“Why is it that one can be proud about their country, their language, but not about their caste? Everything is about labelling people. If its a country you are patriot, for language you are a patron but for caste you are a fanatic… Fucking hypocrisy”…
– Dialogues from Tamil movie Super Deluxe.
I have to admit that this is the first Tamil movie I saw in its language and I was blown away… There are scenes and dialogues that are peppered throughout the movie that are thought provoking… And the movie is also very entertaining and gripping…
When I heard the above dialogues… There was an instant recognition that this one was a gem of a thought that I had to ponder about… But later as the movie didn’t even pause for creating an impact… Its just said as a matter of normal fact…
And so I was thinking… Why is there is the difference…
Is there a merit in being proud, protective, advertising and living for anything?
I guess there needs to be something of core values to live by else without a set system giving the guiding principles, life would just be rudimentary and animalistic… Our evolved minds who do not have the pains of thinking of security be it for body, food or mind… Needs a purpose and rules to live by else we become self and society destructive…
Ok…
Pride? The reason there to also probably stems from the fact that for us to continue believing in something it needs to feel of value… Our mind else just throws it away and chases alternatives perennially… So instilled pride gives anything we hold a mental value… A possession that we have to believe is cherished… And if its really different than it one does not need efforts to instill pride… But as it is with most of the things in nature and life… Nothing is permanent and goes through ups and downs and changes… But for us to continue holding anything in value we have to manufacture pride…
And hence once we instill pride, we also become protective as it has value…
But why advertise… One can argue for a need to live by something… The need to manifest pride in it to continue with it… But live with it by yourself… Why publicise and project it on others…
Guess we are social animals and existing in isolation is not living for us… Mere existence where almost all of us will find no value… Hence its not only imperative that we have our code of ethics and value system… But we need to have others as well who will follow the same… And hence the advertisement… To ensure we have many of our kind…
Most of our human history has been about us as a species first exerting our power in overcoming nature and other animals… And once achieved, then to influence ones set of values in terms of religion or market nature, economy or race or anything related within our own kind… They have been stories acting as an unifier for a subsection while dividing a differentiating against the others… Its an irony…
We need to live with our kind… But we also need to differentiate and need an enemy of sorts… For we need to have a purpose and this gives our kind one right now…
Anyways… So ok… We need something to live by and for… And hence for that we need to be proud of it… And protective… and since we cannot stay alone and need people of same system, we advertise…
But then why not caste? Why by not race? Why by language or by nation?
A nation has a clear constitution… And if by god it’s a democracy there is a face of choice to the people to choose it and amend it… So there is clarity, some rational and maybe a facade of choice to the masses…
A language has history… Has a medium via which people can connect and express and be understood… It evolves and binds everyone as time goes on… it is closely associated with lifestyle and culture…
So you see there are solid basis for them…
But for caste? Wouldn’t the arguments of shared culture, value system, way of life etc, etc be true here as well…
Caste is a subsect or derives its values from a bigger pool of religion… Religion by itself gives a huge set of principles and purpose… If religion is accepted as a fair basis, caste is only its narrowed but focused child…
Religion – its an interesting case… Its the biggest set of stories we have weaved in our minds so far to give ourselves meaning and purpose… And so far nothing else has come close to be able to cover as many aspects our mind and intellect as it has… No other alternative modern theory has covered us pyschologically, physically, rationally, spiritually, etc etc as much as religion has been able to encompass…
That is also because religion has a head start of 5000 years… Maybe the next 500 might change things altogether as we change the nature or our being as well…
Anyways… Fundamentally its so true…
We are in a way narrowing ourselves with this defined systems… Be it nation, language, religion or caste… A channel on a river bed provides direction… But it also binds and restricts… Its that bondage that gives direction actually…
Cannot have both… Its part and parcel of the thing… Like you cannot expect a child to be innocent and mature at the same time… Cannot chose to have day but not night… Life but not death…
Fundamentalism, Fascism / ultra-nationalism… They are all offshoots of the same pride in religion or a nation…
And without digressing too much, coming back to the main story…
True… It is hypocrisy if one accepts national pride or language pride but ridicules caste or religion based pride… Its the extent in any that one needs to question not the basis…
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