To Mock at Rooted Beliefs

To mock at deeply held beliefs of a community in a book or a movie is not 'Creative Freedom'. It is Uncouthness.

A uncouthness that only the modern, deracinated liberal is capable of. My village people respect the rooted beleifs of others, because they have their own roots intact, and know the meaning of roots.

Piyush Manush What was mocked

Aparna Krishnan To understand that one needs to start from a position of essential respect for people, for their ways, their roots.

Aparna Krishnan There are rooted ways of questioning. Kabir, Basavanna, Narayana Guru, Gandhiji.

Aparna Krishnan A society throws up its own who question and correct. We need to tune into those processes.

Piyush Manush Amma u make a statement that starts with ..to mock .. what is being mocked is not being narrated nor answered and u bring in Kabir etc ..

Aparna Krishnan I dont debate any more. The answers are best found on the ground, with the people. They are available to all who seek to learn from people, their practices, their gods, their customs. The only requirement is humilty and openness. Anyway, please treat the post as one with a wider message. Please ignore it if it seems meaningless.

Piyush Manush I have only asked a question .. where is the debate .. so u do not know what is being mocked and went on to write the statement is it

Aparna Krishnan As you wish.

Meenakshi Negi Mere simplicity cannot be the lighthouse to intelligence..

Jayshree Shukla But what should the punishment for being uncouth be? The Karni Sena is threatening to behead Deepika Padukone and Sanjay Bhansali. Elsewhere they have also threatened to cut Deepika's nose and ears like Shoorpnakha. One cannot lose perspective. Am no Bhansali fan. His movies are loud and gaudy and in bad taste and also stereotype communities. But one cannot lose perspective and demand their heads. That is far more than uncouth. It is criminal.

Aparna Krishnan They are goondas. I have not even discussed them here.The post is a more general post.

The modern deracinated liberals are demanding something they call freedom of expression which to them includes painting gods in the nude, or twisting stories that people revere into cheap versions. That is simply an indication of their lack of culture, and total loss of roots. And sooner or later people will retaliate in ways we cannot predict. And I for one will not run to their defence. I expect civilized behaviour, I demand it. I understand the value gods have for the people of this land. Hindus or Muslims.

Aparna Krishnan Respect for the common man, his beleifs and his practices is something the modern educated liberal simply does not have. Activist liberal, or mainstream liberal.

Jayshree Shukla There are all kinds of people in this world. There are no monoliths so one should not fall into the trap of viewing all liberals as one. There are many shades of opinion there. Be that as it may, "retaliation in ways one cannot predict" cannot include violence. Violence cannot be excused. Because taste and interpretations of culture will vary, not just between cities and villages but also person to person. I recently saw pictures by Sanghi websites showing Gandhiji with foreign women. The pictures were photoshopped and in extremely bad taste. I was deeply offended. But I have not called for any heads. I am simply reiterating that violence under no circumstances is acceptable. I know that you in this post are not advocating violence. Just elaborating on another aspect :-)

Meenakshi Negi The common man thinks commonly and sometimes that is not the way of the truth, in fact most times..

Aparna Krishnan Jayshree Shukla Those a criminals and deserve the strongest punishment that the law can give. but as I said this post is not about them.

It is about those who claim the right to paint Saraswathi in the nude, and suchlike. It is not just uncouth, it is deeply offending to the common man who is a sincere beleiver. The simple people of this land are religious in a deep and simple way.

Aparna Krishnan Meenakshi Negi The common man thinks more wisely than the educated breed. His roots are intact. I have known both communities very closely.

Meenakshi Negi Aparna Krishnan I beg to defer the educated or uneducated both can be commonly thinking.. commonness has not much to do with education or the lack of it

Aparna Krishnan but have you known both communities equally closely ? That is important before you can have an opinion.

Meenakshi Negi Aparna Krishnan yes indeed I do have some insight. Poverty and elitism are neighbours in India and there are crossovers on a daily basis.. of one has eyes to see and ears to hear both narratives speak..

Aparna Krishnan Equally. And one has to immerse. Once has to live among them. That is when an understanding of a community comes.

Otherwise one can understand a small part, thats all.

Meenakshi Negi Aparna Krishnan this may be true and may not be.. people can be married for decades and remain strangers.. we have to know that we do not know yet from that lack we function.. I admire your lifepath though I may not always agree to purist views on many subjects..

Aparna Krishnan sure.

Dipankar Khasnabish How do you define a community? And how do you define deeply held beliefs? And how do you define hurt?

How much of these are based on information - both past and present?

And why do we feel that the ones who are the creators will hurt the sentiments events without an inkling of the creation? And who are the ones who are custodians? Who appointed them?

