Plastic Bodies - sweat and rainfall

The monsoon has finally arrived here in Bengal. As Kaleidoscope travels more and more intensively through the length and breadth of Junglemahal, it's clearer that forest and people have many more stories to tell than perhaps Kaleidoscope could ever write down. Not every story is verbatim. 

Seedbed is ready for transplant, and this is one of the busiest times for the people in Junglemahal. The furniture shop owner, the electric contractors or, for that matter, the white-collar professionals are now busy with their gumboots. Its time to spend time in tilling the soil and sowing the paddy. For the next three months, it would be a long wait for the land to hold the crop - like a long gestation.

Women returning home after the days work in the crop field is over

Meanwhile, there are plastic-wrapped bodies coming and going to the field with a small container in hand.  What does it hold? Panta bhat - the water-soaked rice of the previous night - a piece of onion and perhaps a whole chilli for lunch for the women. 

What about the kids? Would they continue to wrap their bodies? Perhaps Kaleidoscope could never know but for now, he could capture something beautiful here.

Village girls returning from the school

Kaleidoscope knows, perhaps his workplace is the last refuge to many of them - to delay what is called life - marriage, kids and cycles. 

The World after Corona

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).

Calculation based on https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ (till 26.03.2020, 8:45 pm)

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!

Being-in-the Bars: - Construction of Everyday Social Reality in two Spaces of Consumptions

Kaleidoscope is fortunate enough to have a gang of like minded people in an otherwise monotonous built-in-city. He is grabbing almost every opportunity to explore the length and breadth of the built-in-city and penetrating inside the old city which is yet to be explored and known. Such an experience questions his very foundational assumption of the being-in-the-world. 

Being-in-the-world:

In order to be as a being in the world, Kaleidoscope's peculiar species makes constant decisions regarding the patterns of interaction and interface with the 'others'. The other includes most conspicuously the fellow species members but it is not limited to it solely. With their constant action and interaction they become being in - this being in is constantly shifting and never settled. This constant critical being in happens to be explained by Heidegger in his 1962 famous work being and time beautifully!

Such being in is part of the constant world building process through which Kaldeidoscope and his fellow species members continuously pass through and it is an ongoing public discourse. Humans respond to objects according to their perception of its meaning which arises from negotiated social interaction (Blumer 1969 Symbolic Interactionism).

The built-in city and stereotypical bars

As Kaleidoscope is now transferred to one of the close to the colonial capital colleges in a built-in environment he often explores the planned and plaza like 'expensive' places. It includes the malls nearby and some of the finest bars which offers some of the finest flavours of the world! He remembers, once one of his very close relatives after having a drink in Country Roads bar - the place where Kaleidoscope often grabs his drinks commented 'it feels like home." Yes, it gave him the feel of Scotland - his present home. These are the places where people from upwardly mobile middle classes come after office, grab a rounds of drinks, eat wonderful mouthwatering foods pay no attention to the increasingly loud music and then leave. These are the bars that play the IPL matches on giant screens, keep the light dimmed and allow some private moment even within the public space. Kaleidoscope has seen couples looking at each other deeply for long pauses, holding each others, hugging and kissing under the loud music, a mix of alcoholic-foodie-perfumy-bodily-smoky ambiance. It allows a transcendence of boundaries between bodies and the world as both of them slowly sleep deep inside the darkness and increasingly loud music. There is hardly any cross table exchange of glances or words. You have options for high chairs to make yourself visible, privy sofas at corners and open sofas on the high raised dais. The three certain places together form the uncertain space. People can definitely project themselves on the high chair or can form a gang like appearance on the conspicuous sofas on dais or sleep into the privacy in the comfortable sofas. Kaleidoscope remembers on several occasions they sat on the sofas of the dais - the middle range space. Whenever he visited with just one friend they choose the privy sofas.

The typical stereotypic space that one can find in the posh park street or perhaps at many places of the world gets reproduced in the built-in city of New Town Kolkata.

The formal inside story of country roads

The radical bars of the old city: 

Kaleidoscope moves on to find relatively cheap places to drink whenever he manages to go to the old colonial city. While he wrote exclusively on the Apolitical bar in a blogpost he was fortunate enough to spend hours in perhaps one of the oldest and arguably the cheapest bar of the city named as Saw's.

Shaw brothers offer you an extraordinary large hall of a masculine space which is filled with numerous chairs and tables . the style of the furniture represents that of a previous century. The staff wearing traditional waiter dresses having brass badges will take you to the past. Shaw brothers does not allow you to keep your belongings on any of the chairs and radically brings people closer. You can have your table but you can see that there will be other people occupying your table as well. You can talk to them, argue, even share your food and drinks with a complete stranger.

Kaleidoscope was amazed with the enormous shape and size of the bar which looks exactly like a running market where people are actually in a hurry to have food and drink! But they are not. None of the consumers are in a hurry and the space no matter how fleeting it appears is comfortably settled in itself. As they ordered the waiter demanded the money - yes, its prepaid. What about food? Kaleidoscope was even more astonished - there are running hawker like waiters who will bring your food from outside. They are part of the famous delicious street foods of Kolkata. The variety will knock you out. You can have Alu-Kabli (a boiled potato snack) to Panir Tikka in veg and Fish fingers to mutton liver curry and plain fish fries including that of tiny fishes. All in unthinkably low price. The liquor you order are served at the lowest rate in the town. You can go outside to smoke where a couple of sellers are standing with all international and local brands of cigarettes, cigars and hookahs. You can buy single piece of 555 or Dunhil which is otherwise unthinkable in Kolkata.

