To be or not to be...

 To be or not to be. That was Hamlet's dilemma. Why have I quoted it in the title of the blog today? Well, because I want to add a word to it. In my version, that quote should get re-written as "to be or not to be... straightforward".

In the world today, indeed it is a big issue. Being clean, being straightforward, being genuine, being sincere is considered being stupid today. A good person is now considered unfashionably foolish. 

Undoubtedly, even earlier such a version of reality sure would be there, but the percentage would be much lower. Why, look at the mythology which is in a way the bedrock of the imaginary, of the identity of a community, of a nation. In The Mahabharata, Dharmaraj, Bheem and Arjun, the comparatively more famous Pandava's, for instance, were felicitated for their ideal conduct. Nobody mocked them as "poor thing", and none glorified Duryodhana, why not even Karna!

Now a days, if someone manages that, too, somehow, to get you something that you absolutely do not deserve, not only would you lick any organ offered, why, you would for such a person kill an innocent, if not physically, at least reputation wise! And you are up to all such tricks out of fear of exposure, of losing the goodies not deserved,  but surely not out of any loyalty for anyone. 

Currently, the more twisted, the more wicked, the meaner you are, you are socially more acceptable. Why, look at how film after film, the negative characters, the quirky issues are glorified. As a film critic and a journalist, i did long time ago write about the Ram Gopal Verma films which in a watershed way institutionalised such a pattern. 

Well, i do not mean that instead of dealing with the negativities, they should be pushed under the carpet. Not at all. Why though the desparate need to completely ignore the positive? Look at the media circus for the last week or so. It is about the gruesome murder in a nauseating way.

In the meanwhile, so many positive wonderful things have happened. But all these are pushed back, and some gruesome story and theories about it hog the headlines the whole day. Even when one does feel sympathy for the lady who died horribly, one wonders why she did not walk out, given the fact that she was so very modern and bold! Why did not her friends, who are now sobbing and sighing, help her out then? The entire saga is sheer fictionalising a horrid crime. 

Why do we as a society scandalise in an extreme negative way Everything? Why are we mad after empty glamour? Why do film stars (whose actual contribution to film making would be just two per cent) and self centred sportspeople, especially cricketers, appear role models to stupid youngsters? Let us not mention certain politicians and their antics! In a way, it could be due to the AV media, accessible in the drawing room itself and gobbled up by the ladies in the family in the company of their brood. If an impressionable child grows up watching weird stupid films/serials and silly cartoons, what else to expect?

Sad but sick! Hence the titular query because the moment such versions of reality overtake all that is finer, whatever perspective you might choose to analyse it from, for sure such a decadent society full of mindless individuals is just a step away from imploding self destruction.  Then none would require to ask the Hamlet question! That would be the perfect solution and the only consolation!

Pratima@Yes, paradigm shifts constantly cause tremors. Why allow them to destroy?!? Hence this red flag of a blog!