FoE - the new foe



Pic courtesy: matie.devaintart.com

‘Comedy is a serious business. A serious business with only one purpose – to make people laugh’ – W C Fields

On January 20, comedy became serious and as it appears from the journey since then, it couldn’t have gotten more serious than this. For the first time in recent memory has comedy been subject to such social scrutiny and legal harangue in India. AIB, other stand-up comedy artists, along with Bollywood stars, introduced the concept of ‘roasting’. Little would they have thought that in due course of time they would have to apologize for it, remove the video from YouTube, face various sections of Indian Penal Code and IT Act and not to mention become a subject of newsroom and drawing room (if not bedroom) debate. Much has already been written about this, which of other things has brought to fore the issue of ‘Freedom of Expression’, which in an acronym-loving world have been termed FoE. FoE suddenly has become the foe for a large section of people.

This controversy over AIB Roast has created 5 types of people. On one extreme are those who have been outraged over it and want the comedians behind bar for hurting their sentiments (sounds heavy already). Then there are those who find the comedy appalling, are outraged but do not believe there is merit in legal action. The middle category is those who have no opinion about it. Then there are those who have not necessarily liked it but want FoE to be sacrosanct and are with AIB. The last category is those who loved the comedy and will fight against the suit filed against AIB and others (searching for your place on the scale?). There can be a few more category that you could fit in these sections, but for a scientific brain familiar with Likert scale, I came up with the above categorization.

Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke – Steve Martin

I shall not get into the merit of the comedy that the ‘roasting’ provided. I prefer non-obscene comedy and have scripted few for award winning competitions at my university. But, that is just me being me. With due respect to one of the very talented comedians in the show, who has featured in Forbes 30 under 30 list of influential people, who is breaking stereotypes, who is a wonderful person and who is a good friend, the comedy was largely tasteless for me (I very much run the risk of getting killed by her though).

But then I find a lot of politics and policies in the country tasteless, a lot of movies and songs tasteless and certainly a great amount of views of people tasteless. But that is again just me and should be the same for all individuals. If I did not like the comedy, I would not watch it so that I puke, will I?

Pukish one feels at the sections that our law has to try people. Just take a look at the sections slapped in the FIR. They are, 120-b (criminal conspiracy), sections 294, 509 (speaking vulgar, obscene and pornographic words publicly before a women audience) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 67 and 66 A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (circulation of obscene, pornographic content on the internet), Bombay Police Act 1951, the Environment Protect Act, 1986 (environment, seriously?), and Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966. Though our judiciary has usually lived up to the expectations of betrayed-by-politics people, judicial overreach (of a different kind in this case) has plagued it time and again.

The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think – Horace Walpole

Then there is a narrative about the social impact of such obscenity. Extremists ask what impact would such kind of comedy have on impressionable minds, what would be the limit of vulgarity, what kind of language and action will act out in the public domain, etc. A parent might worry what would a child gather watching such show, but the worry would then be misplaced. The parent would then have to worry about all the kids in the school concerning what language they bring with them, the kids at the playground, books, cartoon network (you wouldn’t want to know what narratives on relationships they play) and the internet which is easily accessible (unless you don’t allow internet use and take the kid 10 years back in comparison to his/her classmates), and everything else.

The getting outraged brigade is growing in number. It appears to me that their use of FoE is sabotaging the actual issue. The infamous tweet of censor board member and director Ashoke Pandit is a case in point. Which takes me to the issue of hypocrisy. A large section of people find the issue a non-issue because it is the government, Maharashtra government precisely, which is taking keen interest in pursuing this issue. People take government and politicians in same league of mistrust and thus question how hate speeches of a Togadia or Owaisi, irresponsible and communal remarks of a Sadhvi or Father or Maulana is less harmful than a profanity-filled-comedy. Then there is hypocrisy about the kind of popular chauvinistic, innuendo filled comedy that passes off as good comedy and direct below-the-belt comedy is made a scapegoat of.

Comedy is acting out optimism – Robin Williams

Comedy in a society has responsibility too. Mindless comedy for the already stuffy society is good but so is intelligent comedy, satire and other forms which bring before people issues in a manner that a serious LSTV debate cannot (LSTV guys is Lok Sabha TV, a superb channel if you want to know what the nation ‘doesn’t’ demand to know). Cartoonists have been under attack, authors have been under attack, media has been under attack, and these have put serious question marks on FoE.

As my teacher and Takshashila founder Nitin Pai has explained well in his blog (please read http://acorn.nationalinterest.in/2015/01/21/q-a-on-free-speech/ ), the concept of absolute FoE doesn’t exist. We have traded some rights to the nation as citizens and absolute FoE is one of them. The ‘reasonable restrictions’ that Article 19 carries under its clause 2 includes serious and relevant categories like security of state, public order, defamation, etc., but also includes decency and morality which is something that depends on an individual, changes with time and is subject to interpretations.

Should such shows which is meant for select audience, who are adults, have the right to choose a government, have the right to marry and produce children be subject to such restrictions? The counter argument for limited access is its access to all via YouTube. I think it will suffice to take a Twitter argument to answer that. ‘YouTube videos just don’t play on their own’.

