Dangerous escalation

        Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold

        Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

        The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

        The ceremony of innocence is drowned    (The Second Coming by Yeats)

       World is spiraling precariously...of human stupidity, of patriarchy and feudal nurtured value systems that defines nation-state run by religion bartered market defined little egos. Unless humans are free individuals these will keep repeating.

Shadows

The burning trees

Share a kinship with me

There is a network of connection that I don’t recall

It goes back to communion in ocean.

It is another kind of presence

The movement in time of different scale.

I relearn.

I can no longer pretend I cannot vandalize

Conjure the shadows

Of all the dead trees

Arrange it on the hills and valleys

And wait for miracle.  

Need to urgently reevaluate capitalism

This is not a struggle for meaning in a neoliberal vandalized world. This also is not about alienation in a world devoid of ideological contestation or philosophical mooring. We have well passed quaint world of aesthetic nuances and liberal posturing. This is an urgent clarion call in fast changing debilitating reality of climate crisis. The life nurturing world as we know is collapsing around us. Ecosystems are losing resilience at an alarming rate. Biodiversity is vanishing. Biomass has had cataclysmic reduction. Every other day weather records are being broken across the world. We are in dire need for policy makers to attune to reality. The most significant issue that needs attention is understanding of ‘development’ and parameters that define it. We cannot have a model of progress that is eating away life (importantly words like development, progress, growth so on must mean what the definition intends). Humanity cannot be at the mercy of few corporate feudals and blackmailed for the survival of the economic system over its own survival. Influential economists must address this issue urgently and reevaluate framework of economic development and implement it at international institutions and agencies. There is a need for an international summit to reevaluate and redefine capitalism. Indeed in the context of things this seems more urgent than climate summits since it is compromised by these very concerns. This cannot go on. The elephant in the room is getting larger and is having debilitating impact on the world and is severely stretching poorer societies and vulnerable people. It is becoming a lost cause. Much of the world is incapable to respond although they may have better understanding. It is a systemic issue that has international control. It is pertinent to point here that capitalism and socialism are not mutually exclusive as is being made out to be by polarizing powerful narrations of market-controlled media particularly in low attention nurtured shallow and insular mainstream. There are solutions and sustainable interventions available. These need to be mainstreamed and synergized into policy making and institution. Too much is invested on the system, and we can still work it if it is urgently reevaluated and refined. Or else the climate catastrophe will break it down with severe consequences. We are at an unprecedented crossroad. Human beings with their flawed understanding have created systems that is leading to collapse of everything that is valued. Ticking clock is getting louder. This blip on geological time scale is facing its reckoning that universe is least bothered about. Unlike insignificant humans universe has that luxury.             

 

Hooliganism to the fore

 

It was expected that Hindutva works the benign aspect of religion -that in itself is deeply troubling context, as opposed to vandalism by Castetva forces over the decades. Castetva cleverly played on to western narration with adept working of semantics and devious posturing as liberals. West -with recent angst over colonialism, and feudal compromised Britain, desperately seeking lowest denominator for redemption reckoning found these posturers worth cultivating. Hindutva is a necessary revolt and a closer association to reality of this society, and as it is turning out to be, a deeply contaminated one lacking humanistic concern and scraping worst of religion. Nevertheless despite these serious unraveling -and cannot be isolated from what is happening across the world, it is a necessary evolution over castetva -which surely has no place as central role in society.

