When are we Indians going to learn ?

It has been 60 years since we achieved independence from the British Empire. In these 60 years we have gone from international pariahs to a world power that no corporation or country can ignore. Who hasn't heard of the term "Bangalored" ? We crow about how we are the biggest democracy in the world. One of the best examples of a diverse yet peaceful society.

We have the Japanese trying to copy us for crying out aloud! We talk about our GDP, and our balance of payments, and our foreign exchange reserves, and the strides we have made in every single field. We have had a Sikh president, a Muslim President and currently have a Woman President (not even the Americans can boast of this). Have we really made any intellectual progress? I think not. The Shiv Sena, the BJP, the Bajrang Dal, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have all proved it many a time in the past, and are not going to stop anytime soon. Cities or villages, our intolerance for anything that remotely ruffles our feathers is staggering.

The intellectual depth of a nation can be very accurately gauged by how it reacts to things that displeases it. Some societies ignore it, some learn from it, some protest peacefully against it, some write about it, some wonder what the fuss is all about, and some get violent. Sadly, we have always been the violent kind. Let me explain.

I am watching with increasing disgust (from afar, thankfully) over this controversy over "Jodhaa Akbar". It has been banned by several State governments: Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttarkhand, and counting. This, after the Censor Board cleared it. The distributors have moved the Supreme court to get these bans reversed, and I hope that they win. [The Madhya Pradesh high court quashed the ban by the government, as it should have]. And I certainly hope Parliament does not pull a Shah Bano on this one.

The idiocy of the average Indian politician does not bother me so much (Laloo, anyone?); we have an admirable line up of utterly selfish morons with no plans upon forming governments except to line their pockets with cash and land. While nothing new, the violent behaviour by my fellow countrymen (and women) leaves me aghast. Reports of stone pelting, and a bomb blast in Maharashtra (whose "Xenophobic" factions are beginning to scare me). Have we not learnt anything? Have our minds shrunk? Seems like it.

First it was "Fire". We proved that we are so stuck up that a romantic portrayal of two women offends us. Aren't there any lesbians in India? Or Homosexuals?! Yes, there are. What do we choose to do with them? We pretend like they don't exist (a la Iran), while our national magazines are running exposés of homosexuals and lesbians marrying and pretending to live together as husband and wife while continuing their normal lifestyle. We burned theatres, pelted stones, ripped up movie screens, all in the name of venting our anger at the makers of this "impossible" movie. What did it do? It made "Fire" one of the most talked about and watched movies of our times.

Then it was Ashoka. We said it was historically inaccurate. My normally extremely liberal wife said it was a bad movie because it was historically inaccurate. That is fine, but we need to understand that these are just movies. This is not a matter of life and death. Nobody is holding up Ashoka the movie as the definitive reference on the subject. It is not going to be screened in our schools for educational purposes. It is for entertainment, and will not survive rigorous scholarly analysis. That much is certain, but what about our fundamental rights and freedoms?

"Freedom of speech", and "Freedom of Expression". There is also something called "Artistic License". We Indians seemingly have no concept of this.

We managed to chase the "Water" production crew out of the country and to Sri Lanka, and made laughingstock of ourselves. I cringed when I read about the violent protests. I watched the movie and there is nothing remotely unrealistic about it. It was fabulous, well made and the user reviews prove that. Anyone who knows Indian society knows that widows are and were treated poorly. This is a fact. I have seen it in action. We look like fools when we deny the obvious. What do we do when someone exposes our soft underbelly?! We indulge in violence so disgusting that we look like brutes, hardly resembling a culture that claims several thousand years of learning and knowledge. We act like people too weak to confront reality and fly into a rage not because the accusations are actually unjust, but because we feel insulted by who we are. Instead of fixing the problem, we turn violent at those who have "embarrassed" us. Our rage is our way of denying it.

For an emerging world power, we have a lousy way of dealing with movies. Yes, Jodha Akbar is not the epitome of historical accuracy. Or Ashoka. I don't think anybody is arguing that point. The point is simply that we need to find peaceful ways of protesting such things. Are we simply ignorant of the possibilities?

How about not going to the movie? How about simply bad mouthing it? How about mockery and sarcasm? How about writing poor reviews of it ? How about arguing tooth and nail with anybody who wants to go see that movie? How about refusing to listen to its music? How about ignoring the ads? Do you think any producers would make a movie if it won't result in a profit for them ? Certainly not the smart ones.

As this latest incident has shown, we haven't learnt one bit. Shame on us!