Aparna Krishnan One has to immerse in a community to understand. It is not abstract, it has to be experianced. I moved to a village 20 years ago, lived as a neighbour, drew water from the same well. Got the thatch on my roof repaired when they did, took my turn at the...See more

Dipankar Khasnabish That is exactly I said, what may be sacred in one village may not be so in the adjoining one. And why then go for village, why not move to household or for that matter individuals?

I am sure there will be at least one individual who will be offended b...See more

Aparna Krishnan These are theoritical positions. You have to understand the truth on the ground. The English educated crowd is a miniscule minority in this land, and it is as unrepresentative of the country as possible.

The stories from my village match the stories from friends who have also immersed themselves elsewhere. There is a commonality. I do not ask to be believed. But if you wish to understand, you will need to make the move to another world. The learnings and gains will be immense. It is recovery of roots.

Dipankar Khasnabish This is exactly the problem I see in many cases - that one is theoretical, that one has to understand the truth, that the English educated people are not aware.

This is exactly where the conversations - break down, on assumptions on others (and maybe about one's own self).

BTW in India, it is assumed around 40% of the population is in the cities, and the large cities are like a mini country - with the economy itself upwards of USD 200B. There are stories and realities in cities - not all have no go to the villages to understand or appreciate them.

Aparna Krishnan No, one has to be a neighbour and co-exist with the community one wishes to speak of. Or to understand through someone who has co-existed, but that is very second hand.

One can be a neighbour to IT colleuges and one understands that world. I have been there.

One can then be a neighbour to the poor in the cities and understand that world.

One can also stand outside, and see and help. That is laudable. But then one often only sees the poverty and misses many many riches, which come only in the nuances of day of day living.

Aparna Krishnan All these bytes will serve no purpose. If you wish to understand what I am saying you need to walk that mile. Yourself.

Dipankar Khasnabish I don't wish to - the same way I am not asking someone else to walk my mile. I believe everyone has a journey, and no journey is superior to another one. Each on their own - so long they are not degrading the society.

But again I suggest - don't assume who are the others, and what they are doing or not doing. We just don't know, even for our neighbors. People are complex - we just see the tip of it. So always best to remain at ideas and events level, below that it degenerates.

Aparna Krishnan You, or anyone, is not in my mind. To assume anything.

My point is just that to comment on a community very removed from our, one needs to immerse. Otherwise ones understanding stays very partial, and misleading. One can see a wise and wonderful and poor community, as just poor.

I am not asking you to move to a low income community, just saying that that complete engagement is what gives us the whole picture !

15 April 2016 at 07:49 ·

Rural India defines my country for me. So Rama Navami wishes.

"Rama's biggest fans are in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and parts of rural India.

.

Now, English-mediums in India are eager to remove him from our history, "

...

Aparna Krishnan I am also anti development. . Anti industrilization, anti modernity, anti capitalism, anti centralization. For Gram Swaraj.

Dhandapani Murugesan Gandhiyan

Sanjeev Jain Sadly you are in a wrong era

Aparna Krishnan So what ? I might fail My definitions of success and failure have been stood upside down.

Dhandapani Murugesan Being gandhian and following gandhism is tough for simple human beings like me and we are majority. I believe science and technology will bring equality and economic development. Every one cant live like " yogi" and it is ideal mindset to live to gather food with minimum amenities.

Sreenivasan Ravichandran Leftists stand against everything that you stand for. They are for destruction of Rama, religion and Gram Swaraj. They are for industrialization, modernity, centralization and state capitalism.

Aparna Krishnan But I have common ground with many of them as regards an honest concern for the poor. The Right is also Right in its economic model, which I completely differ with.

Aparna Krishnan I seek common ground everywhere, and am ready to work with anyone (almost) on common issues. I have no personal name to protect or project.

Sreenivasan Ravichandran The right in this country is far more honest in its concern for the poor.

Aparna Krishnan I see the need to grow beyond binaries, I have something in common with many people, apart from my own beliefs. The villages and the poor come first. And if you wish to work on that I can work with you on that. I am not too interested in proving the superiority of Left or Right right now.

Piyush Manush what is connection between rural india and monarch rama !!

Aparna Krishnan i refuse to intellectualy debate these. There is a faith in what something stands for. Gandhi might have had his human faults. But what Gandhiism signifies for me, I hold on to. Similarly my village people revere what Krishna (Krishnamurthy as they say) means to them. Similarly Rama in some other villages I assume. I do not need to create new symbols. I have seen people anchor deep ethics to these symbols amd symbolisms. The historical Rama, monarch or begger, is not so relevent actually except to intellectuals.