Nice song from a movie I had liked

Dhani Harrison & Paul Hicks - Going To The Country (from Learning to Drive OST)

A case against burning ManuSmriti (or any other book for that matter)

A few days ago I read the news that some students in JNU had burnt a copy (or rather a selection of 40 verses) of the text titled ManuSmriti. A student leader said - We essentially got printouts of around 40 verses from the text that we feel had extremely derogatory references against women and burnt them. Today is International Women's Day we thought this was the day when we should burn this text that contains highly derogatory remarks against women. By burning Manusmriti, we are burning discrimination.

I have not read the book in question neither do I know anyone in my social circle who has read it. According to Wikipedia it was used to formulate the Hindu law by the colonial government, so I assume it was held in high regards in those times.

After I read the news my immediate thoughts were – wait a second. Isn’t this an attack on free speech? Isn’t that what regressive groups and governments do? Try to ban books and burn libraries? How are these supposedly liberal students burning a book? I thought books were not meant to be burnt, even those who spread ideology that we oppose.

On further discussion with a friend it became clear to me that in this case it is not an attack on free speech. One might argue that burning Manusmriti is different from burning a library. There are many copies available, so it is not as if someone else will not have an access to it if someone burns their private copy.

A book is nothing but a physical form of someone’s thoughts/arguments. If we don’t like it, why read it! Why get angry reading something that we don’t like?

But let’s suppose that such a regressive book is followed by a large number of people. So it becomes important to not ignore it, but to spread awareness about the ill effects of book’s message. The best way to negate a book’s arguments is to engage in an dialog with the author. Now, Mr. Manu has been dead since hundreds of years, so that’s not possible. Next best option would be to argue with those people who hold the book in high regards.

One can also write another book, quoting problematic verses from Manusmriti and educate people about how it would be wrong if those verses were to be followed. One can give public speeches; write articles ... so on and so forth. I believe that many rational minded people have taken these routes.

Why then there is a need to burn a book?

People who follow the customs mentioned in the book, will not change their viewpoints just because someone else burned it. People who haven’t even read the book (but still follow its ideology) will not care, because they don’t even know that the book is supposed to be important!

What message does then burning of a book sends out?

I think, burning a book only tells us one thing. Those people who burnt it are angry with its content and do not know how to give a voice to that anger. They don’t want to engage in a constructive argument. 

They think burning a few pages is enough to destruct thoughts. But they don’t know that an idea is more powerful than its physical form. Even if all the copies of Manusmriti were to be burnt, it will not make any difference in today’s India. People learn their “culture” from their parents and nearby social circle, and that knowledge gets passed on without reading anything.

There is another reason why thinking people should not burn books. It is because it gives an excuse to people from opposing ideology to burn books they don’t like. It sets a bad precedent in public discourse. Any group of people can burn any book – and say that we have destroyed it because we don’t like it. It gives people an excuse to not engage in a debate or dialog and just destroy whatever they don’t like.

A book in itself is more than its message. As a historical document It also tells us about the dominant viewpoints in a particular period of time. It tells us about the usage of language in those times. It tells us more than even the authors intended. I have been raised in an environment where even touching a book (even if it’s a film magazine!) with feet is considered ill-mannered. May be it’s childish but it feels painful that people don’t have respect for books and just burn it.

In my opinion, as a form of protest it is completely outdated to burn books. From an environmental point of view I would suggest people to delete PDF copies of Manusmriti on their computer instead. They can delete it as many times as they want without creating any pollution! So how about showing your anger through a simple Linux command ? :)

rm –rfv ManuSmriti.pdf

Thoughts on frequent army references in public talk

I read this news article You enjoy freedom of expression only because army guards borders: Delhi HC to Kanhaiya Kumar and was wondering if Sunny Deol was a judge in Delhi High Court.

'You enjoy freedom of expression only because army guards borders'

Sure. That logic can be applied to any situation -

The lawyers who beat people in court premises - enjoy their freedom to beat others - because army guards borders.

Netas can freely do corruption - because army guards borders.

People can burn buses and demand reservation - because army guards borders.

See - how rediculous it sounds?

These days there seems to be a tendency among people to connect each and every event with Army and Jawans. Why is there a need to bring in army in any argument is beond me. Army does not give us freedom, the constitution does. Army plays a vital role, but my freedom does not come from army. In fact, Gandhi helped us win freedom, without an army! Even if we lived in a state where army lost wars (in which case I hope everyone who can, joins army) we would still have freedom of expression. Sure, we will then have to fight for it much *much* harder (lazily posting on facebook or writing blogposts is not enough), but we will still have it.

 People often say - don't say anything that may demoralize army personnel. Well - is there a *need* to say anything? Our newspapers are depressing enough already. I salute all jawans who read our newspapers and don't get demoralized as it is.