Hear to listen…

Wordsworth’s plaintive poem, The Solitary Reaper, often tickles my senses quizzing me on the significance between heard and the unheard, between hearing and listening: “…I saw her singing at her work, And o'er the sickle bending;— I listened, motionless and still; And, as I mounted up the hill, The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more.” The persona cannot hear at the outset, but having seen the "Reaper" stops to listen and then can hear the plaintive number she was singing long after he has moved away from the solitary reaper! What a transition from listening to hearing, both seem equally pertinent, unlike in our rushed, mundane and muddled world, where plethora of noises and voices clamouring for attention are heard for sure but we do not listen.

Ever wondered what is the first thing we do as soon as we wake up in the morning? I mean the truly first thing, soon as we open our eyes, this rather underrated sensory organ wakes up simultaneously with our sense of sight…hopefully you guessed it right! Yes, our ability to hear or listen. Not sure about you listening to the voices in your head(!!) but I wake up to the chirruping of birds, despite living in Bombay and regardless of the time I choose to wake up, moody Mondays to serene Sundays… Now, why am I harping on this auditory sense thus? Well, in the all encompassing world of social media where each one of us is crying ourselves hoarse to be heard, or for having been misheard or misquoted and the like, one can truly not over emphasise the importance of hearing and then of course, listening. 

Let me exemplify my deliberations through an example. I recently was witness to this iconic piece of conversation between my friend and another person on the other end of the line. Now, my dearest friend here is not merely sensible but is extremely particular about her word choice and rarely slips up on that. Seated in the same room, right before her I listened to this: Pehle body kaat lo. Phir jo bachega use se dekhna jitney length banti hain… (translates to First cut up the body, then check what is left and measure the length) Can you guess my first reaction?! Absolutely! A momentary chill  down my spine was soon overcome by peals of laughter rendering her too incapable of continuing with the conversation… Once we were over our girlish giggles, I could not help but wonder what if this instruction was to be overheard by an eavesdropper or by just any of our colleagues who happened to be outside her cabin! The thought triggered another set of uncontrollable giggles at the myriad possibilities and fancies it lends itself to. What if the person who overheard the conversation is inherently paranoid or is an adversary of hers… it surely would not stop at being humorous then. This naturally made me wonder if we actually listen or merely hear but listen to what we wish to. 

If the recent case associated with the ubiquitous onions is anything to go by, my point is suitably proven. During the parliament session, our erudite finance minister, Ms Nirmala Seetharaman was asked what she is doing or proposes to do to stunt the skyrocketing price of the onions. Your shock is as good as mine when we heard her brahminical response, discounting that she does not consume much onion or garlic! She heard the question that we all did for sure, the spiralling price of the onions that  has shot up so high as if to discover the debris of the tragic Chandrayaan, but she chose to listen to only the consumption part of the question, ignoring the member of the opposition ending his question with "the common man is so hard hit by this price rise as onions are consumed by all and is a vital kitchen ingredient." Her baffling brahminical response was however centered on her culinary preferences, which surely was not the point, purpose or even the concern of any of us at all! Her confessional reply that she hails from a family which does not consume onion and garlic is so oblique! Does that mean that the rest of India needs to emulate this essentially brahminical preference and practice?! Despite being a brahmin myself, I am an avid consumer of onions and of garlic too where necessary... should I and all of us alter our culinary preferences as the prices cannot be helped?! Given this response and that too in the Parliament, I am beginning to wonder if as a race, we adhere to this selective listening to protect ourselves and our interests. 

