R Mistery book moving out of Univ --A fresh Non stereotypical perspective

Feedback sent to Bangalore Mirror on Sunday , Oct 24 , 2010 .

Rohinton's Mystery : Where is the balance

A lot has been dished out , almost every day on the subject ; though all on predictably similar lines .... which seems ( to the opinion holders as ) intellectual ; certainly ' politically correct ' . Unfortunately , while the theory of what is being said seems correct ; its validity is primarily confined to the opinion holders ; as usual it lacks flavour from the ground ; is out of depth & mostly irrelevant , as usual  !
Rather than taking on face value , these words of ' condemning ' a ban & upholding ' intellectual freedom ' ; lets get some perspective , add depth to the ( boringly one track ) discussion & in the process try & restore some balance : Consider following points :

# Discussions based not on issue but Hatred

Many times opinions on supporting ' intellectual freedom ' ; like in this case are of           ' generic ' nature ( hence are repetitive & add no value to the reader ) ; they are uninformed ( again in case of Mistry's book ) , it'd be interesting to know as to how many of the opinion voicers have read the book . There was hardly any one ( close to zero ) in the ill advising coterie of Rajiv Gandhi who compelled him to order a ban on Satanic Verses , who had actually seen ( forget reading ) the book , In this case too not a single soul seems to have read the book , as apart from seeing ' generic ' frustrations about the ban ; I see no discussions on the content of the book . There is no harm in having a theoretical opinion on freedom of speech -- that hardly requires any intelligence ; it's required to review & ascertain suitability of the book on its content . The discussion / opinion therefore is devoid of an ' issue ' ; it seems probably to be driven by personal bias / prejudice against an organisation / political party ( in this case Shiv Sena / related parties ) This does not make a wrong a right or does not extend support to that organisation . It only means that devoid of merit , it's the personal agenda of anger / hatred of those expressing opinion ( that how much people who do not identify with Maharashtrian ethos , hate Shiv Sena , is no secret )  

Only opinion which seemed to carry value was that of Mr Munagekar -- ex VC of Mumbai University ; who in no uncertain terms expressed his support for freedom of expression --- he has taken efforts to read the book ; in his opinion the language used by Mistry seems to be objectionable , personally abusive & therefore questionable whether we should choose such books for our students .

It's become convenient for many of us to use any such events as ' ripe ' opportunity to grind a political axe ; just as meaninglessly our political parties politicise everything to suit individual party agenda .

# Acid test of  ' Freedom of expression '

It's very easy to criticise any one else's action ; being outside of the arena ; just like it's easy to criticise & advise Sachin Tendulkar on ( if at all he makes any ) his mistake .. it's quite a different matter to be out there & face the ball !

It's very easy to stand up for ' freedom of expression '  as long as the filth is not heaped at us . Most of these staunch looking castles of freedom crumble when the ' defamation ' is directed at them .

It takes neither intelligence nor courage to criticise people who asked for banning Satanic verses or Mistry's book ; when this filth of abuse knocks at their own doors , they become equally weak in the knees ... lets check it out

 - ( Not that we should ) but are we allowed in this country to criticise Mahatma Gandhi , in the name of freedom of expression ? Not only those politicians who have devalued Gandhiji by making him into ( only ) a repeatedly encashable cheque ; but may of us from the crowd will pounce at any one who they see as defaming him

 - Try criticising Dr Ambedkar , even for what may be logical reasons ... would his followers keep quiet & hail freedom of expression

 - Does not Congress party pounce on anything remotely disrespectful to its ruling Dynasty

 - Sikhs vandalised cinema theatres on release of the movie Jo bole so nihal , even though there did not appear any thing objectionable ; Harbhajan singh was ' ordered ' against the ad he did with his open hair . Person of the stature of Sania Mirza was ' disciplined ' by the fundamentalists on her dress code (?) on tennis court --- where is the Freedom of expression ?

Bashing of Sena calling it narrow minded for representing Maharashtrian interests is passé ; on the contrary the most parochial linguistic politics , filled with hatred one has seen in this country is Dravidian politics ... for decades it's fed on one solitary issue of linguistic isolation , fuelling separatism & cultivating hatred v/s Hindi ..... where is the freedom of expression & where are those upholders of freedom

Even in this case , Mistry is certainly not a champion of freedom of expression ... try publishing any matter on his parent , possibly ( may be imaginary ) on some fraud or sexual adultery & see how he comes forward to uphold freedom of expression .

The point is that it's quite OK to advise poor people on morality & virtues when you are well fed ; acid test is what will you do when you are in those shoes .

I can bet my last rupee on a fact that most of us will fail Acid test on freedom of speech when it comes to respective individual to face ( true or otherwise ) the filth directed against us . It's very easy to advise ' logically ' a victim of rape -- try doing that when the victim is you or one very close to you .

It's also very insensitive to not understand the pain / grief of people who have been the target of abuse / filth . One may not agree with them & may certainly not agree with their manner of protest , but can at least make an attempt to empathise with people who are facing the abuse .

# Freedom is NEVER absolute ; it's always in a frame of reference

There is no freedom , no where in the world , any time in history which is ' Absolute ' . It always has a ' framework ' defined by political / social / cultural / religious thoughts . This is simply because someone's right to freedom can not be abused / misused to encroach on some one else's freedom to peace & privacy .... there is otherwise a clash of Rights to Freedom .Consider this :

Why do we have traffic signals on the road ; it's obviously against our freedom to drive our car on road anywhere in a free democratic country ..... Reason we have traffic signals is because some of us may not exercise caution / discipline to respect some one else's right also to be on the road at the same time ... just imagine what will happen if we remove all signals overnight . Therefore our freedom to use roads comes within a defined framework of traffic rules

Freedom is like a sharp edged sword ; can be killing any one falling over ; unless provided with a cover . Freedom is like the ' Shivdhanushya ' .... it takes a lot of maturity & responsibility to handle .... unlike Lord Raam , not most of us can handle an ' unbounded ' freedom ; Freedom can be like a powerful but wild horse unless tamed with the reins most of us common folk can not ride it . .... moral of the story is that to be able to guarantee free but peaceful use of ' Right to freedom ' to a majority ; it needs to be put into a framework . One may debate & not agree on what should be the framework & who should do it ; though there seems little doubt & less choice that in the interest of freedom it is always relative & never absolute .

Freedom to expression in the literary world also not unbound or ' unchecked ' . Rohinton Mistry's book can be no exception