Confused Wisdom

As part of restructuring, TISS has introduced the Foundation courses for its first year students. Students, irrespective of their area of specialization come under one roof to learn the foundation courses which focus mainly on topics like society, social structure, culture, identity, conflicts, idea of nation state etc. I would say that this has perhaps been one of the excellent steps that were taken as part of restructuring. The specialty of TISS is that we get a chance to study with the social work people in the same institute which always gave us a chance to listen to views that were completely divergent from ours which is mostly business oriented. But the foundation courses have actually given us a formal platform where we can hear their views and may be get into some kind of interactive discussions.

Recently, I attended a session on what my close buddy, Rahul jocularly says”Indiaye engane rekshikkam” (How can we save India). To begin with, the debonair lecturer asked us the idea of India we had in our minds. There were a host of replies like unity in diversity, developing nation, poverty among others. Then he asked us what that we find in common among all of us is. Once again there were a flurry of replies like values, traditions etc.

The faculty went on to teach us the idea of India that our great leaders, of the likes of Nehru, Gandhi, Patel, Savarkar and others nurtured. He also spoke about Savarkar’s views on “Who is a Hindu” and his concept of Hindutva. In the second half of the session he showed us a couple of short films that featured mainly the issues people were facing in Manipur – AFSPA(Armed Forces Special Powers Act) that empowers the officials to arrest, shoot anyone on grounds of suspicion and how that act was being misused to the extend of putting peoples lives in peril. One film showed the tragedy that a young girl Manorama faced. She was picked up from home for interrogation purposes and the next dawn people awoke to see the body of Manorama lying in the fields with her clothes tattered and body full of bruises. No doubt, she was brutally raped. A group of women (naked) protested against all these happenings in front of the Assam Rifles office. Another video featured the case of a teenager who again was picked up from his home on grounds of suspicion and was killed.

For a moment we were all shell shocked. What is it that is happening in North East? What is the purpose of a law like AFSPA which is supposed to protect the masses of the land is in reality responsible for so many custodial deaths, rapes etc. For whom are these laws created? The videos just threw a host of questions like these in our minds. The faculty asked us to feel what we saw. Just feel, he said.

Once again he came back to the question” What is it that you have in common amongst you”? We don’t have anything in common. That is the truth. Perhaps we should not look out for something in common; rather we should try and negotiate the differences. May be what all of us have in common is INSECURITY, I felt. A fear of rejection is what probably makes us adhere to all our customs, traditions and it is indeed this insecurity that makes us part of a social milieu.

All our ideas of India were shattered during this course. Where is the unity? People of Kashmir want a separate nation. People in the North east tend to identify more with the people of Burma and hence they want a separate nation. A part of the population in Andhra wants a separate state, Telengana. What do we mean by a nation? What is national interest? All these questions, it seems do not have answers. One thing is for certain. There have always been differences. There wasn’t anything in common. But the point is that we have failed to negotiate the differences. And perhaps that’s where the root cause of all these separatist movements lie. (Again I was rebuked for using the word separatist. I was asked “Who calls them separatist”? The British called us Indians separatists.)

Boy, I tell you, this was one of the most iconoclastic sessions we have had. I am sure that the notions that all students carried about India has been shredded into bits. All that we have now is confused notions. Perhaps this is what the proponents of the Foundation courses wanted – Unlearn the past and become individuals of confused wisdom.