While I was pursing my Masters in Philosophy, at Jnana Deepa Vidya Peeth Pune, I used to residing at Don Bosco, Koregaon Park. During my two-year stay there, I was in the habit of 'posting' a thought on the glass panel of the door of the dormitory, every morning. There used to be quite many followers of my glass-slit 'blog', cutting across friends and foes.
. One of those aphorisms, I posted, mirroring the daily life-situations of those days, read like this. "Admire I do anything and everything, but Admirer, I am not of anybody."
As I read the reports about how the largest democracy in the world, is gearing itself to the sacred execrise of electing a new goverment, the poignancy and relevance of my distinction, between " to admire" and to "become an admirer", comes to the fore. Whether it be Modi Vs Rahul or Sonia Vs Mamata, the politics seems to be played out around the idiom of personality cult and sycophancy. And while making sure of my spelling for sycophancy, I chanced upon the Greek roots of the word. The exercise turned out to be very revealing indeed.
Historicallly, sychophancy goes back to the practice or occupation, in ancient Athens, of being an informer, engaging oneself in slanderous accusation and the spreading of malicious reports. It also refers to the art of abject flattery, obsequiousness and the character of quality of being a servile or abject flatterer. Indian voters, seem to become a prey to sychophancy, in all its historical and sematic shades.
When the machinery of crony capitalism, wedded to the hierarchical forces of caste and class, drive the election campaigns, ideology takes the back seat. Persons, real or cloned through masks, cultivated through cult, come to occupy the centrestage. And their votaries are mystified as if in a trance - a phantasmagoria of images of the cult-figure or the opponents, in alternating illusion. That is how we have temples being built for Sonia, and teh chant of NAMO mantras. Only few persons, who have been jolted into their autonomous consciousness, like Jaswant Sing, have the courage to say, " Enough of this NAMO NAMO Thamasha."
Let there be more of the ilk of Jaswanth Singhs and less of Jaitlyes, in the Indian political horizon. Jaswanth Sing, who is able to admire even a Jinnah and not become an admirer of Modi.
. One of those aphorisms, I posted, mirroring the daily life-situations of those days, read like this. "Admire I do anything and everything, but Admirer, I am not of anybody."
As I read the reports about how the largest democracy in the world, is gearing itself to the sacred execrise of electing a new goverment, the poignancy and relevance of my distinction, between " to admire" and to "become an admirer", comes to the fore. Whether it be Modi Vs Rahul or Sonia Vs Mamata, the politics seems to be played out around the idiom of personality cult and sycophancy. And while making sure of my spelling for sycophancy, I chanced upon the Greek roots of the word. The exercise turned out to be very revealing indeed.
Historicallly, sychophancy goes back to the practice or occupation, in ancient Athens, of being an informer, engaging oneself in slanderous accusation and the spreading of malicious reports. It also refers to the art of abject flattery, obsequiousness and the character of quality of being a servile or abject flatterer. Indian voters, seem to become a prey to sychophancy, in all its historical and sematic shades.
When the machinery of crony capitalism, wedded to the hierarchical forces of caste and class, drive the election campaigns, ideology takes the back seat. Persons, real or cloned through masks, cultivated through cult, come to occupy the centrestage. And their votaries are mystified as if in a trance - a phantasmagoria of images of the cult-figure or the opponents, in alternating illusion. That is how we have temples being built for Sonia, and teh chant of NAMO mantras. Only few persons, who have been jolted into their autonomous consciousness, like Jaswant Sing, have the courage to say, " Enough of this NAMO NAMO Thamasha."
Let there be more of the ilk of Jaswanth Singhs and less of Jaitlyes, in the Indian political horizon. Jaswanth Sing, who is able to admire even a Jinnah and not become an admirer of Modi.
Fabulous, Maliekal.
ReplyDeleteLoved it.
It is indeed a phantasmagoria of images now. Who comes to power is what really matters after all the phantoms have had their play these days before the elctions. There is no BJP now. There is only Modi.
Welcome, dear Fr Maliekal, to the world of blogging!
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