The art of forgetting….By Pritish Nandy

A brilliant post from Mr Nandy…

The last week proved, yet again, how short our memory is. Everything heals, everything changes with time. Even the biggest traumas are wiped out by new events and, sometimes, even new traumas. So much so that what obsessed us just a couple of years or months or even weeks back is so suddenly erased from our consciousness that it looks like the entire nation has struck the delete button at the same time. Sometimes it’s sad. But often it’s great. It shows us that India has really taken yoga to heart and can leave behind its anger, outrage, rancour and move on. I guess that’s why we are such a great nation.

Let’s look at the CWG. The hatred against the British that fuelled our freedom struggle has long vanished. Today we celebrate the Games as friends. If we do well and win many medals, we will see that as a befitting reply to history. We have forgotten the Black Hole tragedy, the Jalianwala Bagh massacre. Frankly, I can’t even remember the rest. I would much rather remember the trains, the post offices, the schools and colleges, the gothic churches, the art deco architecture that the British left behind, and their biggest contribution, the English language that has opened us up so quickly to the modern world, to science and technology, the global economy. We never struggled like the Chinese to integrate with others. English provided us the perfect tool, even though Mulayam Singh may not agree.

But that took sixty years. Now look at the Ayodhya verdict. Even before it was announced, everyone knew that whatever it would be, the new India had moved on, beyond Ayodhya. The elaborate security was only to ensure that no political party would misuse the verdict to stoke mischief. In less than two decades, both Hindus and Muslims have set aside the contentious issue that killed thousands of men, women and children in a maelstrom of violence they had nothing to do with. What began as a political tamasha, the rath yatra, masquerading as an issue of national pride soon snowballed into a terrible human tragedy. Despite all efforts of the BJP to keep it alive, the debate is now dead. Everyone, particularly the young, yearn for peace and pragati today.

But why talk of centuries and decades? I bet once the Games are over, all this hysteria over the most corrupt and shameful event in recent history, will be promptly forgotten. If Kalmadi braves out the next few days and survives, there’s no reason to believe he will ever get the boot. A rap on the knuckles, perhaps. The boos he got during the opening ceremony will be seen as adequate punishment for his huge heist. If Ramalinga Raju can get away so easily, why would we make such an effort to remember Kalmadi’s indiscretions? Even RR Patil’s back as Maharashtra’s Home Minister despite 26/11. Only Vilasrao remains to be restored as CM but he’s in no hurry. He has a comfortable berth in the Centre to while away his time.

That our collective memory’s getting shorter and shorter is best exemplified by the fact that the Pakistani contingent at the Games got the biggest ovation after the Indians. It must have amazed the whole world that while we speak so bitterly against Pakistan on every international platform for destabilising Kashmir and exporting terrorism to India we still love their sportspeople so much, their actors, their singers, even their Page 3 people, two of whom got a rousing welcome last weekend when they entered Bigg Boss. One, a cross dresser who runs a chat show on Pakistani TV. The other, a kiss and tell artiste who has embarrassed her former lover, cricketer Mohammad Asif by alleging she knew all about his dirty match fixing ways even as she cuddled with him under the blanket. Pakistani pop star Ali Zafar not only had a hit in Tere bin Laden but has also been signed on by Yashraj to make more films in a city where the Sena and MNS rule the roads. Adnan Sami happily lives here, in a flat with two squabbling wives.

But the most telling example is the box office. Kismet ruled it for 30 years. Then came Sholay in 1975. DDLJ could challenge it only after 20 years. In 5 years Gadar took it on. Singh is Kingg was just about to stake its claim when Ghajini came 2 months later, knocked it off its perch. Then came Three Idiots a year later to break all records. Only to have Dabangg challenge it 8 months later. And now, in 3 weeks, Rajnikanth has walked off with it all. Proves how ephemeral all success is too.

Are you now surprised why Mein Kampf outsells My Experiments with Truth in the land of the Mahatma or why a nation that once hated Azharuddin should vote him back as a MP? What about the four wrestlers and the two athletes who failed the CWG dope test last month? Aren’t they all back in our contingent?