Am I speaking to the millennial Indian?

I am writing this from the luxury of my comfortable couch in a spacious government allocated quarter in probably one of the most progressive cities of India.

Progressive enough so that movie theaters do not report the nuisance created by local political party hooligans when they vandalize over ticket prices and popcorn rates in order to protect their business (at least not paying any extortion right!).

I have grown up in a salaried middle-class family (the spacious quarter is under 6 months old following my father’s long due promotion which only happened recently).

I have not experienced abject poverty, have not been discriminated on the grounds of my caste (gender yes), have had family to rely on as long as I can remember and have also had access to very good education. I would not have once dreamed that I would be able to pursue education abroad, but it did happen. I have also achieved some form of a financial independence as a graduate student and university employee.

Do these things mean that I can never have a fair view of my country?

I have spent a sheltered and cocooned life so far, so what would I know of the bigger picture in my country? Why things happen when they happen? They happen everywhere so it’s okay. And why should I care? What will I affect even if I do care and what would I be able to do at most?

My best possible retort is – I care because I do.

I may not understand the pain of a someone with no roof over their heads, someone who has always been discriminated since birth, someone who was sexually assaulted and brutalized or how socio-political networks work in India. I haven’t joined any activist group and never led a protest myself.

But last I checked, being educated comes with a sense of empowerment, especially in a society as divided as India. It has equipped me to distinguish right from wrong, to know my rights, demand justice and exercise free speech using my public domain to create awareness. And the biggest of it all – to question? To question the society and culture I grew up in. To question the way things are, why they are and why things appear changed but are often an illusion?

I also care because I can.

Because heinous child rapes should not be made into something twistedly political. It goes against everything it is to be human. And I also believe that we still have humanity to hold onto.

Many people would never hesitate liking and re-sharing stories from “The Logical Indian” or other similar pages (no critiquing of the content there – it might be one of the best things I’ve ever seen on Facebook).  But how many would report spam on an extremist page or group they come across? Maybe they might even do that, but how many would risk publicly defaming them?

I did yesterday and obviously bore some mud-slinging along my way before I blocked the page and reported it.

So, I also did, because I could.

Worse of all, how many would come across that content ever? One disturbing cocoon is that of our circles – our families, our immediate society, our friends and most importantly, our social media. I am guilty of the fact that had I not seen a disturbing content by chance yesterday, maybe I would’ve still been passive.

Arguing with my father, who otherwise makes a point to like and support every other thing I share on Facebook, to justify the stand I took in my so-called “controversial” post (in his words). I had decried a fact check picture posted by a group called “Voice of Hindutva” on Facebook who seem to have taken it upon themselves to explain what “Hindutva” is all about. Apparently, it includes using biased media reports and twitter blog posts to create fact check about a child rape case (the fact checks having nothing to do with the judicial process of course). This particular page is a series of fact checks – twisted, falsified, sensationalized to the brink of inducing violence with several hundred followers. I felt outraged, as everything I am and stand for, including my religious beliefs.

This morning paper decried Hizbul militant group posting a list of “martyrs” on yet another social media page to recruit new trainees. Public lynching deaths are in the spotlight every other day – counting more than a dozen deaths since May alone this year. WhatsApp messages seem to be the source and there was an appeal from WhtsAapp in the English daily at my home today. But was that appeal only in the English daily or translated into regional ones? How many it did reach and how many cared to read? And despite everything how do people forget to be human? Are we all but matchsticks waiting to be ignited and become murderers to feel the satisfaction of taking out our daily frustrations (psychologists explained these as one of the reasons to explain mob violence mentality apparently)?

As a researcher, I am forced to question the technology too. What passes for social media content and who regulates it? Since most of the social media big firms are headquartered out of India – how would they assess things that are in a foreign language? India alone has over twenty official languages. Social media is readily available in several languages – but how well is the content regulated?

I later learnt that this is merely the tip of an iceberg of several hundred similar pages that I never see because my social circle media will not feed me them. It is too smart to judge my circle, likes, dislikes and what would interest me most. It will also keep away things that will most likely disturb me and drive me to drop social media all together. The detailed response from the Facebook support team (that revealed nothing) to my report confirmed this. They had deemed that the page did not violate the “community standards” they set and offered me help on how to best “avoid the content” that disturbed me! My friend who reported the page too got a same response from Facebook.

The cocoon continues. And the spread of hate.

Even though I had no say in the fact whether I wanted to be disturbed or not. It was calculated for me. Easy-peasy!

In the Hizbul group admins’ words – social media is the most popular mass communication means today. The youth are most attracted to it and they are our hope.

Ah the youth! The millennials.

I had never been prouder for my generation than when I heard the famous economist Jeremy Rifkin speak of us at UBC,

“You watch these kids. They make you be careful of what you’re saying, thinking or doing.

They’ll make right what we have done wrong as a generation!”

The big hope for the world.

And being one, I sincerely believe for India too.

Maybe it is a well-known fact, but it had hit me only a while back over a discussion with my friend. We guessed that perhaps that time lag between the present generation retiring and the millennial generation taking over explained in part the slow pace of social reformations in largely traditional countries. For India, the social, political and cultural diversity brings with it a whole other set of challenges unique to itself. Still, I remember concluding that it should be a matter of time.