This astha pastha nonsense has gone too far, and has potential to severely damage the society -which in itself is primitive. Milk is produced by cows and buffaloes for its calf, definitely not for human consumption (centrality of human is an infection of most religions) so to ‘steal’ it and work it as ‘pure’ is morally flawed. So, this angst for purity is a mental illness, an infection of soul. The issue here is contamination of food. Corruption and greed sought cheaper options. And the cheaper it gets worst it becomes. And so animal fat was used. In a society with lackadaisical value system and nonexistent concern for rules life of human is cheap and is used as lessons on fate -an occasion to work brownie points for better blessing in next life, such is the deeply immoral and unethical society. The idea of vegetarian as pure is in itself flawed and spread by knucklehead squatters with narrative control. This society was never vegetarian. Hinduism was never about vegetarianism, nor are hindus vegetarian. It is the fringe sickness of purity that worked to degrade the society. Many ancient temples used to offer animal sacrifice and still do, some even serve sacrificial meat as 'prasadam' (quite common in many temple rituals in south India, infact when I was with Jaunsari tribes in Uttarakhand - who claim themselves to Panchali of Mahabharata, they sacrificed a goat at the temple top hill and distributed it to devotees). Vegetarianism is an evolved understanding, a choice, that comes with compassion which necessarily extends to every living being including humans unlike “pure vegetarianism” perpetuated by castetva cannibals as diversity and now settled into hindutva hooligans. These attempts to ask shopkeepers -who sell food and sweets, to reveal their religion is deeply troubling. The only thing that matters is whether rules are followed and food sold clears safety and hygiene standards.

Tirupati is worst demonstration of religion. These are patronized by rich and powerful and impressed upon herd hence making this ‘god’ as potent dispenser of power and money. Moral and ethics are least concern. With immoral squatters hereditarily occupying sanctum (hence authenticating caste system as also moral foundation of religion) to accepting corrupt money as gift is how these people normalize the worst. Asking devotees to pay extra money to break queue and offering VIP treatment for chosen few -that too in front of ‘god’, is how they codify morals for herd. The incapacitated bovine herd accepts these as fate. Noisy and crowded they lack contemplation of spiritual but torment of greed. To make matter worse auspicious days and timings are marked by unenlightened cunning creating extra crowd and stampede -in the mind of herd this is akin to happy hours of gods! With easy money and power by cannibalizing and fattening some even migrated to different part of the world. Inbred dimwits are arguably the most mediocre in the world but carry highest estimation of itself. This gap in expectation and reality is where the ridiculous claims and myths are vigorously worked history retrofitted. In a parallel universe a chimp with typewriter can write a bestseller -it can happen in infinite combination and permutation stretching to infinite time and space. So, an odd ball worthy is celebrated as normal outcome meanwhile the price the society has paid is immense indeed debilitated. A little recognition from anywhere in the world (the situation is pathetic) is worked to create the aura of blessing back home and inevitability of forces to acknowledge the brahmaand wisdom -that is already known by blessed and the world is yet to know, indeed such is uniqueness, that the world may even be incapable to know! So flying machines were already known and common! It had to be such is the blessedness that anything is possible! Indeed, some claim fueled by mercury -that ‘science’ will ultimately find out and acknowledge the brahmaand wisdom. Mercury vortex engine! Getting the sophisticated semantics is how knuckleheads awe, it is a lifelong ambition, indeed the only ambition hence almost always shoddy work lacking soul or competence whether spiritual, science or literature. The monkey jump was from sanskrit to english. This jump also worked as metaphor for modernity and liberal by castetva -and for many years correctness of language was definite signs of intelligence. The fact that they couldn’t even see the potential of everyday water vapour is least of humbling matter.                                  

What is lesser evil?

 

This is Amber Thurman based in USA. She died of sepsis as she was denied life saving abortion care. Many women have died, many face misery. Imagine having all the modern technology and means to save life but still they are not able to do anything as patient die. This is not about USA alone, though it is shocking since they deem themselves as 'developed', across the world vulnerable people/women face brutalities of religion (more than a decade back I recall writing about Savita Halappanavar in Ireland who died of sepsis under similar circumstance https://depalan.blogspot.com/2012/11/prolife-is-about-celebrating-life.html). Imagine the situation in poor societies where religion (Christianity in this case) creates horrible conditions of avoidable deaths and avoidable births. This is heinous and such medieval understanding has no space in civilized world.  

Pope Francis must answer. He is an influential figure and as the religious head cannot shirk responsibility. He is also responsible for these deaths and misery by nurturing this brutal crude ecosystem in the garb of religion. When critically scrutinized he is very much criminally liable. He must also explain what is lesser evil?    

