Over the last month, I have come to realize that 'peace' in India can be a very fickle state of existence. In a country with more than a billion people with a million identities of religion, caste and creed each, fault lines can be exposed with the slightest scratch on the surface. It also makes me marvel sometimes at the chaotic fabric of society in India - perhaps chaos is the equilibrium state of this country and its people. I do not mean that to be derogatory - it is merely my assessment of our reality and perhaps something that is essential to appreciate before anyone can set about understanding, surviving in and even attempting to govern this country.
The speed with which hatred and violence spreads in India never ceases to amaze me. In the case of the recent episodes of violence in the North East, followed by the exodus of people ethnic to the North Eastern region from some major cities in India, technology became a medium for perpetrating hatred and fear. I believe that at the center of the process of creating such mass hysteria, lies the inherent gullibility of the Indian mind. You need only look at the number of 'chain emails' that regularly spam your inbox to figure out the very minimal levels of discretion that Indians exercise before passing on a viral message.
What is surprising, and to some extent disturbing, is that I have more than occasionally seen otherwise sane, 'educated' people falling prey to such instances of hysteria. The same goes for people 'sharing' meaningless viral messages on facebook - it takes almost nothing to get the most rational Indians to begin 'sharing' hateful, derogatory and frankly absurd ideas on social media. People deride and personally attack politicians, celebrities, sportsmen, countries, races and religions at the drop of a hat. They do not think twice before participating in the process of creating 'popular delusions' (a phrase that I shall borrow from the title of a brilliant and very topical book: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds).
To cite an (admittedly tangentially related) instance, when the government sharply hiked prices of petrol a few months ago, I saw even some of the most intelligent and economically literate friends of mine crying foul on social media. As if low fuel prices, even in the face of global spikes in crude, is a birthright of every citizen in this country. Bafflingly, some of the people most actively deriding the price hike by 'sharing' the most number of such facebook messages/jokes/pictures did not even own vehicles of their own. At the heart of such behaviour lies a tendency to let the mob think for you. It has happened so frequently in this country that it is almost disturbing how we can lay claim to being part of a civilized society - the Godhra riots, the Babri mosque demolition, Delhi's anti-Sikh riots, a mob molesting a teenager in Guwahati; all of these are instances of the worst kind of mob behaviour in Indian society.
I think understanding the basic nature of the Indian socio-cultural make-up will serve any individual/government well before an attempt to censor or regulate online media is made. Even if the internet is sparingly used by the most affluent few millions out of a billion odd people, sometimes the social structures that they are part of and the identities that they represent remain largely the same as the teeming masses of the most backward hinterlands. Consumption patterns and the adoption of pseudo-liberal urban mannerisms does not change the biases, delusions and hysterias that are deeply ingrained in our multidimensional identities. Addressing these regressive tendencies should be as much an integral part of the agenda for the 'development' of modern India. Economic progress without the concomitant liberalisation of ideas and cultures is meaningless and to some extent dangerous. We are in the midst of a fragile peace that needs to be buttressed with stronger foundations, lest we should relapse into the chaos that is ingrained in our social DNA.
The speed with which hatred and violence spreads in India never ceases to amaze me. In the case of the recent episodes of violence in the North East, followed by the exodus of people ethnic to the North Eastern region from some major cities in India, technology became a medium for perpetrating hatred and fear. I believe that at the center of the process of creating such mass hysteria, lies the inherent gullibility of the Indian mind. You need only look at the number of 'chain emails' that regularly spam your inbox to figure out the very minimal levels of discretion that Indians exercise before passing on a viral message.
What is surprising, and to some extent disturbing, is that I have more than occasionally seen otherwise sane, 'educated' people falling prey to such instances of hysteria. The same goes for people 'sharing' meaningless viral messages on facebook - it takes almost nothing to get the most rational Indians to begin 'sharing' hateful, derogatory and frankly absurd ideas on social media. People deride and personally attack politicians, celebrities, sportsmen, countries, races and religions at the drop of a hat. They do not think twice before participating in the process of creating 'popular delusions' (a phrase that I shall borrow from the title of a brilliant and very topical book: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds).
To cite an (admittedly tangentially related) instance, when the government sharply hiked prices of petrol a few months ago, I saw even some of the most intelligent and economically literate friends of mine crying foul on social media. As if low fuel prices, even in the face of global spikes in crude, is a birthright of every citizen in this country. Bafflingly, some of the people most actively deriding the price hike by 'sharing' the most number of such facebook messages/jokes/pictures did not even own vehicles of their own. At the heart of such behaviour lies a tendency to let the mob think for you. It has happened so frequently in this country that it is almost disturbing how we can lay claim to being part of a civilized society - the Godhra riots, the Babri mosque demolition, Delhi's anti-Sikh riots, a mob molesting a teenager in Guwahati; all of these are instances of the worst kind of mob behaviour in Indian society.
I think understanding the basic nature of the Indian socio-cultural make-up will serve any individual/government well before an attempt to censor or regulate online media is made. Even if the internet is sparingly used by the most affluent few millions out of a billion odd people, sometimes the social structures that they are part of and the identities that they represent remain largely the same as the teeming masses of the most backward hinterlands. Consumption patterns and the adoption of pseudo-liberal urban mannerisms does not change the biases, delusions and hysterias that are deeply ingrained in our multidimensional identities. Addressing these regressive tendencies should be as much an integral part of the agenda for the 'development' of modern India. Economic progress without the concomitant liberalisation of ideas and cultures is meaningless and to some extent dangerous. We are in the midst of a fragile peace that needs to be buttressed with stronger foundations, lest we should relapse into the chaos that is ingrained in our social DNA.
