Vinaasa kaale…

A few months back M S Subbulakshmi, one of the legends that our earlier generations grew up worshipping, passed away. The next day morning none of the newspapers, save for one, bothered to give the lady her much deserved space on front page. The more I think of this, and many similar events, the more am I reminded of a novel by Ayn Rand: “Atlas Shrugged”. I had, to be more honest- tried to, read it a few years back and had found the plot interesting till the last few pages, where the author went into a lengthy harangue on the topic: “existence exists”. Though I could not last the uncalled for verbosity of the author, I had to agree with the author’s tirade against the celebration of mediocrity that has become the norm in our present society.

 

As Carl Sagan rightly pointed out, ours is a world where most of the population is addicted to the technological developments, all the while not understanding how a light bulb works! We can’t live without a minute of television, but consider those who made flat-screen monitors as ‘queer’.

 

We have come to be comfortable while sneering at perfection, and those who strive for it. More articles can be found discussing, at great lengths, the superficial flaws in the batting of Sachin Tendulkar and the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, than on possible suggestions to improve the team that they form. People too take more pleasure in reading about the degeneration of the rich and famous, than about those great people who make things work. Are we witnessing the ‘dumbing-down’ of human race in general?

 

There was an age when we worshipped legends; now all we are interested in is imperfect individuals, in an attempt to defend our own degradation. ‘M S’ meant something divine earlier, now it only means a B-grade movie actress who confuses acting with stripping! We can be no better than what we admire and emulate. No wonder, ours has become a society that romanticizes an Osama and imprisons a Sankaracharya!