Then the Facebook post hit me like a slap. It was shared by none other than a person who was in an engineering class with me! Who had access to the same education as me! So should I conclude that education becomes inferior to social and cultural influences?

Maybe not. But when one can choose to feed oneself a version of reality, albeit so twisted, they probably begin to think that this is what is happening. A lie when repeated enough times and by enough people apparently can twist all reality beyond logic. And fuelled by the internet speed and access in India today (which I thought was a blessing when I came back) can spread like a wildfire in minutes!

All hail the new Digital India! Let’s share all that we can!

Let’s not use rational judgement anymore because who cares anyways.

And then we all will dance to ZING ZING…ZINGAAT!

Nobody will notice the gross dance moves there (or decry Sunny Leone tracks) because they’re catchy. But we will burn down the sets of Padmavat because they dared to have a full-clothed covered dance sequence featuring a queen/religious figure.

We will make video web channels and enjoy AIB roasts and TVF videos which explain everything that’s wrong. Who portray that we can’t do anything about it so let’s take out our frustration by mocking our society. Let’s also use English and Hindi curse words and expletives as the de facto language for all our “progressive” web content. Who dare speak an appropriate language lest we be taken seriously!?

After all it’s YOLO! Why so serious?

Jugaad karo (find a quick fix), kaam nikalo (get your work done first), chill maaro yaro (relax)!

What are we supposed to remember in this state of confusing things?

Are we supposed to remember Diana Penty’s amazing selfie in front of Gateway of India – “flirting” with Mumbai monsoon? (Big print more vivid)

Or are we supposed to remember that the woman who died due to railway overbridge collapse due to heavy rains and poor construction a few days back did not have her last rites done at home because the lane to her house was flooded. Four lakh rupees has been set as the compensation price (small print in the humdrum of daily news).

Akshay Kumar has done some amazing work in these years in socially-themed movies. I was very happy to see “Padman” and was gushing over “Toilet” only yesterday night.

This morning I see Akshay Kumar flaunting it in a misogynist advertisement for a men’s deodorant mouthing cornily “Kategi kya (Will you bite me? – the suggestive kind)?!”

 

(Image Source: YouTube; Indian Express)

So let’s give up, keep our heads down, enjoy while we can and not question the status quo.

It’s not our place (yet) and not our concern.

A senior who I worked with in my university messaged me immediately after he saw my Facebook post. (Which also happens to be one of my most unpopular posts so far, it vanished from the news feed much sooner than I wanted, and I wanted this to stay on top for once for bad – Facebook doesn’t let you pin posts to your own timeline apparently only to page admins!)

He asked me if I thought this would lead anywhere? He told me he had become ambivalent to these things and after unfollowing several such pages he had made the choice to ignore them and instead focus on sharing the good that comes out in a societal context.

My first big relief was that there was rationality left still! And I also appreciated those words that helped me regain some emotional control. But in my reply, I found the answer to myself.

No I will not quit social media because I am shaken. I will not quit because Facebook is not equipped to deal with the socio-political influences it creates in societies the makers don’t understand. I will not quit because these things are too disturbing and take a mental toll to think about.

It is because I’m not afraid. I’m stubborn, obstinate and will use my public domain to influence whoever cares about me, my opinions and perspectives.

In a democracy even the irrational have the right to expression and this is one tenet that the social media follows religiously.

So I will use mine.

Even if I’m reaching a single person. Even if I make them think about it as a passing thought.

I will try to pass on the question and inquisitiveness and all the confusing things together so that who all see, will see that there is a choice. There is always a choice. 

And it is not only countering or ignoring what we think is wrong. These might well be two ends of the spectrum. I will choose to highlight the end that leads to countering.

We can resist, think, question, motivate, inspire or influence.

It all comes down to, see something say something. If the social media can bring the #metoo movement there is still hope.

As millennials we’re at crossroads of part hope and part apathy.

It will take courage to hold onto that hope, it will take effort and work. It will take bearing mud-slinging, resistance and shame by those who don’t understand. Maybe even people close to you, maybe even your family. It can drive you crazy and feel like beating a head against the wall.

But if there’s Manjhi the mountain-man, then there’s truly nothing possible.

I will feel like an utter failure to myself if I let the confusion engulf me and choose not to use my rational judgement. I won’t be able to bear my sight.

I can’t take this to the PM (although I’ve seen that a tweet suffices now-a-days), I respect the good that the government has brought so far, but it doesn’t still account for the fact that there are hooligans and criminals at large empowered through their political associations that he will not or cannot acknowledge. Also, I am not a legislator or a bureaucrat, so I run the risk of misrepresentation if I chose someone else for me.

All I know is that if those who feel empowered choose not to be stubborn and question things that are wrong and misleading, using whatever means they can, all hope will soon turn to apathy.

There are plenty, millennials and non-millennials alike, engaged in laudable and admirable social actions far beyond words and they are proof to why we should hold onto hope and keep the discussions and questions going. If we cannot help them on the actual field, maybe we can help them in spirit and acknowledgment.

I will keep the questions and discussions going to enable the right action. And this is my contribution.

For now.

Jugaad mat karo (don’t find the quick fix), next time zid karo (be stubborn)!