Dystopian Eaarth

 

We have changed Earth in fundamental way. The physical feature of Earth is changing rapidly. The hospitable Earth that we know is gone. We are now on dangerous Eaarth -a dystopian reality.  We have warmed the planet, warm air holds more water vapor than cold, it rains harder and evaporate faster. With sea ice melting, the albedo, or reflectivity, of arctic changes as the mirror of white ice replaced by sun absorbing blue. Global temperature, heat wave, rainfall, landslides, forest fires…have increased dangerously. Thunderstorms, cyclones/hurricanes, lightning are more frequent and last longer. Methane chimneys are opening up rapidly heating the planet further. The great rainforests are dying. Plant yields and nutrition are falling, life giver phytoplankton are dying, species are vanishing, biomass reducing and resilience of biodiversity is falling. Oceans are acidifying, incapable to hold carbon nor sustain diverse life, coral reefs are barren. Bacteria, parasites, algae blooms flourish, water and mosquito borne diseases increase and spread. Extreme catastrophic events are leading post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and variety of phobias, and increased numbers of refugees. Add to it, warmer world is predicted to lead to more wars and discords over shared water, rivers and arable land, violent storms can even topple weak governments. The terrifying reality of end of cycle of growth that institutions are hinged on. We don’t know how to regrow rain forests, defreeze arctic, recreate ecosystems…

This is what this book eaarth: making a life on tough planet (by Bill McKibben) is dealing with, it was written almost 15years back -and that surely is life time back in fast changing world, but still is valuable. As we see climate catastrophes unfold on daily basis, and realtime vanishing of life nurturing planet, these books provide insights. As for me it really didn’t add much to the knowledge on these issues as I have kept abreast with unfolding reality and have read much of the literature and documentaries on climate catastrophe. Unlike 15years back it is criminal to be not aware of these critical matters. There are some mentions in the book that I found interesting, like for instance, this collateral of climate catastrophe in Mozambique presenting unseen unexpected complexities of changing world compounding problems for common people who really haven’t contributed anything to these disasters that is enveloping their life: “…record rains in Mozambique washed out huge quantities of land mines that were planted during brutal civil wars. People, escaping flood, swam into these fields and were killed. To make matter worse…thousands of dollars were spent to map the location of these minefields…some even washed up on local beaches around the lake. Farmers are terrified to plough their fields again because they don’t know what is under the silt”   

       

Contrived narration

 

Narrations are controlled. Powerful control narration that is deemed to be true and mainstreamed into herds through regulated influence, communication and entertainment. In the last few years these legacy instruments of control are seriously dented by social media and platforming of grassroot voices. Despite serious misuse there is a strong element of dissemination of democracy and diversity of views. As long as facts are nearer to the truth interpretations of vibrant divergent voices matter.

Migration is constant feature in nature, and so is with humans being an indelible part of nature. National borders are quite a new understanding and seems like a recent aberration in long history of free movement. Migration of people brings fresh ideas and energy into hospitable community. The reason why there is migration to certain regions of the world is an indication of better opportunity for enhancements which in turn reflects value systems nurtured that creates better societies and space for evolved ideas, thoughts and innovation. It is not an accident that recent progress of humanity is nurtured in certain parts of the world. Much of freedom that world experiences through ideas and technologies is largely due to regions of the world nurtured by vibrant thoughts and humanistic concerns. This is not to say that there aren’t any problems but these are idealized and percolates into populace. Evolved society provides space for development, that doesn’t mean it will be utilized for better by all. Most humans by their very nature seek security of community in its lowest commonest denominator of responsibility and intellect. It is only very few who consolidate and enhance progressive thoughts and scientific thinking. Waves of immigrants from West due to famine (Ireland) and prosecution (jews) found best possibilities in USA hence contributed to its amazing progress. Sometimes society progresses so fast, essentially with free speech and technology, that much of people are stuck in past. Despite technology driven globalization last few years have seen consolidation of nationalist feelings and rising insecurity among common people. Neoliberal value systems and catastrophic impact of climate will make matter worse.

