Skip to main content

Let the games begin!

Career hazards are a part of every job. A lot of times, they make it worth the risk. If you manage to cross over, it's certainly worth it, and it makes trying (without succeeding) worth the effort. Politics, too, is a career. With the shuffle of people back and forth once they get into inner circles, it certainly isn't a vocation they just end up finding themselves lucky to do. It has prep and reward involved—all which any politician should feel guilty about as long they are doing their jobs.

And like every organisation and industry, there is competition, and not just the healthy type. Since the chances of them having a honourable merit-based in-organisation hierarchy in politics is low in India, there is  confrontation, which has now become the standard. It's like all politicians are trying their best to be champions in limbo (the game), outdoing one another when one sets a brand new low for inter-political and personal respect for colleagues and peers as humans—defamation, name calling, crass language... the list is long. There must be new methods being created right now that are not on the list. Politics can very well be a drunk weekend on the beach at The Bahamas*, like it's a good thing, when you're on the top of the pyramid and at the bottom.

Now, we all understand personal lines being crossed, that you shouldn't cross anywhere. Most of us usually keep work work and home home. Politicians still are courteous when they run into each other on the job, with a few extreme cases. But their keeping work-work soon comes with the mixing a little of home as well, for that extra leverage, and the cycle starts. They are still courteous when they run into each other on the job, while using the home attacks when best leveragable. And this isn't the recent norm. Anyone who was inspired to become a leader of the people knew that this was one of the likely hazards of the job.

So if there is a politician out there who does indeed recognise the perils of their field, they would be either very willing or weary to craft their own path with them. The last thing they should do is be surprised about them. Some even expect honourable discourse instead. Well, every bad bunch has a good bunch, and you can't generalise and justice to both. You'd think that all their experience from the bottom up would give them some spine, or just the rude shock would, by itself, but that's far from reality. Most of them are in a mid-state that they are not conscious of. The only thing they are conscious of is how much power they are heading towards. It's a never ending zombie walk unlike which you'll never see elsewhere.

Some of them really walk the talk. They either call it power play and openly play with power, or they do it with complete, sometimes innocent, sincerity, and take people in their stride. Some play the people. They pull out their crocodile tears and worst behaviour only when it helps them get even just a little closer to where they can be a part of the limbo celebration.

All we can do is to enjoy the games and hope we don't get swallowed up whole anywhere along the way. The only thing we know will get swallowed up whole is our hopes that only they can realise. Let the games, and amusement, go on!

P.S: Have you got your popcorn? While you enjoy the show, just make sure you remember to vote, and give the voice you support a shout out when you can. There just may be hope!

*In line with it being a famed island holiday destination that such a thing is likely. Can be substituted for any other favourite holiday destination.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sec 295(a): 295 reasons too many to take offense?

Pride before a fall, they say. The only thing they don't say is how long before the fall. Let's take a case in point. India prides itself on a lot of things. Among those are secularism and a rich & envied cultural history. We're well known for our food,  dance forms,  and indigenous sciences,  among a long list. But what about the pride this fame brings? Unfortunately,  all those who hope that the saying is true are right. It's what happened with Nupur Sharma, Munawwar Farruiqui, Mohammed Zubair and every person booked under IPC section 295A. All of these cases were filed by a random single individual and blossomed into nationwide movements. If the previous sentence doesn't call out the glaring faultline that this pride rests on, and makes it obvious, the next one will.  All it took for statements, addressing the expression of pride, by a free individual to be eligible to be counted as crime is for another such free individual, over-stuff...

Opt for the better political binary: Truth or Untruth

The world's going digital. Smart phones, AI, IT... practically everything is made easy, possible at the click of something, or at the very thought of it. It's all come down to 1's and 0's—as binary as binary can get. Sadly, this can turn into an bloody infestation where binaries don't belong, like politics. With its root beginnings themselves dubious enough, this is an added insult. This binary thinking makes us magnets who have to stick to only one side based on our polarity (which we apparently can't change). It's all involuntary, you see. It's always left vs. right, liberal vs. conservative, or capitalists vs. everybody else. Neither of two groups (whichever they be) recognise any ground in between. It's like a great abyss of death. Independent inquiry always makes you from the other side, depending on who's accusing you. You either play for the home team or the other team. One is wrong, the other right; one evil, the other p...

Long Live The Revolution!

During the last few days, you would have heard much sloganeering, thanks to the opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Bill and the almost proposed nationwide NRC. To those who choose a different political voice, it can be a big nuisance to the head and the ears but there is something eerily common about the Left-influenced big, loud, brash protest style, the opposite (seemingly) rational response to issues and the main stream in-power method of creating their solutions for the country. Though each style points to different preferences, they are all trying to do the same thing for the ones who practice them—use their voice and power for the end they want it to serve. The Left (and all associated and similar) is rooted in people movements among the lower strata of society. These people don't have a big say in matters of politics. In most recent history, power had eluded them. Their voice will seek to demand what they want when they themselves can't bring it about. Speaki...