, states must be prepared to deal with the mental health issues rapidly.
Privacy issues and surveillance:
Perhaps one of the most radical alteration might be seen in the public opinion regarding the state's control over its people. A substantive development of the public opinion allowing the state's intervention in people's everyday life is likely to be formed. States might like to exercise much more precise control over no only the activities of its people but also their biological components through the technological surveillance and big data analysis. It will get a consent. A new hegemony in terms of consenting the surveillance is going to take place and the data will definitely be misused and curtail the freedom to live for many. A hypothetical example can be that a diabetic patient denied of a drink or a sweet shop because state would definitely want their workforce to be fit.
Finally, for some time people may appreciate the value of their domestic help, sweeper, cleaner, farmers, informal sector workers who constitute more than 90% of the supply chain meeting the everyday requirements. The value of perhaps the 'housewife' who hadn't been given a single 'lockdown' day to do what they want to do. Perhaps people will learn to appreciate little things in life, like the balcony in which a bird actually comes regularly, or the setting sun which you haven't seen for ages... perhaps the twilight to know how long the twilight actually exists!
There used to be a time when Kaleidoscope stayed back for the exciting canteen of the university. It's top floor location was the primary reason for such attraction. A few of his friends were hostel boarders and he knew for sure that if it's too late he can always stay back at the hostel!
A couple of his teachers were regular evening time customers of the canteen. Of course they had a separate place to have something. A relatively confined place. Kaliedoscope and his friends could only see their back side so as to make sure that whenever Kaleidoscope is smoking his trachers are not looking at. Smoking infront of one's teacher was forbidden.
Once, Kaleidoscope found their teachers were smoking a hookah! The traditional one with coconut base. It was owned by Gour da, the defacto canteen owner. Gour da was old, large built and kindhearted.
So, Kaleidoscope thought of giving it a chance. After their teachers left, Kaleido and one of his very close friends approached to Gour da. Gour da was kind enough to allow them to smoke from the same hookah!
Ah! The sound of smoking coming through the water, the feel of holding the coconut base and appreciating the smoke that was coming out of the lung overwhelmed Kaleidoscope! The added charm was to be able to smoke from the same hookah where two legendary anthropologist just smoked!
Years later Kaleidoscope tried the hookah bar thing in a couple of Kolkata bars. One at Beer republic and another one at Traffic! The smoke came out heavily, took him to the nostalgic past for a while. But the loud noise and confinement was unbearable. He always searched for the university top floor while smoking the hookah!
It happened as he smoked a hookah from one of the rooftop bars of the newest part of the city! Memories came back. Like a long lost link the smok created a quick recaptulation of the the colourful moment of the canteen evening... The smoke was establishing a connection through the cityscape... Through the timescape that made Kaleidoscope what he is!
Smoking, causes memories come back... Apart from causing cancer!
Kaleidoscope continues to live his exciting life shuttling between his transforming town and the built in city. The built in habitat is supposedly exciting as the governance mechanism is ready to offer something new everyday! Sometimes it is the the Feluda theme park where no one visits, some other times it is the sketing rink where kids can manage to come once in a month! The governance tries hard to wipe off every bit of the place's history to make it even more uncertained space which then will supposedly acquire its own history.
Newtown in every dimension is a kitsch to those who roamed around, watched miles long farmland. Newtown, is the triumph of powerful state over it's earlier civilisation. Like the winners often do it replaced the memories, transforms the place.
The latest addition to this kitsch is vertical garden on metro pillars! Some news paper celebrates such construction to be a highly efficient means of solving the problems of pollution and it is eyesoothing. Some say, these are vertical forests, things of future!
Kaliedoscope on his way back from the evening walk end up seeing such pillars from a close proximity! Yes indeed, they look much better than a concrete pillar! A creative imagination can endup finding a forest inside. The texture and mix of different colours from a distance is attractive. Kaleidoscope was busy in capturing a few images when a noise drove his attention.
Gang of birds gathered on the Tabubuiya tree planted on the boulevard which divides the broad road were having a conversation. They never looked at the vertical forests I am sure they might never will... Not until all the trees are destroyed to satisfy the insatiable human desire!
