FootInMouthitis

The past few days have yielded so many instances of this disease, which like any other, is never contracted willfully, but is "floating in the air" and afflicts the unsuspecting intellectual, who, fooled by his illusory fundamental right to free speech, shoots off his opinion like an arrow, but realizes a little too late that the arrow has rather incredibly transformed itself into a boomerang, and made its way to through the dirtiest of filth before coming back to smack the deliverer right on the face. As with any other disease, the virus needs a carrier to survive - someone who can carry it safely without getting afflicted themselves. And our media plays this role to perfection so that in the rare event the public decides to keep their mouth shut to avoid infection, the media promptly eggs them on.

I see no other conceivable explanation for the likes of Mukesh Ambani, SRK, Aamir, PC voicing their opinions on the Mumbai issue and the IPL. What seems is not what actually is. Pak players were kept out of the auction doesnt imply that the cricket-loving public in general, and the teams in particular, dont want them to play in India. There were clearly other considerations, which would be abundantly clear to even a 10-year old. Same goes for Mr. Ambani and PC on the Mumbai issue. With or without your endorsement, Mumbai will be for all Indians. So why provide fodder? George Barnard Shaw has shown us the cure, "I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides the pig likes it."

It is in this light that Omar Abdullah made a remarkable comment. On an TV debate about whether Pak is doing enough in prosecuting 26/11 suspects, and how dare the Pak PM say he cannot guarantee that another such attack will not happen - which our media promptly twisted to mean he will personally ensure another such attack while conveniently ignoring that our own government has made no promises to protect us from such attacks - Mr. Abdullah simply said that we should stop talking "at" one another and start talking "to" each another. On the popular opinion of not resuming dialog with Pak until something material is done to prosecute the perpetrators of 26/11, Mr. Abdullah acknowledged the slow progress and was saddened himself, but also pointed out that dialog is the only way to arrive at any sort of resolution. And he rubbed it in for the anchor and other panelists when he offered to happily drop the dialog option if they could show him any other way to break the impasse.

I must say that I do find it hilarious in a perverse sort of way that we must blame Pak for dragging its feet whereas our own judicial system is hardly lightning fast in prosecuting Kasab against whom we supposedly have a water-tight case - with CCTV camera evidence no less. And Kasab is having a good time replying in Marathi monosyllables and claiming he was falsely implicated. For some, this is testimony to the sanctity of our judicial system, for it gives even a traitor a chance of fair trial. But if the Pak courts insist on irrefutable evidence, well, they are just stonewalling the whole thing. To me, its the case of people living in glass houses throwing stones at others.