La commedia e finite (Comedy is finished) – Ruggero Leoncavallo

What impact will this incident have on FoE? I would like to believe that this overreach of a lower court will be struck down by higher courts which will put to rest the legal part of the matter. That will foster furtherance of comedy, of all kinds, in the country. More comedians are sprouting and will grow in number. And that will be the true upholding of freedom of expression.

PS: No one is outraged by this piece, are they?

Book Review - Breach by Amrita Chowdhury

Book Review - Breach

As much as the reader of this will like to believe otherwise, the fact remains that internet penetration stands pretty low in India. Though it is seeing a healthy rise, it has not captured the imagination of large swathes of the population. In such a backdrop, writing a cyber crime thriller can be a tricky business.

But full marks to Amrita Chowdhury who has written ‘Breach’ in such a manner that opens newer avenues for literature in this genre. Coupled with cyber crime the medical science that she has depicted is easy to understand. All this interwoven as a thriller makes Breach, an online meets offline affair, a good read.

The machinations of pharmaceutical companies brought about in the form of a company Acel which is at the verge of discovering a drug to cure advanced stage pancreatic cancer. The move however is sabotaged in India where the data gets leaked and the blame is pinned on the flamboyant CEO Udai Vir Dhingra. It now becomes his battle to prove his innocence. 

A sub plot that shall align with the main plot then builds up where small in the backdrop of a Mumbai college, owing to challenges, emotional turmoils and daredevilry, Madhu’s personal information is compromised at the hands of hacker Raghu. Madhu doesn’t take it lying down and learns the trick of the trade to bounce back. So there is that subtle element of women empowerment, there is the teenager issues which we all relate with in contemporary times.

Brach works because it blends the technical with the emotional. It is as much about IP espionage as it is about teenage affairs; it is as much about corporate wrangling as it is about medical ethics. The author has brought about various worlds seamlessly in this book. Though one may find the beginning less magnetic to catch the attention, once a few pages turn by, it grips the reader. Overall 'Breach' can be called as a coming of age (as much cliché as it may sound) in a genre that Indian readers and authors are not familiar with.

Words, Memory and Thoughts

What thoughts would flood our mind if someone was to tell us that we have been diagnosed with diabetes? Probably we would think about that uncle, that friend, that colleague who doesn't get to eat as he wishes, has become emaciated, have developed eye problems, have had to amputate a foot or something to such effect. Wouldn't the diagnosis worry us? Wouldn't it be enough to cause sleeplessness for at least a few days? It very much might.

And what triggered such train of thoughts? That word 'diabetes'. The memory associated with the word 'diabetes'.

Sounds very simple doesn't it? Sounds logical doesn't it? Now replace that word with any other word or words that bothers us. A friend telling she 'hates' you, the boss telling you are not working as 'expected', the bank sending SMS telling your EMI is 'due', and so on and so forth. If these were apparently negative connotations, the above applies for positive words too. Just think about it.

Our deep conditioning is a reason for great deal of pain and sorrow. Our conditioning as many philosophers would say is not of many years of our lives but of centuries together. That concept is for a different debate, some other time. But conditioning is a truth that chains us. We are chained to the thoughts embedded deep within.

The deep within is the long term memory; unlimited in capacity, storing vast information in packets, interconnected; and able to manifest when a thought draws upon it, from it. In other words our hurts, our notions, our perceptions are all linked to the deep seated memory. An image triggers it, a sound triggers it, a smell triggers it, a touch triggers it, a taste triggers it. Now, we are familiar with our sensory systems.

But what words, a common input for our sensory system can do, more often than not is, it can reach out to the deep seated memory. And then with whatever related thoughts we have, new thoughts are created. So how a good news or a bad news plays with us is by using the words used to generate thoughts.

So far so good, but one might wonder that it is a natural process; what is the big deal about it. The big deal again more often than not is the hurtful, sorrowful, painful thoughts that take space in our minds and makes the living difficult and/or demented. Can this 'natural process' be used to seek peace, seek silence? Yes. Difficult but yes.

The difficulty is in the 'unconditioning' part. If we do not let 'diabetes' conjure the thoughts, many of them half cooked, to build new thoughts that bring about the sleeplessness we can let the word not dictate our thoughts. In other words if the word can be dissociated with thoughts it would fail to impact.

Diabetes is just a word, cancer is just a word, hate is just a word. if we can bring about that desired 'silence' or what has been called as 'no-thought' it can prevent the unwarranted train of thoughts. It doesn't mean fostering ignorance, or denial, or escaping; on the contrary the dissociation between words and thoughts should occur in the background of total awareness, of the situation, of the individuals, of the surrounding, everything.

It is all easier said than done and at the same time not as difficult as it might appear or is made out to be. Tough and challenging times in life are times when such 'philosophies' can be brought into practice. It is when the iron is red hot that the hammer will help shape it. Difficult times and good times both provide that red heat. Question is are you even ready to make an effort to use the hammer?