Kaleidoscope tried to take a few snaps of them too, but they were at a distance! Why not, though Kaleidoscope, the closer you are to the vertical gardens the distant you are from the forests of happiness.
Delhi shows India's new direction. An election defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party which tried its best polarise the electorate. It gives two important lessions, first, service delivery pays and second, polarisation is not always secures electoral dividend. However, the North East Delhi riot which began in 23rd February is indicative to the heavy price that people need to pay in name of politics. Its extremely difficult to write or to know the reality through the news reports in India. More so, because the one sided accentuation of the news channels. News doesn't display what is happening but display perspectives and the public sphere can then decide on which one to follow to form their own opinions and participate in a debate. It happens to be the worst kind of a situation where no matter how hard you try, its extremely difficult to stand on your ground based on the information you are getting. I have been relying on a particular news channel NDTV partly because it poses critical questions without getting emotional about it and partly because it still delivers a lot of contents.
However, a relatively more powerful tool which I use is ethnography. Along with my like minded friends at AAMRA ek Sachetan Prayas Forum, I am conducting ethnographic research on the issues such as political violence, grassroots politics for over a decade now. However, his experience is relatively confined mostly to my home state of West Bengal. Because I do not have the fund or am not allowed to go on long vacation for conducting fieldwork in other parts of the country. While, I was closely following the communal riots in my own state through ethnography, I am taking a close look at Delhi incident through news channels mostly by NDTV and through a particular news paper The telegraph.
My reading and field experience reveals a striking similarity in "Manufacturing the polarisation" in West Bengal and also recently in Delhi
Let us see the design of such a manufacture.
A. The Construction of Others:
It is seen that there are different 'successful' mechanisms to construct the "us/them" boundary, or rejuvenate such boundary principals. It is partly based the primordial identity sentiments stemmed from 'different' cultural practices and partition memory and party based on newly founded hoaxes like Hindurashtra, Ghusbethiya (Infiltrators), Job eaters, illegitimate occupants (person who is not supposed to live here, because of some weird reason ranging from having skull-cap to participating in a particular rallies). Because, a section of public intellectuals have actually supported the cause of such 'others' they are also branded as others in innovative connotations like 'urban naxal', 'anti-nationals.'
Once such connotation/category is widely popularised it becomes a portable tool to identify a wide section of the populace to be confronted with. So, now you have a handy device to construct the 'other' through the degree or extent of their otherness and then based on the available resources you can decide on what can be done on the other. Such actions range from online bullying to murder (remember Gauri Lankesh), from lynching to riot.
Accordingly, in order to operationalise the grand scheme you need resources.
B. The Resources:
Although, there is an attempt in each of the riots that has taken place in West Bengal to project them as a spontaneous outcome of the hatred (Dhulagarh), religious procession (Asansol, Naihati-Hajinagar), or viral facebook post (Baduria-Basirhat), in each of the interveiws people commonly expressed that there were 'outsiders' and there were 'insiders' explaining the 'geography' to them. The outsiders are the organised forces that successfully conduct the riots both in Bengal and now as it appears from several direct responses by the citizens, in Delhi as well. See the Prime-Time news cover by Ravish Kumar on 27.02.2020 on Delhi riot. Especially at the section where his team finds out the people who saved each others and common people who mentioned the presence of the outsiders.
Although I have limited understanding of the nature of these goons and their mode of operation, I have however interviewed a section of goons like this during the end of Left Politics in West Bengal, when there were armed mercenaries (popularly Harmad) were posted in different villages in the forested districts of West Bengal. These are a section of uneducated, unemployable, notorious youths. Who are usually ready to do anything in exchange of money, liquor and women. You have them they are yours. I failed to see any ideological orientation of these goons, but yes they had a hatred towards the Maoists. That partly because they were supposed to fight them and partly because they were rejected by the villagers many of whom actually had sympathies towards the Maoists.
There is a rough similarities between the goons that I had encountered in my fieldwork about ten years ago and now. They are young, notorious and has little care for social order or any sort of ethical principles.
Who are they?
Trust me, they are not alien from a different planet. They are living among us. You might have encountered one of them today while crossing the road or buying vegetable from the local shop. You might have seen him in the underconstructed apparent in your neighbourhood.
They are specialists, specialised in rootlessness, uselessness and lack of baggages (familial, local or ideological).