Other as enemy is easy to construct. For charlatans dividing people on myths is to divert attention from realities of poverty, corruption and existential crisis. The other is always a construct around which prejudice and worst of fear are build. Fantastical narrations of juvenile religions creates myths of grand herd obfuscating history of barbarians. Herd carry these crude identities hence ease of the other. Skin color is oldest of the other that primitives associate degrading values to demean the other. And, in societies with large migrations this other is easy to spot and construct prejudices and myths of dire. It is not to say that the other is always benign needy or carry vibrant possibilities of difference and diversity. Examples of Europe, especially feudal-values-compromised-carrying-high-estimate-of-itself Britain, shows primitive other as immigrants can severely degrade society and incite regressive revivalism and xenophobia. It is therefore responsibility of society to decide what kind of people enter and assimilate into them as also the numbers so that herd demography shift doesn’t pose the worst and impact progressive values. As societies evolve it is but natural that fertility rate reduces (barbarians, insecure and egoistic irresponsible breed like pigs), as it is human population is significant cause of deteriorating conditions across the world, serious impact on nature and debilitating pressure on other species. Neoliberal market, religion driven charlatans and cunning politicians have eternal need for breeding populace. Advancement in technology must suffice the shortage of humans in advanced societies. Cheap labor cannot be an incentive for immigration since it stands on the foundation of the other as cheap -less valued, this degrades progressive values. Democracy, liberty and freedom are cherished ideas on which progress of humanity is hinged hence cannot be bartered. These are not religion based. These are humanistic evolved ideas through best minds over centuries.            

For the very reason allowing immigrants is not religion based compassion, nor a moral right. It is a reasoned decision by state weighing in conditions and situations. Devious forces may conspire but increasing human population is never good for society, nation or earth. Ideally richer society must evolve into compassion but it must be firmly hinged on realities of state as also awareness of forces working to misuse as also need for assimilating into progressive values. Pope Francis comparison of American presidential candidates is patently dangerous and irresponsible. There is no comparison here. He need to comprehend the serious situation. Migration happens because of unequal world. It is this inequality and brutality of state and non-state that must be focus. You cannot slate immigration to compassion and balance it with brutality of denying right for abortion (also, he needs to educate himself on the meaning of assassination, really disgusted, totally unbecoming). Further, this religion-based balderdash of human life being sacred exceptional must be dealt. Capital punishment must be appropriately used in rarest of rare circumstance and cannot be given away as evolved value system. It isn’t. It is an expression of religion (that centers human life) at the expense of victim and family who faced heinous crimes and limited resource of poor society that must provide for law abiding. This ofcourse doesn’t mean eye for an eye barbarian value of another religion extreme. Religion must face logical exigencies of modern world and learn to value individual liberty or face obsolesce as nuisance. Meanwhile Pope must urgently reconsider his stand on American election and unconditionally support progressive candidate.  

well done!

...easily the matured responsible one in the debate. Should win. 

(also need to understand that this is in restricted low frame of US domestic politics and national interest chicanery. One is appalled by statements on fracking, guns, NATO etc....Meanwhile do we also get to see similar transparency in election process from increasingly influential China?)

 

At the horizon

It is here

Earlier than you thought

When mind is peeled out of body

With its own eye

The refracted sight shifted in new light

Magnified in weight of years

You tenderly straighten the creases

Look at your body

In schizophrenic affection and detachment

And let it merge in the glow of setting sun  

Exceptionalism of stupidity

 

What was once considered embarrassment, an occasion to introspect and attempt to improve, is now seeking exceptionalism. We entered the age of stupidity. Stupid people, stupid occasions and happenings -a mischance now a norm, are watched and rewatched and connected to deeply satisfying meaning of existence of appalling. Stupidity was always present but in the sidelines deeply cognizant of its lack. With herd hunters mollycoddling herd of their special bearing presence and unique attribute as collective -that doesn’t pass any basic critically scrutiny, in a primitive society history becomes a hunting ground for obsessive narrative control. Myths and fiction replace the reality and is keenly worked to hold its say in the present and worked into bleak future. Stupidity demands no strain on the intellect and is easily swayed by glib and glitter. It helps nurture mediocrity and general ugliness all around. It thrives on quantity and is deeply suspicious of quality or anything that needs strain. Stupidity is in the comfort of laziness, easiness of dealing and confidence of assertion. It is incapable, and is no doubt incapacitated, to see beyond the veil of ignorance and self-righteous morality.              

