Rajiv Desai
– Rajiv Desai, president of Comma Consulting and a well-known Delhi-based columnist
As results pour in from General Election 2024, it’s clear that semi-literate, rabble rousing bigots cannot endlessly deceive a huge nation of diverse cultures and traditions. They should not be allowed to set the agenda based on dubious understanding of Hindu religion
Amid the explosion of choice made possible by technology and business, a welcome development is the alignment of television, laptop, cell phone and entertainment. But such choice means little without content.
Fortunately, content is blossoming with nostalgic programming on television in recent times. The fare available is comforting reinforcement of continuity: the idea that the past and present is a continuum. A click of the remote and one is transported back to the 1970s America of tight, patterned shirts, brick-coloured bell bottoms, platform shoes, long hair melded into droopy moustaches and mutton-chop sideburns.
Though popular tastes of those polyester days were a bit trying for the eyes, there were some distinct oases in the desert that had overtaken popular taste. For example: savouring the elegance of Lindsay Wagner as The Bionic Woman; the familiar comfort of watching Jack Lord of Dr. No fame in Hawaii Five-O; the laugh riot Mash starring Alan Alda; and one of my all-time Peter Falk favourites, Columbo.
It’s not just American television of the 1970s. On tap as well are channels that show black- and-white Hindi films of yore: Raj Kapoor cavorting with Nutan and dealing with Mrs. D’Sa, his landlady played by the formidable Lalita Pawar in Anari; Dilip Kumar in Naya Daur standing up to the soul deadening forces of modernity, and, evergreen hero Dev Anand romancing a lovely young Sadhana in Hum Dono. And also the wonder Hollywood films of yesteryear starring Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn and a bunch of male heroes. What a treat!
Realisation of this joy nevertheless requires fancy moves with the remote control device. Though I’m not a technophobe, struggling with various remotes while reading a book is a tough call. Luckily I don’t have to struggle much, thanks to an attentive granddaughter ready to leap to the rescue the minute she witnesses confusion. Amazing how pre-teens make it look so easy. As I look at her with gratitude, she anticipates my thank-you bleat with a smiley “You’re welcome, Grandpa.”
Not to digress, the relationship between technology, choice and taste is a fascinating study. Also it’s especially heartwarming for those of us, who back in the day had warned about the focus on technology and lack of attention to content. I recall at a technology conclave in Pittsburgh, some of us warned that the sterile fascination with technology is akin to marvelling at the elegance of the physics concept of interchangeability of parts without considering the implications of gun culture with its wars and murders.
It is not dissimilar to the warning against Prime Minister Modi and his saffron party’s preoccupation with “development.” The objection is not to expressways and factories but to the neglect of literacy and public health, schools and hospitals…and a number of other issues the current muscular culture side steps. There’s a risk that such reminders will be ignored and dumped into the bin as Luddite complaints. It’s a curious position to be in for those of us who championed the cause of modernity against tradition that militates against inclusion, against diversity.
Meanwhile, as results pour in from the recent General Election 2024, it’s clear that semi-literate, rabble-rousing bigots and bhakts cannot endlessly deceive a huge nation of diverse cultures and traditions. Try as much as they will, Mr. Modi and his saffron gang cannot and should not be allowed to set the agenda based on dubious understanding of Hindu religion. There are also larger issues about his social interaction with world leaders, one of which was raised when he told Bill Gates that Indian children are “advanced” because in many regions of India, the word for mother and advanced technology — AI — is the same.
Modi has enjoyed two unquestioned terms at the top of the heap. From the looks of it, the result of the current election is likely to put a spoke in his wheel. His government has set India back dramatically, disfiguring governance in a rapidly developing nation with a steaming economy and a compassionate welfare state. After a decade of Modi rule, India has acquired the reputation of a violent monocultural country with no room for minorities and socially and economically disadvantaged groups.
It’s been quite a turn from an admired system that had fired the engines of global growth and established the world’s largest welfare system. As evidenced during the Covid pandemic lockdown, Modi and his saffron supporters disregarded the poor — making them walk from urban centres all the way to their villages. General Election 2024 has given them the chance to speak their piece. The result is likely to be a resounding lesson.
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