Electrify Me

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Over the last few years, quite a few people who run into me have posed a declarative statement masquerading as an accusative question – “You don’t blog nowadays”. And I’ve always given an answer that, in retrospect, was rather stupid – “But I post on Twitter”. I’ve come to realise rather late that there is no greater waste of time and intellectual capacity than scrolling through a Facebook or Twitter timeline. It’s not that I think Social Media is bad. I think we all suck at it, and Silicon Valley has gotten rather good at monetising our collective suckiness.

So, on my 11th wedding anniversary, I’ve decided that I’m going to take my wife’s advice and go back to blogging. The pedantic among you might argue that blogging’s social media too, but hey, here, I get to edit all your comments.

This post is a story I heard from an elderly school teacher of mine back in the 1990s.

In the 1950s and 60s, the government of India undertook a massive exercise in electrifying the nation. No, they didn’t go around setting up disco dancing extravaganzas across rural India. They literally brought lights, fans and electric motors to a population that was, for all intents and purposes, still living in the middle ages. In fact, some villages in India were so disconnected and remote that many still thought “God save the King” was the national anthem.

An English teacher of mine who used to be an electrical engineer in his younger years told me a fascinating story about this undertaking. He was part of a contingent of young engineers that was bringing “Bijli” to a tiny hamlet in Uttar Pradesh in the 1960s and, rather unsurprisingly, the village elders were suspicious of this exercise. All of a sudden, men dressed in strange looking western wear started digging the place up and installing poles and slinging wires across mud paths and bringing them inside homes. And to make things worse, those wires did nothing for weeks on end because the electricity wasn’t flowing through them yet. The plan was to turn the switch on only after everything was thoroughly tested for problems and challenges such as “cow scratched back on junction box, tipping it over” and “Bandicoot rat chewed up wire” were overcome.

If you were a village headman in that era, you had the unique responsibility of being the prescient protector of the populace from all things dangerously modern while at the same time being generally clueless about the world at large. You might be the largest land owner in town with an entourage that included a personal moustache maintainer among others, but in an era before the internet & television, you didn’t know any more than the chap that held your umbrella while you pompously strutted around town doling out ramrams.

One such paternalistic figure called upon our aforementioned electrical engineer (later to be high school English teacher) to express some concerns about this new “Bijli” thing that was wrapping its copper wired tentacles around his village. His first concern was rather representative of that time and place. He wanted to know if this Bijli thing was going to be available to all residents of the village. Our electrical engineer, himself a Punjabi, was able to read the subtext latent the question but still decided to, well, troll the headman. He answered – “Oh yes, of course, every single house in the village will get electricity”.

The headman squirmed in his seat and sighed at the prospect of having to rephrase his concern in more direct terms. “Why do the lower castes need electricity? Wouldn’t the government save money by first prioritising the upper castes?”. Essentially, the very idea that some thing was available to all human beings equally seemed to shake the foundation of his worldview and threatened the social order he was responsible for maintaining. A universal lack of something is acceptable, but everyone getting something new at the same time? That was literally a slap on the face of Manu.

Our engineer had an answer to that question too. It turns out that some of the babus in Delhi who originally came from the hinterland had a pretty good idea of the kind of concerns that rural India will likely have about a new fangled thing like electricity and put together a comprehensive communication plan for the engineers. That included answers to concerns such as these:

Will every one get electricity in the village?

Subtext: Why do the lower castes need electricity? It’s not like they can read, so why need lights?

Answer: Mukhiya ji, don’t worry. One has to pay monthly charges for electricity.

Subtext: They won’t be able to afford the monthly charges, so we will cut off supply to them then.

Is the same wire going to our houses and “their” houses?

Subtext: We refuse to use something that is also available to the lower castes. If they touch it, won’t the Bijli be “polluted”?

Answer: Mukhiya ji, no one can touch electricity. It will kill you if you touch it, so don’t worry about pollution.

But then, this resulted in a new concern – if electricity could kill you, is it not dangerous? Hindi even lacked vocabulary to describe the sensation of electricity. So our headman wondered if Bijli was “very hot” and thus presented a danger. Apparently, temperature & heat seemed to be the closest relatable metaphor to the idea of current and electric shock.

Our engineer then smiled because his training included an answer to this concern too. He said – “Mukhiya ji, this particular electricity that is coming to your village is coming from the Bhakra-Nangal Dam, high up in the Himalayas. So this electricity is very cool, so there is no need to worry!”

When I first heard this story, I was 14 years old, and all that registered was my English teacher’s ingenuity at using his asymmetrical access to knowledge to persuade an ignorant headman. Later came the realisation of how insidious caste used to be (and for most part, still is). But it’s 2017, and there are folks in my WhatsApp groups that believe that a combination of Homoeopathy and Aditya Hridayam chanting can cure Cancer. They share forwards that claim to have scientific DNA evidence of Brahmin superiority. They also believe Nehru was Aurangzeb’s descendant and that demonetisation has fixed the problem of black money. With all the access to the entirety of the world’s knowledge on the internet, most of us are still really no different from that village headman.

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36 responses to “Electrify Me”

  1. Meghana Harishankara Avatar
    Meghana Harishankara

    Ah finally! (A nice blog post after a dry spell :P)

  2. nadodiganesh Avatar

    🙂 and I loved the (unexpected) ending 🙂

  3. joe positive Avatar
    joe positive

    I am so glad you are blogging again. Some people deserve more than 140 (now, 280) characters at a shot. You are one of them

  4. v.vijaysree Avatar

    seriously happy you are back to blogging…

  5. Louvina Andrade Avatar
    Louvina Andrade

    Hi Krish,
    You writing is absolutely as electrifying as your music & food, if not better.
    Please continue with all three.