With social media providing unbridled access stupidness, lacking any discernible skill or redeeming quality, is now a vehement choice. Being stupid is no longer an embarrassment when you are bombarded with everyday stupidity as choice that see immense gain. Attribute of self-conscious, an indelible aspect of human to be circumspect and try to create a better version, is seen as inhibition -a problem. Choosing crass and crude is an expression of self that consolidates into collective sedation and acceptance of ugliness and irresponsible. In the overwhelming presence of mediocrity and ugliness truth and beauty shrinks. An ugly public space -building, statue etc., a mediocre shoddy work, crude unruly uncouth people…all conspire against subtleties and evolved possibilities. This diminishes humanity and pushes into violence of all forms.   

With misinformation and disinformation, chaos and alienation, old world crumbling rapidly and technology intruding at breathtaking speed, the incapacity to accept complexities of meaning and absurd, the existential crave for certainty becomes urgent. Sedated unthinking mass is floating for anchor. Since responsible dealing with present needs incisive empathetic mind, and acceptance of ordinary lacking glitter or glamour or attention seeking, the insular primed in exceptionalism and grand myth of its collective becomes easy target for manipulators. Evil has logic and pattern hence can be dealt by analyzing and systematically negating. What when evil uses stupidity as its front? Stupidity by its very nature lacks logic or pattern, the crass excitable hops from one near catastrophe to new possible catastrophe. And with power to destroy world many times over we move from one precipice to another with baited breath while stupidity immune to immense urgent challenges celebrates its latest attention while the self-help industry and spiritual charlatans goad to enjoy the scene -live in the present, without any awareness or knowledge whatsoever, connect to pristine and pure stupidity!

Hello to the world

Will the molecules recall

What held it together

Eons ago

Glad, despair, occasions weave life

The child waves at passing train

Anticipating no reciprocity

He does know the burden

That axis the tilted world

His happiness shuffled a million times

Scrolled from the beginning to the end of it all

When atoms sought alliances

And sun called the curtain

Missed medal by a whisker. The event got over few minutes back, was rooting for her. This teenager, Sheetal Devi, is an absolute sensation. 

 

Middle class moralism hops out of woodwork

 

Kerala surely is scenic, despite high density of population and not very agreeable people, the greenery is soothing. The reason why I prefer Goa since it is a much refined version of Kerala -very likely because Goa had violent past that also led to severe break down of regressive value system and later impetus of international tourism as also vicinity to mega cities like Mumbai, and relatively sparse population, created a fairly open society. Sequestered between mountains and ocean Kerala assimilated outside influences into its regressive clutch. An incorrigible provincial mind despite constant exposure to outside world. A materialistic consumerist society even evaluated literacy into its utilitarian fold. I have rarely seen such desperation for wealth from materially comfortable people, a pathological insecurity of souls that is in constant dread of how they are being evaluated by equally depraved other -the society. Arrogance, ego, pride, pettiness are defining factor of human relations while simultaneous hallucination of grander version of themselves that the world is in awe of. The complexities of pathetic is to be lived to understand. Except for my college days I really haven’t spent much time in Kerala, I never really was comfortable in this oppressive place. Possibilities of Communism and Christianity have well passed its utility -the Kerala model, and now is a mask of ridicule that cannot hide grim reality. Hinduism and Islam rarely contributed anything of value except these versions of competitive regressive grand that is now a sickness, an increasingly violent sickness that has enthusiastic participation from communists and crude christian revivalist moralism. Best of ideas have found the worst of possibilities (here I am not referring to creative expressions of music, art and colours -contribution of religions is significant but has reached lifeless impasse). Language binds but literature is still wanting and withers into appalling standards of newspapers and mass publication with futile expectation to carry atleast some minimum creative humanistic subtlety from long exposure to literate society. It is an extended middle class lacking vibrant intelligentsia or sophistication, the best is always in fringe and seen as threat. The size of their house, money in bank, level of literacy, may vary but what rivets them is same, they watch the same thing, eat the same stuff, talk the same and dream, crave, the same. It is as if benefits of material comfort, tremendous possibilities of education and subtleties of life have bypassed them. An extended needy puritanical middle-class moralism assimilated through worst possibilities of religions, lacking any cosmopolitan glimmer despite material richness, astounding natural sights, confluence of religions/philosophies and uncommon social development. This society is caught dead flaking itself to find its soul. 