Crowd is equally interesting. Its a microcosm of the vibrant Kolkata. Kaleidoscope could see people drinking alone at different corners, aged and suited officer-looking people in groups, college students, research scholars, and small businessmen radically challenging every boundaries that human species proudly reproduces in their everyday lives.

The entire space challenges the boundaries between formal and informal economy, class divisions, divisions of inside outside spaces and gives a carnivalesque appearances.

The masculine space inside

The three glasses with three shots of white mischief came on top of each others carried by a juggling waiter. No hanky panky glasses. It's straight and questions the capitalist dimension of unequalising nature often manifested in different kinds of glasses for different types of beverages

The smokers den immediately outside the space

Street food at your table and the boundaries are radically challenged

Consumers intersubjectivity:

While the consumers - the living human elements are always fleeting both the spaces that minutely alters the patterns of being-in of the bars, the broad categorisation remains the same. The built-in bar is formal, restricting and excluded space from the outside world. While even being a confined space the Shaw brothers doors are hardly closed ever. Its almost always swinging with the outside informal world stepping in and the inside liminal and uncertain formalinformal world is stepping out. The careers of street foods or the alcohol serving waiters are the agents of the radical and juxtaposed existence. Kaleidoscope could understand why G H Mead found material culture as a collapsed act bearing a sign of completion that is never complete. Thus while Shaw's door keeps moving as the agents goes out and steps in and Country Road's automated sliding door formally opens with a heavy blower creating curtain of airconditioned air flow it fixes the two radically different experiences. Like Tuan (1980 The Significance of the Artifact) notes material culture fixes our experiences much in the similar manner in which text fixes discourses.

Kaleidoscope can however, enjoy the radically free flowing growth of the material surrounding in his imagination and in his subsequent visits. Its getting built up every moment and then falling flat everytime like his own name - Kaleidoscopic!

Since, now Kaleidoscope is more conscious regarding his being-in the stereotypic late capital bars as on stage, and in those radical bars are off stage, next best thing would be to bring the off stage self inside the stereotypic bars to see if the world cares!

Dancing teachers and Pupils - Liminal meets the Morals

What makes it difficult for people to accept everyday thing which is not 'appropriate' or 'proper' in the strict societal and hypocritical senses? Let me explore them. But before that let me show you video which inspired me to write this blog.

Well its a video gone viral. It depicts a bunch of students and school teachers dancing possibly in their school compound together, apparently in a Hindi Song tune.

Yes, this instigated criticism and todays public media quite naturally took the matter to manufacture  opinions. Of course, it shook the Victorian morality of the people. Meanwhile, fearing the public shaming and possible humiliation one of the teachers explained the phenomenon as one of the highest emotional moments where they started to dance after a wonderful day-long programme. Here is her facebook comment.

She explains a) it was a girls' school, b) all of the gates were closed, hence a closed door and 'private' affair, c) the song which was played in the viral video is an edited one and original song was not a Hindi song and it was something else.

What makes her explain such a phenomenon of an intense emotion:

of course we know what makes her give explanations. First of all, a group of women dancing openly is way too much to the society at large. Secondly, they are not only women but also teachers, how can they dance. They are supposedly wear the serious 'teacherish' looks and carry a 'serousish' gomratherium looks. How can teachers smile and dance at all. Third and more importantly how can they dance in a popular Hindi song and inspire their students to dance as well. Hence, the explanation.

A patriarchal social mind loaded with a supposedly defined 'proper' Presentation of Self is expected to feel the shock going through the spine as Teachers becomes emotional with students and starts dancing with a song.

Meanwhile, the school remains a heterotpic, juxtaposed and liminal space all through. Students, yes the future of our species can do things which they cannot otherwise in their domestic sphere or known places. This ability to do things which they cannot do in other places makes School a space of uncertainty and not a place with certainty. Civilization with its aim of making a disciplined citizens/labours/products to rule over can never allow such liminal space to expand itself. Hence, teachers are supposed to be wearing masks of proper representations whom students can 'follow' to become the ideal types.

Such ideal types are constructed as faceless categories of expected behaviours and this, by no means fit the stereotypic expectations.

What is at stake with this unintentional viral video will reveal much of the initial question of this blogpost: what makes it difficult?

Well here is the list:

A. The sense of proper which is a subtle mechanism by which patriarch and civilization exercises power through multiple channels. Be it the sense of presentaiton of self, interpersonal relationships, defined place instead of space, and cultural gaze loaded with patriarch/discipline/hierarchy and so on.

B. The form of stereotypes which is installed within the everyday discourses of the public sphere. Such stereotypes exclude everything which is natural and humane only to include the established exchange relationships.

C. The hidden morality (moral policing to be precise) which is a complex outcome of the sense of proper and stereotypical that is not ready to face a slightest difference

D. The violent and exclusionary mechanism that links such collective sense of 'proper' with practices. In a sense it justifies the explanation given by the teacher in social media. Yes, this is out of fear of being labelled as deviant and then excluded.


While the schools as heterotypic, juxtaposed and liminal space remains as it is internally, the perception of proper surrounding the institution aggravates. No matter how shocking it may seem the incident actually shows the positive and humane dimensions of everydayness in the liminal space. It is and it should be as such otherwise there wont be much of a difference between a school, a hospital and perhaps a prison.