Recently I had gone to interview Netra Bikram Chand, an influential youth leader of the hard-line Maoist party under Mohan Baidya. What struck me about his visiting room was a red paper banner of famous Communist leaders on the far wall, depicting the likes Marx, Engels, Lenin and Mao. To its right was a plastic sticker of Che Guevara. To the left were three vertically- arranged colorful posters: Miley Cyrus, Cristiano Ronaldo and Justin Bieber. Either Chand had put up the pictures himself or liked them enough to let them be.
The shot of his living room accompanying our interview generated some curiosity in media circles. At least two established news publications found it curious that a hard-core communist should have pictures of Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, the two epitomes of the capitalist culture, side by side his communist heroes. So does that make Chand a hypocrite? And if he is, are we not?
In Vital Lies, Simple Truths, psychologist Daniel Goleman talks about ‘the benign effects of very important lies’ in our lives. Says Goleman about his book, “We all tell ourselves one lie if we’re healthy and that is, almost everybody believes we’re a little better than they really are… a little kinder, a little more intelligent, a little more skilled, whatever it may be.” Goleman goes on to talk about how depressed people tend to be highly realistic—and highly unhappy as a result. In his view, it is these little self-deceptions that keep us sane.
In other words, the ability to embrace contradictions sets psychologically healthy people apart from those who are perpetually troubled by their thoughts. The universe is filled with contradictions. Einstein died trying to find a ‘unified’ theory for everything. According to current model of physics, there is one set of theories to explain the properties of sub-atomic particles and another to account for the properties on the grander scale of planets and galaxies.
Nature thrives on contradictions. The beautiful hemlock is also among the most poisonous plants. The cute-looking Dolphins can guide lost seafarers, but can also be incredibly violent, often torturing and killing their own young. Humans are even more contradictory. How often have we seen a taskmaster at work humble to a fault outside workplace? Or someone who appears calm and composed go to pieces at the first sign of trouble?
KESHAB THOKER
Yet we seek perfection in others and judge them harshly when they don’t meet our lofty standards. J D Salinger, long considered the conscience of young America, is under the scanner posthumously for his reported exploitation of underage girls. Before his death he was beyond reproach. It was almost sacrilegious to question his bizarre lifestyle where he had virtually cut himself off from the rest of the world. Joseph Lelyveld hints at some of Mahatma Gandhi’s all-too-human human failings in The Great Soul, his 2011 biography of the indefatigable Indian freedom fighter. The book caused uproar in India for speculating that Gandhi might have had homosexual inclinations, and was banned in many places.
While the rest of India was up in rage, the most reasonable voice came from one of Gandhi’s own, his great grandson Tushar, who labeled the ban a “greater insult” (than what was implied in the book) to his great grandfather. “How does it matter if the Mahatma was straight, gay or bisexual?” Tushar questioned. “Every time he would still be the man who led India to freedom.”
This is not to suggest we don’t have any moral and social obligations. But if we can overlook our blind spots so easily, don’t other people deserve at least some benefit of doubt?
I am terrible at judging people, even my best friends. If the first impression is indeed the last (thank god it isn’t), I wouldn’t even be talking to any of them now, let alone make them my lifelong friends. On the first encounter, I found the first one too brash, the second one too bossy, the third one too provincial and the fourth one, just not my type. It was only after trying to look beyond what was immediately apparent and beyond their minor faults did I really learn to appreciate them for who they are.
In Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a group of hyper-intelligent beings want to know the “the answer to the ultimate question of life.” For this they devise a supercomputer, Deep Thought, and feed it with every bit of information in the world. It takes Deep Thought 7.5 million years to come up with an answer: 42, a meaningless random number.
Life is like that. There are no right or wrong answers to many questions life throws our way every single day. Perhaps even Netra Bikram Chand does not know why Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber adorn his room. He might not even have given it a serious thought. And is the happier for it.
The writer is the op-ed editor at Republica.
biswas.baral@gmail.com
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