Over the phone two acquaintances from Delhi tell me about the happenings in JNU: one says the government has no business to stifle students’ voices, the other says students should get involved in politics after their studying years are over. And no one’s discovered (anywhere) a method to gag a politician…yet. And no one’s being gagged (in India) for saying so…yet. I hear friends discuss how such-and-such politician hasn’t kept his/her word and is so-o corrupt. In a democracy, all PoVs should be heard, even absurd/irresponsible ones. If she’s been gagged, she should be un-gagged immediately. All they need to do is check with her how to sort out complicated political stuff and convince the powers that rule, and the powers that divide, and some violence-happy guys, and make peace prevail. Those who do professional courses and put themselves at risk on crazy heights in miserable weather are wasting their time. The author should pronto be made a starred general. I read some old opinions on military affairs in Kashmir and naxal-territory written by a novelist. Methinks, some form of gagging would be a good idea. To switch channels, one has to choose between insane yelling, vigorous hyperventilation and boredom, with program-repeats every couple of hours. Those voices have been unchanged for years and unchanging in their ways, ruled by the advertisers, day after day, 24-hours/day. Familiar faces shout out of my television screen in decibels whose vibrations scared away the two-metre monitor lizard that was sunning itself in our compound last week. As are locals and tourists alike, regarding disposal of plastic bags, sanitary napkins, biscuit-wrappers, banana peels, half-eaten wada-paavs, etc. Taxi-drivers/owners and passengers are both cribbing loud and clear. I narrow my search in the newspaper for ‘public transport’ and ‘garbage’ headlines, my areas of interest these days. Post after post tells me India’s being gagged. I sit in a corner, in my end-of-the-road house in a non-descript village, surrounded by jungle, away from sand, surf and tourists. The internet in general and Facebook in particular are my link with the real world. For the last couple of days, I’ve been reading all over Facebook about how people are being gagged by the government.
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