CARE TO SEE BEYOND YOUR NOSE?

LOOKING BEYOND YOUR NOSE

In media discussions about the so called India growth and success story I find people gushing at the 9% GDP growth. The malls, the new billionaires, the 150 Mercedes Benz ordered from Aurangabad –these are the stuff that our joy is made of. But wait a minute.

LOOKING BEYOND YOUR NOSE

I draw our attention to what I call ‘ inclusive thinking’. On many a fora I have drawn attention to this form of thinking and its absence in mainstream discussion only to be scoffed at. But that does not prevent me from raising it whenever the occasion demands. Let me clarify.

In 1997 Pratap Bhanu Mehta carried out a survey in rural India about the ‘ epoch making’ policy of liberalization—the fruits of which are the billionaires,. the malls, the Aurangabad sensation etc. But Mehta found that no one surveyed had even the faintest idea that our country had embarked on any major policy shift. It is my suspicion—to be confirmed or denied by another survey—that rural India still has no idea that our policies have changed .Why should they be aware when the fact is that their lives have not changed. Correction—sometimes their lives have changed-- but for the worse.

My friend’s twelve year old daughter was taken by her school to an excursion from Bangalore to tribal Madhya Pradesh. The kid studies in a rare school that seeks to impart to kids a feeling for the plight of the poorest of the poor . The kids stayed in a hamlet of Pandhi tribals. She and her teachers came back heart broken. Apparently these tribals had been evicted from their thousands of years old homeland so that a major factory could come up .As is usual on such occasions the promise of compensation remained just that—a promise .Instead the politicians, contractors and the police routinely abuse torture and even rape the women. The kids returned traumatised . Her mother requested me to bring the plight of these simple tribals to the attention of the ‘ mainstream media’. I am trying but I expect little response and this is the burden of my article—that we tend to be narrow in our vision in most matters. Once we enjoy the fruits of development we tend to think that all is well in the country. We do not care to look beyond our noses .I am not casting aspersions on anyone but this is how we tend to think. There is a perceptual barrier that can be overcome only with strenous efforts.

Look at other examples:

• The India International Film Awards give away prizes and accord recognition only to bollywood, yet the awards are called ‘India International’. Thus ‘India’ means ‘Bollywood’.

• Amitabh Bachhan writes abut the 100 best movies ever made in India and cannot name even one Non-Bollywood film .No doubt he mentions a film or two from Bengali cinema but that’s about all. The rest of India seems like a black hole to this ‘ icon’

• Ask someone you know to point out where the centre of India is on a map. Chances are that he will indicate Nagpur with scarcely a thought to North East India. This part of India rarely figures in our consciouness. Playright Mahesh Dattani lamented recently in a magazine article that the rest of India is a loser by ignoring the literary masterpieces that North East India routinely produces.

• Many people who form the Track 3 in India- Pakistan peace efforts routinely say that Indians and Pakistanis have so much in common—eating habits ,culture, music, language etc.. While I am in total agreement with the idea of making strenuous efforts to bring peace between the two countries, my friend Hassan Gafoor, a Tamil Muslim tells me that he and his community have nothing in common with people in Pakistan including culture, food, music etc ! ‘ Indeed I have much more in common with Hindus in Tamilnadu’ he says as he unfurls his veshti and sips kaapi and shouts Rajni vaazhgai ‘.

My friend Ashraf drove home this point . In some context I told her ‘We Indians believe in rebirth’ .She stopped me abruptly with the words ‘don’t say we Indians.Just say We Hindus’.

It is but human not to see beyond one’s nose. But if we are to inculcate inclusive thinking then we ought to make deliberate efforts to strain our necks.

K.R.RAVI

WWW.KRRAVI.COM