C. Use of Resources:
What happens when you can connect the otherness with the resources to be used in annihilation? Delhi is a perfect example of such a connect. Its an organised move towards such annihilation. The goons we are watching on television screen, forwarded through our whatsapp and facebook videos are the outcome of what happens when such a connection is established. Shaheen bagh protest model which was a kindle to an otherwise darkness engulfed country has been systematically targeted by the administrative mechanisms, in different ways. First, during the Delhi election Shaheen Bagh protest has been shown as the reason for choking of Delhi traffic. Common people ranging from Auto drivers to workers made to feel disgusted as the popular narrative of sad traffic condition due to the protest was floated. Meanwhile reports (Click here) have come that there are alternative roads which could help traffic go smoothly but not allowed to be opened. The image below is an example.
If Shaheen Bagh protest was a positive hope for many, the regressive righ wingers easily projected it to be a threat towards Hindu majority and that Muslims are going high-handed. Following is a list of four such hatespeeches on record which the Delhi High Court played and ordered FIR against all such hatespeeches been delivered.
Even after a defeat in the Delhi Assembly, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continued to spill the hate mongering, inspiring its followers to become more aggressive.
Such aggressive hatespeeches do have consequences. In each of the riots that has happened in West Bengal, there is a significant presence of hatespeech delivered by people occupying the positions of power. In Baduria-Basirhat, there were instances of hatespeech delivery by locally influencial leaders. People alleged a cross border influence, as they have heard that there were instances of hatespeech delivered from Mosques located on the other side of the river Ichhamati, however, during the riot there were instances of hatespeech. Similarly, in Rejinagar, Murshidabad the attack on Pir-panths by the Sharia panths was organised and channelised by the local Mosques through hatespeech. Apart from that, the rallies, filled with competing politico-communal forces are always mutually exclusive and echoed with hatespeech that often resulted in the violence, like what has happened in Asansol-Ranigunj and the dynamics of Ram Navami celebration.
d. The Geography of violence:
There is a geographic feature of the Delhi violence which is roughly parallel to what happened in many places in West Bengal in recent past. The following image (by National Herald) clearly reflects the violence has a connection with the borders of the Uttar Pradesh and are the pockets where 'incidentally' BJP has the majority.
When I was conducting fieldwork on the communal violence in West Bengal a geographical feature was notable in several cases. For example in Naihati-Hajinagar which was one local teachers mentioned "mini-India" because of its population dynamics. With the Jute-mill concentration these are the places where people all over the India has immigrated and eventually settled down. There is a high concentration of so called 'hindi belt' population as well. Same is the case with Kankinara-Bhatpara where the politico-religious conflict continued for months before, during and after the Parliamentary election. Once one reaches there one can easily see the compressed co-existence of Hindu-Muslim living with extremely inhuman condition. The community toilet doesnt have privacy and people are supposed to excrete openly in a confined place one of which once blasted killing three. The community bathing system will remind you of a concentration camp and filthy drainage will not let you have your meal properly. Yet, instead of raising voices against such exploitation which is continuing since the British period they keep on fighting an impossible Hindu-Muslim battle. The communal upsurge in Delhi has happened in places which roughly correspond to the geography in Bengal where construction of identity fault line is relatively easier.
Hence, in such places in Bengal has seen a sudden upsurge in 'invented traditions' - performances which were never part of wide popular tradition in Bengal. The examples include Ganga Aarati in smaller scales and Ram Navami rallies in larger scale. These, along with numerous temple based organisations have formed a living display of political religion and brought back the identity issues in public discourse. Such pockets as Naihati-Hajinagar, Chandannagore, Dhulagarh, Baduria-Basirhat can reflect on the manufacturing polarisaiton in pockets of North-East Delhi.
e. Administrative Delay:
In each of the cases in West Bengal, there was a great absence of administrative intervention. In each of the cases in West Bengal police reached at least two to three hours after the riot has started and then it took days for them to contend the situation. In some cases like Baduria-Basirhat the violence continued for months because it became unpredictable for the administration to even sense where the new violence might erupt. Meanwhile, shops are looted, and set ablaze, people are injured and killed. Delhi has shown worse form of administrative inaction. The Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal demanded army intervention (click here) to contend the situation which only reflects the helplessness of the police administration in contending the situation.
