Sunday, April 6, 2008

About Right Conservatives

First let me give a few details of myself- it helps later. I grew up in a family of anti-communists, but either of my parents were not very clear about their positions, but were very clear about their apathy to the left. Such an attitude was not formed because they considered the left as godless, or they thought Marx was an idiot, or because of the fact that the dictatorship of the proletariat could be most destablising. Like most people, they simply did not like the government in our state.

My grandad from mom's side was a lot more articulate. A freedom-struggle man, and a government man on top of that, he always believed in the Grand Old Party of India. His talks had so inspired me in the childhood, that even today, despite the rampant opportunism that characterizes Congress, I still feel assured when it is in power.

So we are secular, liberal, democratic and symphathetic to the poor.

Focus now on my formative years. The typical middle class in Kolkata is anti-commie. The reasons are simple- the old commies desperately wanted and tried to make Kolkata look like a village. Industries were made to move, or better, shut down. Thousands of Bangaali souls have to depart to "foreign" shores (usually Bangalore and Delhi, but alien places all the same!) for education and opportunities. How could they not hate the Left?

Yet such a milieu can be a fertile ground for some to be a commie. Anti-establishment (establishment defined by popular opinion) always works. But Cable TV and Tom Clancy ruined it. I mean if the "West" is cool, how could they be wrong when they say the Soviet Union is an "evil empire" and its better to be "dead than red"?

So I became and still am, an anti-commie.

But Right conservatives amuse me. The weird hatred towards muslims (and even christians) is something I am yet to fathom. But then a beef-eater can hardly understand the nuances of religion, especially one's own. Twenty-odd years of liberalism has made me defiant of most social norms and sadly etiquettes. Joint families, ram-rajya, the vedic gyan, astrology and the exotic wonders of India all seem anachronistic to me.

Delhi woke me up to casteism. We had little of that in Bengal but suddenly I had to grapple with the biggest manifestation of the conservative ideals in our country. I mean, how many of us ordinary Indians loathe muslims? Most of us do think they make the majority of our terrorists,
they love to live in squalor, they do not take believe in immunisations or education and they make more babies, but we do not 'hate' them.

But we are serious about our caste.

I know I am not the model guy. But a part of me (hell, lets be honest- the whole of me) think I am better than them. Contrariwise, the astute, grave and paternal geriatric- the head of the Indian family- he may seem generous, caring and wise- is the problem. Behind his avuncular affability lies an unbending faith to a social order that asphyxiates freedom of thought, expression and action.

It may not seem so, but us, the mall rats and the ungodly brats are better than them. We may indulge in a lot of excesses and do a lot of bad stuff. But we do not 'hate' and perpetuate 'hate'.

Interestingly, conservatives do not like their counterparts from foreign lands. There are very few who wholeheartedly support Bush. Not for them the "working classes of the world unite". In fact, it is their hate of the malevolent and vicious "other" that drives them.

The Hindu fundamentalist needs the Muslim fanatic.

Cubicle Diaries: I

Taking a bit of liberty here, I think people, at least in our country, can be neatly classified into two groups- one who likes to settle down in his own land and the other, likes not to settle down at all. Now, I won't be too simplistic: in the land of million mutinies, such classification doesn't work. True that. The first class (the innuendo will become clear later) will salivate at an opportunity to settle in the Land of the Opportunity or the land of the Queen. Perhaps because it has been drummed into our system that those two countries represent paradise, albeit with certain imperfections, and settling there is one of the highest form of aspiration- so you don't say no to that!

The second class, a certain minority, cannot embrace their land as their perpetual homes. I won't dare put it down to certain factors, though I'll explore. I can, as I am one of such kind. Perhaps because we have a limited span of affection for everything- we outgrow our love for our places. That's pretty much my case. When my friends rave about their cities (the bangalees about their "great" Kolkata, the Delhiites about their "awesome" Delhi or the Mumbaikars about their "rocking" city), I get a sense of amazement and despair, perhaps in equal portions. Amazement, because I never felt such for my Kolkata. I liked the place, especially the part I was born and brought up (I could never reconcile with North Kolkata and its congestion and antiquated buildings), and still like it. I like the rain, the lake, the air and the feel. But I am not in love with it- I do not rave about it, nor I would only spent the rest of my life there. In Kolkata, I used to think it was a bangalee problem- the way eyes get misty when talking Kolkata- attribution to the community-deprecation that is there in most young people. In Delhi, I understood that it is perhaps an universal problem. Mumbai and Hyderabad confirmed the hypothesis- such people are there everywhere and they are the majority.

Two things- I have begun to state that as a problem when it may be not- I mean its a conscious decision by an adult where he/she wishes to settle. But then I am not called opinionated for nothing, and as always, I will only serve the cause of my opinion. Secondly, I kept on mentioning big cities. What about people from towns and villages? Well, for one thing, the power of nostalgia on these people is probably as strong. But for one thing, the people I have met have already shifted and hence I guess, either their economic aspirations overpowered their sentiments, or they are my type.

Plus, they don't have too many things to rave about.

So why Despair? Well, its all very well to rave about your place. But to call it the best there is, must be a stupid exercise at ignorance. The way all big-city dwellers (here I refer to Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata) condescendingly look at other cities is irritating. A Delhiite thinks Mumbai is too congested, Kolkata not even comparable; Mumbai walas laugh at Delhi's security; Kolkatans sneer at both groups and sigh at the memory of old times. Culture precedes everything, they say.

And they are puzzled by the decision of us-types to not settle anywhere, especially in the city that made you. Harmless monikers like "nomads" are acceptable. The air of condescension about our supposed "unpredictability", "immaturity" and "lack of gratitude to near and dear ones" is not so acceptable.

Of course, these are but minor irritations. We give a flying fuck to what they think. But the judgemental approach is perhaps best avoided.

Now we have a movement emerging in our country that people of other states need not settle in other states. The "immigrants" ought not to exploit "their" sources and opportunities.
It may be bold to say this (and perhaps a little foolish) but I do think such turf-mentality gives rise to these ideas. It may be the worst manifestation, but such opinions surely do not arise out of us "travellers".