Entertainment is extension of this limited worldview. For last many decades they entertained the herd into grander versions of themselves in sickening patriarchy and depraved traditions, pandering to the middle-class oppressive moralism and normalizing brute violent patriarchs as saviors. Lacking crude flashiness that is seen among crass - in other part of the country, they produced compelling movies that consolidated middle class moralism in its persuasive everyday narration. Not denying there were rare flashes of brilliance but overwhelming patriarchal cannibalistic concerns crested the deal with dangerous outcome for wellbeing of society and needs of responsible humans. In the recent times lots of malayalam movies have taken up progressive themes but is still shackled in deeply dehumanizing degraded social reality hinged to appalling past. The aftermath of Hema commission (that ofcourse has initiated well-meaning soul searching, and yes guilty must be punished starting with exemplary speedy punishment to blatant heinous crime allegedly orchestrated by an actor on an actress) has unleashed worst of people in the social media who really don’t understand value of freedom. Poking sarcastic malayalee primed in middle class moralism morphs into deranged regurgitator spewing venom. They have come out of woodwork in hordes satisfying the primal urge to watch the rich and famous tumble. In this fall is collective resurrection of middle-class moralism of mediocres and essential defining characteristics of gleeful primitives. Malayalam film has nobody to blame but itself. They nurtured the slime. Fat slimy chickens have now come home to roost. Rule of law must catch these chickens and tandoor them.

   *When I was in college we had college fest, and as is the case there was dancing and crap. Newspaper (ofcourse MalayalaManorama -repository of depravities) took it up in a big way and reported it as immorality of college students, the defining word was “koothattam’ -meaning drunk dancing -hence breakdown of social order! This was my early brush with sophistication of middle class semantics. There are trigger words for middle class morality that easily seep and grip the psyche of listener, the meaningful nod is an indication from the recipient of full import with all the seen and unseen contexts. This deluge of trigger words is what is seen in social media in last few days. These are shared and liked as middle class self righteous puritan muck seeks redemption.    

                      

The sickness

 

This collage of pictures is in one km radius. I took these on my evening walk, and this could be any random place. This deranged obsession for white is reflection of a deeper sickness. It is also connected to infection of purity. It has created land of ‘fair and lovely’ where bunch of few hundred white people from faraway land could easily colonize and exploit for more than a century while the nincompoops supplicated and try to match colonizers to appear civilized. They aspired and identified with colonizers than with common people or any ethical value system. To assume that white skin has nothing to do with it is a big mistake. This sick society saw them as natural rulers while obsequiously arranging themselves around it and valorously compete for attention. It was quite easy for colonizers to feed the ego and help create narration of valor. History, myths, reality…everything was manipulated to control the herd, there really was nothing else that occupied the minds of inbred mediocres. With no sense of history or facts they try to fill in myths of grandeur, as moral arbitrators to the world and intelligence that is yet to be understood. Such is the sense of entitlement that unfortunately doesn’t match the sparse miserable reality hence this full-time occupation to fill in the gaps by weaving grand stories and selective valuation of present. It is a society where the least of talent or any redeeming human quality strut around as god's gift. 

