Two 'States'

For all our right-wing political bigwigs, our country effectively has two religions- cricket, and cinema. So, suddenly an idea crept into my idle brain- why not use these two to compare the two different countries in the same piece of land? Here goes my perspective of 'Bharat', and 'India'..

Scene 1: Shot 1: Vast, mammoth tracts of farmlands, only that they have neither crops nor water nor fertilizers, and the farmers have consumed the pesticides, to escape the wrath of the banks and moneylenders, once and for all. A complete absence of men from villages. All are off to cities, and its slums, to keep body and soul together.. Shot 2: Urban slums. A multitude of all squalor on earth. Spots which breed crime and drugs and guns. Where 100 share one toilet, and the sewage serves all domestic chores, including drinking water. And these are places where a million people stay wedged within one square mile. And one day the Municipal Corporation honchos arrive with bulldozers and a battery of armed policemen. The rest, as they say, is complete annihilation..

OK CUT!!..

..to Scene 2: Shot 1: Gucci. Dolce & Gabbana. Rolex. Breathtakingly lit skyscrapers and shopping malls. Castles in the sky indeed, quite literally. Luxury cars and bikes speeding down smooth and outrageously tolled expressways at breakneck speeds. The discos at Bandra in Mumbai and Park Street in Calcutta teeming with youngsters.. Shot 2: A small box is kept at the counter of the disco. A donation box. It says: "Donate for the poor children in the slums and villages". A young couple, about to enter the disco, look at the box. The strings of their heart are pulled, which are connected to their wallets, which brings out a ten-rupee note from each of them. They push it into the box, and hurry off into the neon lights and loud music of the disco..

CUT! To Scene 3: Shot 1: MS Dhoni smashes Nuwan Kulasekara into the stands of the Wankhede on the 2nd of April 2011. The crowd inside the Wankhede, all in India of course, dances up and down in joy. Cars have flocked to the Marine Drive to celebrate the success of Team 'India', honking, hollering.. Scene 2: Far away, in distant Bharat, where some 50 people have gathered in front of one television set, also are elated. They bounce in joy, smear colour on each other, shout and laugh out loud. Because 'India' won the World Cup...

Maybe these shall be the only moments in the continuous flow of time where the two 'states', under the same laws and in the same piece of land, yet with a gaping gulf in between them, shall be united. When they shall together share their joys and sorrows and jubilation. And it shall not be a Bharat versus India..

I don't know whether to call it a parting 'shot', but here goes...

MS Dhoni's shirt also screamed 'India'...

"I protested, you know!"

Protesting. Vociferously shooting off slogans. Lighting a candle. A black piece of cloth over your mouth. Carrying posters saying "Stop Rape!", "Save Women!", "Hang rapists!". Hurling a few bricks at the police and their vehicles. Strong words and loud voices in bites to the electronic media personnel.

Starting late December 2012, the above have been added to the list of the 'cool' things to do, especially by the youth. The things you can 'brag' to your friends after doing them. Known by skeptics as 'tokenism'. "You know, I went to so and so square, lit a candle before a framed white sheet of paper saying 'Nirbhaya', and I even cried!".. The other friends wonder, "Oh how amazing! What a soul!". 

Below are my questions to these 'cool' people. And trust me, the answers that I have mentioned- you will receive them nine out of ten times..

So you went to the protest march. Do you vote every five years?

-No.

Why not?

-Too tired to stand in queues.

Then what do you do with that blooming document named the Voter Identity Card?

-You know, it's easier to procure SIM cards for your phone with one of them.

And what do you do on the voting day?

-I hang out with my friends at the nearest shopping mall! It's a holiday, man!

Did you party on the New Year's Eve? 

-You think I wouldn't? All for a girl who died? Oh come on, I felt sad. But I lit the customary candle. I have shed the compulsory tear. My conscience is clean! What if I don't vote?

I protested, you know!