Skip to main content

The great unifier

Nothing unites us like a common enemy. Think about it, and a great deal of truth about human existence comes forward. Two individuals, who may hardly be in good terms often come together once they get a common enemy. Long ago it was the Britishers on our soil which united the much divided people of this country against them. Much before than, in times of monarchy it was the enemies of the kingdom which kept the flock together. Thousands of years ago, it was the nature and the wildlife which kept the humans together.

Why only humans? Take the case of animals like deer in the forest that often stay together for there is a fear of being hunted by some bigger enemy like a lion or a tiger. There might be some cohesiveness because of similarities among themselves but it becomes secondary given the fear of something bigger, something that threatens the basic existence.

This common enemy factor may be of different magnitudes, in different shapes and sizes. It might be a big movement or something or something small in day to day lives. It might just be about that annoying neighbor, the big boss in the office or that person in the society who is a big time hypocrite and even, some elements in the system or something much larger - of the likes that can trigger political movements! In social circles, in tea parties, over a coffee table, over a few drinks, in a chit chat over a phone call most of the casual conversation often veers towards one topic - it is about people, and often about the things they don't like about them. It is talk about people and bitching about them that gives immense satisfaction and at times purpose and direction to life. For many, purpose of life is to be happy, and it is cribbing and bitching that gives this supreme sense of satisfaction. Maybe, this sense of loving to be against something is one of the fundamental human emotion, without which they will cease to exist

Take the case of politics. An age old principle of Divide & Rule has always been exploited to maximum by the political parties. When there are not any issues, then they have been created. If the issues were not that big, they have been made big so that it becomes easy to pull people together against some issue. One of the recent incidents can be the case of Varun Gandhi attempting to create a common 'enemy' to unite people. 'Uniting' people is in this case a euphemism for garnering votes. Same has been used in 2002 (Gujarat), 1992(Barbri Masjid), 1984 (general Elections). Similar rhetoric (but in much larger magnitude is being used by likes of Osama Bin Laden against western world and western world against Osama.

And this continues, and we stay divided, yet united against a set of common enemies.

If this is the case, will we ever be able to stand up together? Will we ever imagine that the world will be as one, as John Lennon said? Maybe, we would need some extra terrestrial attack to unify us! Or maybe, it can be nature which has been so much used and abused! Who knows! Let us just wait and watch and till then ... fight among ourselves!

Comments

Shop @ Amazon

Popular posts from this blog

We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented

(Disclaimer: I am NOT justifying any action or behavior. I am just speculating why people usually act so) _________________________________________________________ “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented” – The Truman Show (a 1998 movie starring Jim Carrey) The above line explains a great deal about why we hold on to some beliefs as gospel truths, and form our judgment about things and act in a specific pattern. This movie (which I feel is still quite under-rated!) had Jim Carrey, a person whose entire life had been a live, non-stop, unedited television show. He lived in a world which was completely artificial; everything, everyone knew that everything were fake. But the person was real. His emotions were real. He was conditioned to a certain realities of world, and believed in it. The makers of the show did not want to show him what the ‘actual’ world was. He was made not to want to explore the outside world, made to fear things that could have led him ...

8 Things ...

Tagged by Sheetal Here goes my various '8 things list' 8 Things I’m passionate about: 1. Movies [Watching, analyzing, related trivia, boring people with all useless related gyaan, movie trailers etc.] 2. Reading [Newspapers (especially editorials), fiction, nonfiction etc.] 3. Religion [Rather lack of it] 4. Food [I proudly proclaim that I live to eat] 5. Freedom 6. Bakar [ This includes cracking PJs] 7. Geography [as a child I used to read and analyze maps. I can still boast about being ‘awesome’ in this. In fact, some people have been surprised by the fact that I know lot about the places which might otherwise be relatively unheard of outside the region] 8. Staying connected [Includes chatting, blogging, random time pass on internet etc. I now access internet even while travelling in a bus, through my cellphone, something unthinkable few years ago!] 8 Things I want to do before I die: 1. Travel extensively across the world. 2. Write 2 books – 1 fiction and ...

Gunaho ka Devta

During last few days, I had a privilege of reading one of the most accomplished works in Hindi literature - "Gunaho ka Devta" . This was the first time I read a Hindi novel after being highly recommended by 2-3 different people. I was kind of compelled to read it after initial 15-20 pages which were largely in an unfamiliar territory of Hindi literature! It is a novel set probably more than 50 years ago, and is a philosophical cum love story. It is one of those books where I can't be sure about how I feel. It is an excellently written book ( ... or maybe it was the first time I was reading a Hindi book ... but probably this is not the explanation!) , with the entire spectrum of emotions thrown in generous doses. The scenes are recreated almost poetically, emotions mentioned perfectly. But at times I am tempted to question basic assumptions of it all. At times I am tempted to say that he is preaching many things which I don't believe in, which I find improper, but the...

Somewhere @ Nowhere - The Book

FINALLY .... After a tryst with so-called-creativity, I have come up with a book -  Somewhere @ Nowhere. You can have a sneak peek at the story & a few pages from the publisher's website and order the same & get it home delivered anywhere in India/ Abroad. Details as mentioned below- - Preview and get the book home delivered from HERE Also, you can join the following groups - - Orkut Community - Facebook Page Hope you like the work. Would appreciate a feedback. Till then ... Happy Reading!!! And yeah, please spread the word (relying on word of mouth & word of blog publicity) :-) ___ Update (18/02/2010) - Thanks for the initial response to the book :) Update2 (25/ 02/ 2010) - Thanks for the feedbacks on the book those who have read it. (hope to get a feedback by others soon). Encourages me to overcome inertia and write more! Meanwhile, those who ask for why is it currently not available in traditional retail outlets - well, I hope it wil...

Da Vinci code : The movie

Yet another weekend comes Yet another weekend is about to be squandered doing nothing ... But this time, I managed to watch a movie, the much awaited 'da vinci code'. Was quite disappointed when the controversies surrounding it managed to postpone the release of the movie by about a week. But this weekend, I managed to watch it - adding to the list of very few Hollywood movies I have seen. Having read the book, I was more excited to see the movie, and with Tom Hanks, The excitement was even more. So there I was, seated at a not-so-good-yet-expensive multiplex. I am making an assumption that most of the people who are watching the movie would have read the book. I may be wrong. Maybe, many of us old be tempted to believe the 'facts(???)' stated in the movie(in fact the book), we usually love what is spicy, especially if it is said with such conviction as in the book, where the demarcation between the 'fact' and 'fiction' are not exactly distinguishable. D...