White people in West have taken the burden of racism -which they brutally perpetuated, but much of the world is racist in varying degrees of brutality. South Asians when they are in West -essentially gained from feudal system, whine about racism against browns but nowhere I have seen shops referred to as brown hotels or brown homes, nor black homes or black lodge. Ofcourse, english language has embedded racism hence dark is valuated as sinister while white as fair but that doesn’t and cannot exonerate local racism and value systems that nurture these. Forget humans even animals are not spared. We are aware of white cows in north India, in here, elephant that are kept as props for degrading rituals are evaluated on whiteness! Imagine the sickness. They have worked features of magnificence and white being important marker in an essentially dark-skinned region -indeed the same had much sympathy towards white people hence evaluated higher hierarchy. The dark magnificent creature is not only exploited but has been assigned hierarchy on the level of whiteness! It’s a deeply flawed society.

Worst of these are noted in Tamil Nadu –a region that had much potential and was attuned to face realities of medieval times and thrived into east Asia, and how sinister forces worked to undermine egalitarian movements and reduced it into caste cesspool. Tamil movies had a major role in this degradation. Meanwhile Hema Commission has opened pandora's box in Malayalam film industry- they make relatively better movies but overall amazing level of mediocrity while pandering to social morass, regressive ways, feudal references nurtured as valued identity while patriarchy morph into modern as sexist fun. What is seriously problematic is the story and intention, incapacitated to face pathetic reality it hinges on mythical grandeur and crude expressions, ofcourse in recent times there is marginal shift -as people access better entertainment options, but still is overwhelmingly degraded. The idea of entertainment as complex and elevating is rarely understood and appreciated in primitive society. It always falls back on lowest commonest denominator and in Indian case it really is a pit. It is a sexist world no doubt, there are exploitations but allegations cannot be taken on face value. In the overwhelming attention seeking value system, where everything is seen as opportunity for branding, an actress making allegations cannot be put on high pedestal, also the social context of exceptionalism and entitlement that is nurtured cannot be negated. Assault is a legal matter and must be dealt accordingly and not in the realm of wild speculations as entertainment. Two factors become paramount; one is whether there is pattern of allegations -that is multiple instances blaming a person, is a serious matter. Hence one-off incident, maybe serious, must be understood in the context -chance of fictitious cannot be ruled out. Also, in a profession where physical involvement is common everything is subjective, and in Indian context situation is complex. The idea that women cannot be perpetrators doesn't stand the scrutiny of cannibalistic society. Also, there are lots of low talent manipulators trying to gain attention in high stake money churning glamour world. Attention is branding. Director Ranjit (who is extremely talented and widely respected) being treated like this is deeply disconcerting and doesn’t augur well. Voyeurs and hooters are having field day, tarnishing lives and muddling issue is not how you deal. Secondly, serious allegations of rape and child molestation must be dealt strictly (the actor against whom grave allegation of orchestrating assault is still able to act in movies while process of justice languishes is a sick joke on society). How are some able to control the system in their favour must be scrutinized. Is the film industry under the control of exploitative cartel? Hopefully these are unraveled and guilty punished. WCC has done remarkable work.

The pertinent questions also are: What are the kinds of movies that get made, what are the value system they are espousing and authenticating, on what basis people are chosen to be artists? Who are these people who decide these? Who or what are they representing? In most cases lacking basic training anyone can become an actor (not all but in most cases) what are the parameters on which they are given the role? What is the caliber an outside artist -who cannot even understand the language, bringing that is not found in this region? What is the process and markers of casting for a role? Is it not perpetuating prejudices and primitive ways in a degraded society? Are these movies aiming progressive ways or nurturing and authenticating primitive values? 

PK Rosy was the first Malayalam actress and instead of celebrating her they threatened her with assault and lynching. She had to flee the state and live in anonymity and poverty. Such is the foundation of this degraded entertainment industry. What makes it grievous is that she is completely forgotten and no attempts made to reinstate her memory and rectify grave intrusion on a human being least an artist. Though some actions are seen in recent times but nothing short of public apology by state and assigning best actress state award in her name will suffice.