Malayalam movie actor Mohanlal makes a statement in some context that “All Malayalees drink” and soon faces the ire of the Kerala association of Mahatma Gandhians. They want him to apologise as he has insulted the Gandhians of the state. A.R,Rehman is dragged to court, because he had come out with an audio CD in which the national anthem lasted more than the mandated 53 seconds ( or because it lasted less than the mandated 52 seconds, I am not sure).
A blogger is upset at the omission of the word, “dravida’ from the national anthem aired on the Air-tel ad. While another blogger laments the fact that Tagore had compressed the entire South India to just one word, “Dravida’, while assigning a full word each to Bengal, Gujarat, Sind, Punjab…
What kind of an intolerant world and humourless society we seem to live in? (Oops. I just made myself liable to legal action by the Humour Club – Chennai chapter for branding the entire society as humourless, in one grand sweep of my pen, sorry mouse. After all, they have been passionately promoting the cause of humour and so cannot brook any suggestion that they have not succeeded. )
I mean to say, let us grant these artists and poets some licence to indulge in whatever they want to do, without accusing them of acts of commission or omission. Just imagine. If Tagore had decided, while composing the anthem, to include every single state, every district and municipality, we would not have got past the opening stanza even once since 1947. We would have been a nation, whose anthem was a work-in-progress.
A blogger is upset at the omission of the word, “dravida’ from the national anthem aired on the Air-tel ad. While another blogger laments the fact that Tagore had compressed the entire South India to just one word, “Dravida’, while assigning a full word each to Bengal, Gujarat, Sind, Punjab…
What kind of an intolerant world and humourless society we seem to live in? (Oops. I just made myself liable to legal action by the Humour Club – Chennai chapter for branding the entire society as humourless, in one grand sweep of my pen, sorry mouse. After all, they have been passionately promoting the cause of humour and so cannot brook any suggestion that they have not succeeded. )
I mean to say, let us grant these artists and poets some licence to indulge in whatever they want to do, without accusing them of acts of commission or omission. Just imagine. If Tagore had decided, while composing the anthem, to include every single state, every district and municipality, we would not have got past the opening stanza even once since 1947. We would have been a nation, whose anthem was a work-in-progress.
8 comments:
We are the morons who elect some extraordinary morons to rule us. That's why see such moronic behaviour.
Work-in-progress is alright...just imagine the fight for reservations in the National anthem...OMIGAWD, it would have been hilarious; your Chennai humor club would have had lots to humor about and you wouldn't have had the chance to call our society 'humorless' (how dare you?!! :D)
Tagore..down, down!! :) crazy morons!!
good post.
It would not be an anthem - it would be a lesson in geography!
Freedom of speech is naturally in conflict with nationalism, piety, political correctness and other institutions of conformity. Your take on the insanity that comes with fanatic support for conformist rules is all about common sense.
Is it fair to ask that we love freedom of expression first, and conformist institutions only when they don't restrict it?
So very true.. we fail to differentiate between whats important and whats not... whats really needed and whats not.. or maybe then its done intentionally to keep us from actually addressing our attention to things that matter / need being looked at..
first visit here.. hope there shall be more...
cheers
Nation of Nit-pickers we are. Bah.
philip, not just the elected ones. Even the voters are intolerant.
kiran,yes, Tagore should have left some blank spaces in the anthem.
geetha, thanks
usha, true.
toxic survivor, it is very subjective. Where does one draw the line?
alien, thanks, do visit again.
dipali, true
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