A tattered psyche: dividing minds…

The beauty of our country lies in its multiplicity, in the plurality of cultures and in its intertwined and closely woven ethos. Each community and region has a distinct flavor, language, subtly different and strikingly similar to another, though sometimes just a stone’s throw from another and sometimes situated miles apart.

Coexistence is the norm, synchronized existence spells harmony. There is place for everyone under the Sun. These are not just homilies or platitudes, but have been experienced by many including myself. Things go off the handle, so to speak when one becomes too closeted, too possessive and too dependent on a certain aspect or viewpoint.

That is exactly what happened a few days ago in a certain town that was just stabilizing after a brush with a near flood situation in some parts and was getting back to normal after a full-fledged devastation in other parts. Damage to property and lives notwithstanding the common man was just managing to get back on his feet when all hell broke loose because everyone loves stirring up another’s hornet’s nest. Well what exactly is a hornet?

Technically, a hornet is a very hard working wasp, in fact one of the biggest amongst its species, also known as vespas or vespines.  They go about their business quietly, painstakingly building their nest or hive with cooperation and team spirit from all the wasps under the keen eye of the queen. The sting of some of these species is known to be deadly and has proved fatal in some cases when humans have been stung.

Well the question is not about the effect of the sting, it is about the reason why they do it: pure and simple self-defense and to protect their own hives or nests. Therefore the saying, stirring up a hornet’s nest, refers to pushing the envelope too far and thus causing untold misery all around.

The reason for drawing this parallel is that ever-so-often in spite of repeated efforts to maintain harmony amongst different groups of humans, who albeit unfortunately are the same species: very few have the spunk to stand up and support a cause and/or the truth.

Talking of multiplicity or plurality is like looking at a lovely quilt that about fifty years ago was made by a grandmother for a grandchild or by a young girl for her trousseau and then kept aside sometimes to be even given to another sibling perhaps: a quilt made of different sized pieces of cloth, matched for colour, texture and the like. What turned out would often be an attractive multi-hued piece that was not only aesthetically perfect but functionally sound too.

Society is pretty similar, each community, each religion, each colour, each creed contributes in its own big or small way to the entire tapestry of life, a country and hence the world. The quilt wouldn’t happen without the thread to sew it together. So to argue that the thread is more important than the cloth is not only stupid but perhaps bordering on the bizarre, for then the needle would turn around and say nothing is possible without it, and if it didn’t create the beautiful stitches the quilt wouldn’t be put together.

One such place where such a diverse culture was clearly visible nearly two decades ago, was the Western State of Gujarat where things came to a grinding halt, in many ways, during the nine nights of dance and revelry with young and old, from all over, when insiders and outsiders danced shoulder to shoulder enjoying the unique event. There were no barriers created and every outsider seeing and experiencing it for the first time was amazed by the beauty of the event. It may have meant different things to different people but the common thread was bringing people together.

Suddenly people who have lived together ever since they can remember are forced to create moats and chasms between themselves. Children who have studied together since they were in pre-school can’t be a part of the same function just because they represent another side of another coin, but coins they all are all the same! There is pain, there is anger, there is disappointment there is confusion. But, majority of the people are trying to create boring new quilts that are monotonous as they lack the colour of variety. The quilts could be darned and preserved, conserved for posterity but alas!  

Today the scenario is one of doubt and distrust with the hype, the rumours being fanned by an extremely irresponsible media that under the pretext of factual reportage is doing more harm than good. Social media too is proving to be more of fuel and fire in equal measure.

Anyone with an iota of sanity would cringe at what it has become today—suddenly there is a huge irreversible divide, a cut, a tear, has appeared in the beautiful quilt: where not a single insider is standing up to uphold the spirit of the season, the essence of this unique and typical fervour that could easily become an example of unity on the global scenario. No leaf is being taken from the unfortunate autumn of chapters of history; both from the recent misfortunes, or from the distant past: when many were caught between conflicting ideologies, unleashing the worst crimes against humanity.

What is that prompts humans to continue committing the same blunder repeatedly? Why is there a need to destabilize the applecart, stir a hornet’s nest and rake up unpleasant memories? Why can lessons not be learnt to make the world a better place, sow the right seeds, water the plants with tenderness and care? When will humans learn that hurting and maligning their own ilk is not the answer? When will they learn to not fritter away their todays in pursuit of unreachable, unachievable tomorrows? For no edifice stands tall or long when built on shaky foundations of hatred and another’s sorrow.

If only we could look at the patchwork quilts around us and consider them rich sources of variation and hence longevity. If only we could pick up the threads to weave a harmonious present and secure another’s tomorrow…if…only if…

©Copyright Suverchala Kashyap