In each of the cases in West Bengal wherever the riot expanded, it could expand primarily because of the delayed response from the administration. AAMRA in several cases has requested to interview the local police in order to know their response, but were always rejected by them.
The ray of hope in otherwise gloomy situation is in Ravish Kumar's report which mentions several instances of communal harmony from within the residential colonies, which reinforces the designed nature of violence which shook the entire nation of a terror that has all probabilities to be unfolded at large scale.
The margins strike back... margins strike back when there is nowhere to go! Kaleidoscope on his return from the far south, beyond the city of Kolkata in the middle of the night felt it melting down everything and reshaping the hierarchical cityscape! The hierarchy within which Kaleidoscope has engraved his everydayness.
It was a very long day for the driver who was busy in transporting people to places "on government duty" finally to end up in the southern most part of the district to pick up Kaleidoscope and drop him to the middle of another district. Meanwhile he had to negotiate between the unruly traffic, truck 'lines' near the port, dusty warehouses. He didnt say a word because he was not supposed to. It was late, as late as the dogs in the alleyways are tired, alleyways are empty and one can finally pick up some speed inside the city streets.
Finally near one of the 'ugliest' addition to his city the large plastic casted "Hanuman" he stopped. He had to, otherwise the last chance to pick up his dinner will be gone!
"Why didnt you say earlier? you could have picked it up and had it while we were at work! Its too late!" Said Kaleidoscope.
A smile was enough for him to understand his service condition - "duty first." As every boss travelling by these cars knows, its often an unequal distribution of choices, that makes the people from higher echelons to exercise more control how they live. Not only what they have in dinner but also when they have the dinner!
Kaleidoscope was watching the hanuman statue from the distance, from inside the car through the dusty windscreen. When he experimented with his eyes to make it nearly shut he could see the night was already engulfing every boundaries. Otherwise, why on earth that statue gets installed on the road divider to accomodate the unthinkable! Otherwise, why would the driver finally say "I need to have my dinner now!" with a silent "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH"
Kaleidoscope wonders the middle of the nightscape through his half closed eyes should have been the real and noting down the time of arrival and kilometers before finally saying a polite good night is just kitsch, ugly hyperreal kitsch, uglier than the Hanuman statue in the middle of nowhere!
Kaleidoscope had this flashback moment when a familiar voice called his childhood name on his way to the nearby park with his son! Who was it calling? Thought Kaleidoscope. A smiling unfamiliar face appeared from a machine van (popularly called the vano) - a not too old addition to the contaminated diesel run good carrying vehicle which is infamous for its unregulated movement and pollution causing behaviour. Such a machine van is most frequently seen in the rural counterpart of the state in which Kaleido lives. He had to travel on them while he was on fieldtrips or in his former work place in Haldia.
Who was it? The smile seemed to be known, and the bright eyes are familiar too, but what happened to his cheek - its all grown beard! Oh! the person smiled, you cant recognise me because of this? He was pointing towards the salt-and-pepper hairs that grew on his chin and lower cheeks! Kaleidoscope could readily recognise the person - ah! Bablu Kaku na! - isnt it Bablu uncle? He smiled!
Yes, its me! and I have a different look... and a different occupation too!
Yes, I remember Bablu Kaku, we used to have long conversations during his afternoon work sessions as a helper to the Masonry work when my father was trying to build a house bit by bit! Bablu kaku was a clean shaved gentleman. He used to talk to the then 11 year old Kaleidoscope about their childhood days. It was not much different from the one Kaleidoscope was experienceing, so instead of being amazed or mesmerised, Kaleidoscope used to learn practical skills of climbing trees, or eating particular form of wild berries without being affected by its sour juice! Bablu kaku was Bablu Kaku not a Muslim Bablu kaku or a Hindu Bablu kaku! Except for the
But with an ideal Muslim looking beard, Kaleidoscope could readily see Bablu kaku looks no longer the Bablu kaku he knew for years, or the image of the person that was stored inside his mind for a considerable period of time!
So what happened to Bablu Kaku?
