A vent in the Delirium

Rumor by weight is a very light object to lift, fairly easy to pass around, but very difficult to put back again. In a recent chain of events in Muzaffarnagar (a town situated 130 kms from Delhi) what started off as an episode of harassment of a Hindu girl, fed by retaliation from the girl's brothers culminated as a full fledged communal riot. An event  well orchestrated by the political parties to suit their vested interests in which, according to official records, 48 unfortunate people have died. What was achieved? What purpose it served? Which side ‘won’? These are the questions which will never be answered. What we can be certain about is that all those who have died from both communities were poor people, too weak to defend themselves. People who lived in slums were easy targets for a maniac mob advancing with grievous steps towards them. Whenever there is a brawl, even the strongest of oppressor looks for the weakest of adversary to prove his mettle .No David d...

Nathaniel Hawthorne from the book The Scarlet Letter remarked, “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”   We all wear masks. We pretend to become the person, the people around us will like. It is said that we display our true self when we are under a guise. What if it’s the other way around? What if the disguise is a way to mask our true feelings? How many of us want any of us to see us as we really are? We become the person that the others want us to see. Taking the popular scenario when friends and strangers come visiting.. What do we do? Straighten the cushions, kick the books under the bed and put away the letter you were writing?  We put on our social face . During all this, we forget to be the real us. In fact we forget whether we have a real self at all since we are constantly playing different roles and responsibilities. That is why “Tell m...