“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.”
………..Rumi
The acrimonious verbal gymnastics or slang-shots devoid of content and basic decency among our TV demagogues have left the serious viewer stranded in the desert of free-speech and Parliamentary debates. These wrestlers of harangues neither care listen nor allow their opponents to put their point of views. TV ANCHORS, few exceptions aside, act as helpless bystanders under the studio festoons. They exhibit no deeper knowledge of the topic they bring forward, no command over the situation and at times reflect the partisan attitudes. They remain silent when they should enter in the debate and poke where they’re least required. Genuine Silence at the screen when the speaker puts across is a virtue rarely find these days. Shocking arguments with no logic, outright innuendoes and scurrilous presentations to push their point make a mockery of serious discussion.
Today, we live in a society and culture where we love to share every thought and feeling as it occurs. Substantiation of facts is least desirable virtue and we don’t pause to reflect on what we have just said. In a sublime way an Urdu poet had said –
“Woh baat sarey fasaney men jiska zikr na tha, who baat unhen bahut nagawar guzri hai.” The most painful part of the story was that remain unsaid. That is the beauty of discussion. That is how the civilized discussion used to be. How wonderful it would be if in TV debates we emphasize upon silence. It is a space between the verbal harangues which gives depth and respect to the discussions and disquisitions. Without being deeply authentic winning the brownie points is a sheer wastage of time. Viewers aren’t idiots. Our silence in debates allows others to be honest, imaginative, constructive and reasonable. We also discover what is going on within us.
“Lafzon ki rafta rafta zarrorat naheen rahi, ab who bhee sun liya jo usne kaha na tha.” Words are no more needed. I’ve listened to what hadn’t been said. If you’re sincere in what you speak, communication becomes straight and honest. Silence allows us to reflect at what we say. You realize the power of silence which is vitally important for coherent thinking. Listening, Speech and silence are the components of every argument. Silence allows us to digest the dialogues and prepares us for the next lines. It allows us to ruminate as to what is fit, what is true and what appeals to our conscience. It helps even when we know that our arguments are going to provide the escape routes for killers and rapists. Silence is a process of self-discovery.
Unfortunately, in the modern world silence has practically ceased to exist. Apart from the noise of TV EXPERTS, Man-made noises have buried the sounds of nature. No one anymore cares to listen the songs of birds, the staccato of brooks or enjoy the raze of howling winds. We live in the cacophony that assault our ears as roar of cars, the whirring of AC’s, the croaking of domestic gadgets, the clanging and thudding of trains and the jagged mechanical vibrations. We’re also burying the natural sounds of the Earth beneath a cacophony of man-made noise. We live our lives against the background of this cacophony, with the jagged mechanical sounds and least to mention, the chatter of radios and TVs in our own and other people’s cars and houses, Today, pop music blares from every conceivable place.
This quietness is history and could be found only in books. It is difficult to believe that our planet was a quiet place once where we could hear the origins of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Nee……
In the concrete jungles of urban civilizations it is rare to find the sound of birds singing or of wind rushing through trees. Mechanical noise always jars and grates. We don’t realize that this noise is certainly one of the reasons why modern life is so stressful. A strange new phenomenon has entered in our lives from the backdoor. Our lack of quietness has changed us to the extent that people are no longer used to silence. They have even become afraid of it. We leave our televisions chattering away in the background even when they’re not paying attention to them.
The scribe is putting his inner noise on paper to seek the answer if progress is also a process of regress?