Kaleidoscope didn't ask! He is no longer a 11 year old kid who could promptly ask things that comes to his mind! He needs to be cautious about asking things without hurting! Or perhaps without grabbing attention of the public sphere which surrounds Kaleidoscope! When he could not ask anyting at all, Bablu Kaku could read his mind! With his penetrating eyes, he mentioned,
I had to grow beard, you know its us - the Muslims! I have to look like one!
Kaleidoscope could see the active construction of Ideal prototypes of Sacchha Mussalman, a counterpart of what he sees everyday in his country in the name of Hinduism - the Hinduttva!
Bablu kaku left the place carrying his characteristics smile and the bright eyes which has not changed with his looks, thought Kaleidoscope!
The practice of such ideal prototype constructions as Kaleidoscope has been exploring at different places in West Bengal (roughly parallel to what is happening in his rest of the country) is a known fact to Kaleidoscope. However, seeing his childhood memories altered radically is a completely different experience. No matter how short lived the meeting has been, no matter how hopeful and happy Kaleidoscope is to see the smile and eyes remain the same - Kaleidoscope knew for sure, his world is changing, perhaps irrevocably!
Kaleidoscope is loosing its track as his country is giving him one blow after another, mostly below the belt. He is like many of his fellow citizens is bending lower so as to touch the ground to absorb such blows. Everytime he is trying to stand on his ground another blow from the most unexpected corner of the country comes.
Kaleidoscope is seeing new polarisation, separation and terminologies. It's the discourse taking shape of an euphoria of madness. Kaleidoscope has seen the newer constructions of the Minorities, Dalits, seculars, liberals, leftists, urban naxals as the facets to be isolated first and then eliminated.
A complete disregard for the past, for the diversity and a rising 'might is right' policy and political practice have given rise to newer spheres of organised violence. Needless to mention the nature of execution, it's safe to assume it has successfully affected everyone around the corner.
This everyone includes even the perpetrators too!
The categories
For the students, it's facing a battleground with uneven weapons resulting in mass hysteria. To say pen is mightier than the sword means nothing unless your writing room is secured.
For the Muslims it's a series of terrorization first by repeated incidents of lynching followed by the Babri verdict and then the fear of Citizenship Amendment Act. The silence from the statesmen in Lynching issues, the indifference of the administrative machinery and increasing marginalisation of the opposition voices have convinced a section of the population about the indifference of the Country at large.
For the liberal intellectuals, the attack on university campuses, arrests of several respected academics for their dissent and killing of well respected public intellectuals is the new India. Here, one can easily get a tag ranging from Urban Naxal to Tukde Tukde gang just by expression a dissent.
What about the organised goons? And the brainwashed youth, including a section of the students? They too are becoming the new India, where they are taught not to tolerate anything other than what they are told through their organisations. The identity frenzy, the ready to beat up, the complete disjunctioned bundle of goons are graduating without any clue of the world, dreaming of a Nazi regime without knowing anything about it. They are short sighted like their leaders, and either cannot see the darkness coming to engulf them or are completely visionless to live for the moment as most of the capitalistic brands wants to build the late capital subjectivities.
The knowledge production and consumption gap -
One of the major factors that provided the ideological backup to the construction of newer labelling everyday is the gap between knowledge production and consumption. For example, Kaleidoscope belongs to the knowledge production Enterprise and strives every moment to produce something new, something different from what was already known. He is part of a community which is too busy to look at anything else but to work out something new and then sturggle to publish them in academic journals of high repute!
They are busy because it gives them the feel that being in academia is worth a life. These journals never pay back to the authors, but charges a heavy amount to it's consumers. Clearly, one needs to be part of an academic institution which has the subscription to even get a glimpse of what is going on around the world. Nearly everyone doesn't have the luxury. Meanwhile, the domains of post-truth has made the knowledge product unfounded and extremely shaky. The yellow journalism along with the Information Technology Cell belonging to most conspicuous violence promoting party have rapidly filled up the gap between knowledge production and consumption!
The complex hegemonistic sphere has grown with a virtually free space for constructing a depthless present, an absent trace of hyper real. A range of items including the chest size of Mr. Modi to Tukde Tukde gang are real, perhaps more real than the blood oozing out from JNU president's stitches or the brutal lynching of the Muslims, being killed with an administrative aid!
