Voices that refuse to be silenced

Humanity Above All Else

Something is really nagging me today…urging me to not let the chain of thoughts stop….pushing me to think through till the end…to come to some conclusion that manages to numb this feeling…..and I didn’t want to lose this….didn’t want to let the routine swallow up this thought…..this thought which is somehow sounding very important to me….a question that I am feeling obliged to answer….

I have always struggled with myself….time and again battled to answer one question…..debated countless times with myself…..and yet I still don’t know if I have been able to answer that question…..

What is the definition of right and wrong?....does it vary with each individual, or can it be absolute?....My right and wrong may be different from what someone else might consider right and wrong…..Is everyone not justified in holding on to their rights and wrongs? Is it essential to impose an absoluteness to it? Is it possible? Is it desirable? Is it natural? Many a times I have left this chain of thoughts midway….many a times I have emerged with no concrete answer……but today as I think, I am drawn to one conclusion that sounds to me more plausible and convincing than the others…..that satisfies me to some extent…till the time some other lingering shadow of doubt overtakes it…..

Yes, everyone is entitled to their thoughts…..their beliefs…. and the actions based on their beliefs……but there is one absolute above all else that to my mind is right there at the top…..that cannot be compromised with……that cannot be denied…..that cannot be wished away….that cannot be squashed……and that is the ultimate absolute of humanity…..humanity above all else…..humanity as that ultimate principle that cannot be violated…..

And what if its violated with impunity all around oneself, time and again…..and yet again…..in the name of all else that might be important and right for many…..but still cannot be held above humanity……in the name of caste, creed, religion, nation, gender, love, lust, greed, anger, pride…..possibly anything and everything…….

What if you see this spectacle of cold blooded murder of humanity all around you….day in and day out…..in the name of so many different things…..wearing so many different masks…..what do you do? Be content that you are not a part of this madness…..be content that at least you are the one who values humanity above all else….be content that you are a virtuous person….on the right path……or be ashamed that you watch this daily spectacle without bothering much about it…..be ashamed that you have become immune to anything that happens outside the fold of your immediate loved ones…..be ashamed that you move about comfortably in your routine pretending that all is well…..what do you do? Really what do you do? Oscillate like a pendulum between these two extremes?....Or try to arrive at a path that you can walk on for the rest of your life….a principle that you can live by from now on….what do you do?

I am caught in this labyrinth of questions and thoughts once again…..not being able to shut them off…..Is it enough to just hold on tight to your beliefs and that’s that? Is it just enough to let the unthinkable go on all around you and rest snugly in the belief that you are not the one who is involved in all this mess? More than this question, there is one more urgent question that has started plaguing me now…is it really possible to remain untouched and unscathed by any of this? Is it really possible to live a life in a shell with the belief that your life is mutually exclusive to anything happening around you and all that is around you doesn’t and will never make any difference to you? Is it really possible for the above to be true in any case? I am more and more inclined to believe that it is not. You are a part of the whole that is around you and cannot remain untouched…..

If humanity is the ultimate sacrosanct principle to be upheld and you believe so with all that you possibly can, then you cannot just sit content with this belief. You need to strive and fight hard to try and make it as much of a reality as possible….you need to speak, write, discuss, debate, do whatever you can to make other see the truth in it……you need to do this urgently….lest it is not too late…..lest things go out of control….if they have not already done so……you need to do it now…..if not for yourself then for the future generations that you have brought into this world….because this is the world that is going to be the biggest inheritance you will pass on to them…

Her life - Her own

She had seen naked death, unbound and unfettered. She had seen human lives wasted, ending with a blink of an eye, terminated with a random gunshot, lying motionless in a pool of blood. She was awestruck, dumbfounded with the meaninglessness of it all. That was the moment it all began. That was the moment she realized that the privilege and comfort of ‘routineness’ would elude her forever. For she was unable to eat after that, not being able to pass that morsel of food down her throat. That was also the moment when the journey from ordinary to extra-ordinary would begin for her. A journey that had never been a part of her plans, a journey in which many would join her, a journey that was now her life but that she would never be allowed to be in charge of. She would soon be placed on a pedestal she never intended to be on, she would be transformed from a living human being, with all her weaknesses, emotions, her frailties, into a goddess that was not allowed to possess in any of those. She had begun this journey in a child-like hope, a hope of a future for herself and her people that would not hold in its womb unspoken horrors of death and destruction, but the seeds of a life full of beaming promises and endless opportunities. She had a hope that she and her people, who were as equal as anyone else, who had as much right to a normal and ordinary life as anyone else, would be allowed to do that, to live a life that was normal. She, who had not been able to eat at first, had thought that may be this was a sign, may be her giving up food would be it, the push that was needed, the nudge that would change her and her people’s future, for good. She had believed unflinchingly in Mahatma Gandhi, his non-violence, his numerous fasts that had changed lives and made histories. This was the child-like hope she harbored. Child-like, because she had been unaware of the world she was breathing in, she was unaware of what this innocent wish could lead to. She was unaware that she could be charged for trying to commit suicide, she was unaware that she could be force-fed like an animal, she was unaware that she could be confined to a life of isolation within the four walls of a solitary room, she was unaware that such unthinkable callousness, apathy and insensitivity was possible to be displayed by human beings. Yet she soldiered on, not letting that flicker of hope die within her, for sixteen long years she survived, stealing tiny little moments from life, when she felt love, joy, hope and promise, all the emotions that each and every ordinary human being was entitled to feel. But she had forgotten that she had been catapulted out of the ordinary, not because she wished to but because others thought it should be so. It had been decided that she was not allowed to feel, to live, to love, to laugh, to be an ordinary human being again. That she could only be a goddess now, devoid of all human emotions. That her life could no longer be governed by her wishes but by everybody else’s. Then one fine day she decided. Decided that she wanted to live, to love, to laugh and to cry, to be human again. She wanted to marry and to have kids. She wanted to struggle but not how she had done for the past 16 years. She wanted to do it in a different way, in a way she thought would be more fruitful. She thought may be this was the way that could help her hopes be realized, her hopes for herself and her people. The goddess had decided to become a human again, and what a scandal that was. She was disowned and discarded, by those who proclaimed to love her, by those who hated her and buy those who were indifferent. She was left alone to make whatever she wanted of her life, it was inconsequential and useless for them now. She was also threatened that she would be robbed of this life if she dared to live it on her own terms.

 And that is where she stands now. But she stands straight, she stands tough, she stands dignified, she stands tall, in a nation full of dwarfs. She stands full of life among those who have forgotten what it means to be alive. She stands with the same child-like hope in her eyes, a hope as yet unfulfilled, but as much alive as it ever could be. Thank you Irom Sharmila Chanu, for being what you are. Thank you for reminding me the meaning of life.