Are You Lost

In the world that is being haunted by the evil forces of thoughtlessness, blind faith, mediocrity and hypocrisy, walking the tight rope and staying alive is a daunting challenge. These are the times when we are being carried away in a vacuum only to be consumed by our own thoughts, actions, beliefs and choices. Is this the world we live and grow in? The world where its own residents are killed because of their skin color, where children look up to the demolishers of mankind who call themselves ‘rulers’ and where people just cannot get over the political and social battles fought over the meaning of a woman and her ‘role’ in the society?
Probably this was normal in the world in which we were meant to live in. But then, just a while ago, man was gifted with a choice to introspect and correct his wrong doings. However we completely lost ourselves in the mid-way and introspection was locked up in a faraway land, which was inaccessible to man. We all got lost when we stood up and silently let ‘them’ rule us and declared, “We are ready to sell ourselves out”. That’s the precise moment when the human race sunk deep in the ocean of shame, disgrace and indignity.
Today what we see is just ‘good’ and ‘bad’. We are aware of only two specifics- he or she being ‘good’ should be worshiped and he or she being ‘bad’ should be violated. People find it quite all right to sacrifice their own beliefs to do something that the society has enforced upon them as ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. But no one really tells us that sometimes its O.K to disagree with ‘them’. Because, a society is merely an amalgamation of people who decide a set of rules that suits them and have the power and shame to impose them upon those who are dumb enough to follow them without demur.
And if this is what you also see as your future, then we are headed towards real peril- literally a place that will be ruled by half literates, where human faith could be bought for free. This is quite inevitable when people perceive policies, duties and responsibilities through the filter of media, where the whole society is drained and deprived of its values through the little holes of incompetence and mindlessness.
This erosion of thoughts is when a certain character known as ‘Eminem’ with their irritatingly soundless music can actually generate admirers just because a certain channel wants us to believe that these seemingly mentally disturbed individuals can actually make music.
The degradation has already being done where rapists, killers, murderers, wife beaters, child beaters are actually given a clean chit to repeat their crimes. And what happens when we keep mum? Programs like “WWE” become popular among the youth and youngsters actually think of its characters (who get pleasure by punching, throwing and tearing each other off) as so-called “icons”! Or when a certain Miss Sherawat is looked up to by women who misunderstand her desperation for ‘boldness’.
And talk of today’s household entertainment…Indian television has become one big sob story. Because when it comes to its popularity, it can only come down to one aspect. While protagonists of all leading serials shed tears, reality shows are worse. Singing competition has degenerated into crying competitions. Going by the T.V trends, it seems people today just enjoy other’s suffering. Even News channels- any and every coverage of calamity is always accompanied by the most gruesome visuals. In chat shows, most painful questions are asked and the camera lingers on the faces of the contestants in the hope of capturing one tear that will increase their TRPs. A few years ago, Kapil Dev cried on television and made headlines. Now, tears have become an inseparable part of daily entertainment. The truth is, we enjoy watching other people’s misery in the name of entertainment. It’s a vicious circle- where life imitates art and art imitates life.
Yes, we are dying. And we are dying a slow and horrible death. We were meant to live so much longer. Every morning you wake up and wait for the sun to rise. You are not sure it would. When you see it come up, you are relieved. This is not ‘the day’ yet. As long as we believe that it’s all right to sell ourselves out, it’s baseless to revolt or debate or merely discuss to find our way out to gain ourselves back. And it’s even more futile to point fingers. Because all of us are sitting in the same chair of ‘the accused’. All of us are guilty. All of us are Lost.