Let us consider the volatility we are seeing in our nation since the last two months in particular. Since December, ever since our benevolent PM and his Man Friday, Shah, have decided to practice a selective Atithi Devobhava of sorts, I mean, refugees are not entirely guests and like all of you am concerned about their claim on our already fast-depleting resources. After all, the lion’s share goes to the venerable public servants and their extended families, who so rightfully deserve this for all the service they afford to mankind! Then there are these gazillion reservations, all caste-based, which apparently help the downtrodden and the marginalised, but having come across several of these beneficiaries in offices and Universities alike, who are neither downtrodden nor impoverished but upon the slightest provocation can pin you down to the ground below and ensure your impoverishment! Probably, that is the reason they are entitled and deserving of the said reservations. Thereafter, are the well-heeled, we own the world along with our Guccis, Hermes and Hummers type, who swoop down on Management seats and all other paid-for seats, blinding the onlookers with the luminescence piercing from their Rolex. Surprisingly, there still is a small amount, a slender part of resources, provisions and seats for us, the hapless general merit category ones, doubly disadvantaged by our brahmin antecedents, as we are paying dearly for a supposed discrimination that our lacking in vision forefathers practiced in the days of yore. Oh, so returning to the refugees, do you see why it is such a huge problem and how hugely it impacts India! So, maybe it is a wise idea to stem the constant influx of refugees from east, west, south and all other directions that they are pouring in from. But, is the CAA and CAB way the only way to do it or heaven forbid and safeguard me hereafter, the right way?! Shah explains on Day 1 that this law will impact only refugees, a few days later explains that none is persecuted, it apparently assures citizenship and dignity to the hapless refugees! Now, is that what we want…? More people from other nations laying claim to our resources?! Possibly, when I hear the dissenting voices from the north east, this appears to be the exact reason behind their opposition. They are apparently afraid that their indigenous populace will be infiltrated, will suffer and be sullied by the influx and citizenship to these now stateless Rohingyas from Myanmar. The northeast is burning with rage and disapproval and this is what I hear the opposition is about there. But, who is listening?! Not the powers that be, not Delhi for sure. 

Our venerable PM says he is listening to the grievances of the northeast, assures they will be safe and their citizenship will be protected and that they should not be roused up by rumours. But they are not crying over Delhi revoking their citizenship! Listening to the strong objections and protests, Modi thunders that Congress is needlessly instigating and misleading youth, misleading northeast and that Bharat with be united, Pakistan and its foul plans can never win and break the nation! Ahem… I hear this just as you heard it, but do not see the connection as to why Pakistan, although they have an objection and opinion about everything Indian, is taking precedence in this talk about CAA/CAB. The northeast protests are actually… hold on! One section of Media and Newspapers are screaming, assault, brutality, violation of rights of University students as police use force browbeat AMU and Jamia students. All of us quickly move to listen to the goings on here, clearly now torn asunder on communal lines. I mean, is there a reason students of ‘these universities’ are protesting against the CAA/ CAB?! I heard a resounding yes! But several of our wise leaders are pontificating that the new law is not persecution but protection and this agitation is tantamount to sedition and the result of a frustrated Congress-led instigation! Wow! Besides the internal rhyme here, there is little that is or can be admirable. Before you and I can wrap our heads around this, before we can even express sympathy at the entry of police force on apparently a women’s hostel and the damage caused to the libraries here, we wake up to massive protests and demonstrations at the political hotbed, JNU in Delhi! Shah and his deputies are crying themselves hoarse that law and order is the need of the hour, youth are not be in power and that the government will not cower over these misled protests by them. The new decade is greeted with unprecedented mayhem in JNU, a planned attack unleashed on students and Professors alike within a University campus by a masked mob carrying rods and sticks within the hallowed portals of the highest seat of learning while the Police force wait outside, possibly meditating on intervention after the destruction! 

Intelligentsia protests, expresses solidarity with students as you and I have unequivocally. Some sensible stars from Bollywood too trickle in support besides the scientists from IISC, Bangalore, to the state ministers from Kerala, Punjab and Bengal. Our man of many words, Tharoor holds fiery speeches, for you and me to listen to the provisions governing refugees, but the Sarkar at Delhi can only hear dissent against their idea of democracy. In all this obfuscation, I barely see anyone offering a clarification on CAB and its cousin NRC. Too many voices, at times sane, at times as befuddled, as you and I wonder akin to the hapless animals in Orwell's allegory, looking from side to side at the pigs drinking and dining, walking on their hind legs and hobnobbing with the very humans they overthrew! It is upto you to decipher, who is what here, for any explanation from me will only lead to consternation, for we hear everything but usually listen to what we want to. Once again, I am reminded of my dear friend who often rebukes me for selective listening, which she says often leads to needless spats between us. I wonder if our collective conscience will ever be rid of this selective malice. When the world and its mortals fail to provide solace, we often seek intervention from divinity. So, just like that girl who drove past me the other day even as I gawked bemused, her palms firmly clasped together reverentially in prayer, looking up to an unseen God and bent down touching her forehead to the presiding Ganesha on her dashboard, I too am praying hard that that gap between hearing and listening is bridged forthwith. 

A G K

15 January, 2020