Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 6.6.21
Empathy
Fatigue
India
is a country in deep pain. The persisting coronavirus pandemic, growing
economic insecurity, rising prices, rising unemployment, political
polarization, misinformation and general daily uncertainty dominate our lives
to the point that many people are barely able to cope.
Life
wasn’t exactly a cakewalk before 2020. Out of all the fears, stresses and
indignities our citizens are living with, there emerges a kind of primal
insecurity that undermines every aspect of life right now. It’s no wonder that
anxiety, depression and other psychological problems are on the rise. And on
top of that or probably because of that we are witnessing a kind of the empathy
deficit- never ever witnessed in India.
Dead
bodies are lying at the hospital with their relatives refusing to take them for
cremation. Relatives are leaving dead bodies in front of crematoriums and going
away. They are not evening waiting to take the last remains for the rituals. In
fact in several crematoriums the last remains (asthi kalash) are kept in piles for the relatives to come and
collect them. As many of them are turning in mass last rites are being
organized in many places.
Relatives
are disposing the dead bodies any which way they can. The other day a video of
two persons pushing a dead body into Tapti river went viral.
In
several villages no body is coming forward to help in cremating the body-
something that hardly happens in rural India. The local administration is
taking the body for cremation. This had hardly ever happened in rural India-
and at this scale!
Something
sinister is happening in our society. We must work to bridge the empathy
deficit for empathy is glue that keeps the society together.
Documentation
I
often feel as a nation we love myth and hate history. We do not have respect
for history. Neither do we document our history, nor do we try to preserve it.
May
30 was observed as Hindi journalism day. On that day in 1826 the first Hindi
newspaper Udant Martand was published
from Kolkata (then Calcutta) by Pandit Jugal Kishore Shukla. Several webinars
were organised on this occasion. There was no dearth of sound bites.
But
there has been hardly any attempt to preserve the memory of Jugal Kishore
Shukla. Not even a plaque exists in the central Kolkata lane from where it was
published. The ancestral house of Jugal Kishore Sukla in UP lies in a shambles.
There is hardly any proper documentation of the person's history and work.
This
is just an example. As a nation we must learn to respect our history. Proper
documentation is the first step of preserving history. Let us do that.
Alvida Badusha
Kerala-based
cartoonist Ibrahim Badusha who drew cartoons for various causes -
from road safety to awareness on Covid safety and child abuse to dangers of
plastic - died due to post-COVID complications on 2 June. He was 37.
A native of
Thottumugam, near Aluva, Badusha was former vice chairman of the Kerala Cartoon
Academy and Kerala coordinator of the Cartoon Club of Kerala.
As a
cartoonist he felt he had a social responsibility. So, his cartoons would focus
on pressing social and environmental issues. Badusha is keenly aware of
environmental damage because he grew up next to the Periyar river in Aluva.
 |
| Cartoon by Ibrahim Badhusha |
Ibrahim was a man who was always on the move. He would conduct
drawing sessions for school children all over the state as well as in West
Asia.
He had created a
record of sorts by undertaking the 'Longest Live Caricature Drawing Show' which
he named 'portraiture'.
We lost a young
promising artist.
Media Apology
A man called
Periyasamy died.
A local newspaper
reported, “Ramasamy passed away.”
Ramasamy was livid. He went to the newspaper office and shouted at them.
The editor was apologetic. “Sorry Sir. We shall publish the correction tomorrow.”
“Not just a
correction. I also want you to express regret.”
The newspaper
published this:
“CORRIGENDUM:
We regret to inform
you that Ramasamy is still alive.”
(Courtesy: Social
Media)
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mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com
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