This is the conversation I heard between two auto-rickshaw drivers who were just fooling around. One of them have made a negative remark about other, say B.
B: Your name will be put in the NRC list. And then you will be standing on the Pakistan border.
A: I have all the documents. How will I be on the NRC?
B: Anyone who is not with us is against us. And anyone who is against us will be on NRC.
An onlooker, C, who was standing and listening to this exchange nearby jumped in discussion, asking A about how right it is to beat the students. (The incident has occurred previous night.)
A: It is a quarrel between left and ABVP regarding registration. Left has shut down the sever. ABVP made it work. Left closed it again.
C: But who were the masked ones?
A: The masked ones came later.
I had to leave the lively scene for livelihood reasons. Yet, I cannot forget the striking piece of conversation. Why?
1. The binary notion of ‘us’ and ‘them’ and extent of hatred expressed even in jest.
2. Misinformation about NRC and what it is supposed to do.
3. In few hours, narrative and counter narratives spread. The power of cheap data and active SM.
Earlier I commented on a friend's post who was seeking impartial truth about incidents. I remarked that either we can be impartial or we can know the truth. I said so because we seek truth by taking a position, like a soft call in cricket. And then we try to refute it. The truth is choosing one out of two, essentially like the binary expression I heard.
May be it is warning of time to come, where we will be forced to make binary choice. It is so easy for some of us, but it is not so easy for some of us.
It is easy to see the rejection of binary interpretation of the world as cowardice. I might be one. But for me, my rejection of binary interpretation is out of fundamental meaninglessness of our existence.
There are two ways to deal with this fundamental meaninglessness. First, life of hardships with priority of survival. Second, life as a pursuit of consumption pleasures. But it seems there is third way, binary battles of artificial purposes.
I don’t want to be a casualty of someone’s binary war. I do not want to be a side in binary war. Where is my escape?
B: Your name will be put in the NRC list. And then you will be standing on the Pakistan border.
A: I have all the documents. How will I be on the NRC?
B: Anyone who is not with us is against us. And anyone who is against us will be on NRC.
An onlooker, C, who was standing and listening to this exchange nearby jumped in discussion, asking A about how right it is to beat the students. (The incident has occurred previous night.)
A: It is a quarrel between left and ABVP regarding registration. Left has shut down the sever. ABVP made it work. Left closed it again.
C: But who were the masked ones?
A: The masked ones came later.
I had to leave the lively scene for livelihood reasons. Yet, I cannot forget the striking piece of conversation. Why?
1. The binary notion of ‘us’ and ‘them’ and extent of hatred expressed even in jest.
2. Misinformation about NRC and what it is supposed to do.
3. In few hours, narrative and counter narratives spread. The power of cheap data and active SM.
Earlier I commented on a friend's post who was seeking impartial truth about incidents. I remarked that either we can be impartial or we can know the truth. I said so because we seek truth by taking a position, like a soft call in cricket. And then we try to refute it. The truth is choosing one out of two, essentially like the binary expression I heard.
May be it is warning of time to come, where we will be forced to make binary choice. It is so easy for some of us, but it is not so easy for some of us.
It is easy to see the rejection of binary interpretation of the world as cowardice. I might be one. But for me, my rejection of binary interpretation is out of fundamental meaninglessness of our existence.
There are two ways to deal with this fundamental meaninglessness. First, life of hardships with priority of survival. Second, life as a pursuit of consumption pleasures. But it seems there is third way, binary battles of artificial purposes.
I don’t want to be a casualty of someone’s binary war. I do not want to be a side in binary war. Where is my escape?
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