  6. Venkatarengan Rajaram Avatar
    Venkatarengan Rajaram

    Hi Krish, Happy to see you back in blogging.
    Praying “ May better wisdom prevail on Krish Ashok.”
    Let him keep his ridicule off and try to understand / appreciate if not respect others feelings,customs & belief.
    Let not him not take shelter under humour to hurl insults & denigrate others.

    1. Nala Virumbi Avatar
      Nala Virumbi

      Dei, unna madhiri mamas oda pudungal thanga mudiyama than da krishashok is blogging as a vent out. Bugger off!

    2. krishashok Avatar

      Insults and denigrations are perceived, not hurled 🙂

      1. Venkatarengan Rajaram Avatar
        Venkatarengan Rajaram

        Not that immature nor illiterate to perceive out of the hullucination.
        Able to find out what is under the sugar coat & what are being hurled under the guise of humor / satire.
        Hence let’s better avoid ridicule and insults in our writings ✍️
        Let the great skill of writing ✍️ be beneficial to all.
        That’s just a prayer.

  7. millennialfalconsite Avatar

    Amen brother. Good to hear from you after a while. You hit the nail on the head about those damned WhatsApp forwards.

  8. P James Magic Show Avatar
    P James Magic Show

    P James Magic Show, Ph 98410 72571

    1. krishashok Avatar

      Gilly Gilly Gilly

  9. Balachandra Rao Avatar
    Balachandra Rao

    You seem to be an expert in many things:
    1. How caste system for the ‘most part’ still is what it used to be in 60s.
    2. Homeopathy
    3. Aditya Hrudayam
    4. Cancer research
    5. Nehru’s ancestry
    6. Aurangzeb’s descendants
    7. Demonetisation
    8. Black money
    6. People’s access to Internet
    7. that entirety of the world’s ‘knowledge’ is on the Internet
    8. that most of us are still really no different from a village headman of 60s
    Wow!!

    1. krishashok Avatar

      Mr Rao, I am neither an expert on the Aditya Hridayam nor Cancer, but I’m quite certain the former doesn’t cure the latter 🙂
      PS: I’ve won recitation contests for the former at school quite a few times and still know it by heart.

      1. Balachandra Rao Avatar
        Balachandra Rao

        The Mahamrityunjaya Mantra is being used along with certain advanced yogic techniques as therapy for Cancer patients and there are people who have benefitted from it. Currently research is going on applications of yoga in cancer research and palliative care in collaboration with several leading universities and hospitals such as Narayana Hrudayalaya, MD Anderson Cancer Center, AIIMS, etc. This year we are organizing an international conference on frontiers of yoga research and applications (Incofyra 2018) with special focus on cancer – Jan 5-8, 2018, S-VYASA yoga university, Bengaluru.

        1. swarnabhas Avatar
          swarnabhas

          Shri Balachandra Rao, Can you pl share more details of the conference? All the points you have written interest me.
          Pl do have a look at this blogpost written a few years ago: http://feastforthought.blogspot.in/2007/11/power-of-vishnu-sahasranamam-vanis.html
          Swarna

      2. Balachandra Rao Avatar
        Balachandra Rao

        The long term effect of chanting certain mantras regularly is an allied field of yoga research that needs to be taken up more widely. There are people who working in that field and research being done. For documented results in the area of yoga therapy for cancer care you can contact us. I believe you are widely read and respected for your opinions. Request you not to be dismissive about such efforts or possibilities.

        1. krishashok Avatar

          There is a difference between saying that chanting and meditation help with physical well-being (there are indeed scientific studies on this) and saying it cures cancer. The latter belies an utter lack of understanding of how cancer works and is potentially dangerous and misleading for sufferers as it gives them false hope from what is truly a complex ailment. On the day that the medical community publishes a double blind peer reviewed study that conclusively proves this, I’ll take my criticism back.

        2. Balachandra Rao Avatar
          Balachandra Rao

          Point taken. I am sure you have noticed that I never made that claim. The WhatsApp post you mentioned does. So I take that your criticism is aimed at that and not my response.

          As far as we are concerned, we are the last hope (and not false hope) since the participants who come to us do so after exhausting all other options (quite understandably so) and we never make such claims. And our researchers do have some understanding of the complexity of the subject. If I appeared to be defending the claim of the WhatsApp post then I’m sorry as that was not my intention. But I do take objection to your dismissive stance while research is still out in the open on the subject.

  10. Prabha Ramanujan Avatar
    Prabha Ramanujan

    Lovely to read your blog!

    But at least the headman can be excused for his ignorance. The Whatsapp forwarders are an ignoramus lot and can’t be excused.

  11. Reji Avatar
    Reji

    I liked the the unexpected ending of the blog

  12. Pushpa Avatar
    Pushpa

    Thoroughly enjoyed this, especially the whatsapp forwards.

  13. Vasudha Mantripragada Avatar
    Vasudha Mantripragada

    always a pleasure to read your blog. wonderful to see you back krish.

  14. Priya Arun (@PriAmbles) Avatar

    Happaadi! Good to have you back. Shouldn’t we call it an ‘Electric Post”? Loved the sweet story.

  15. PR Avatar
    PR

    Having quit social media for close to 3 months and just when I am entering into the FOMO zone and started thinking whether I should go back. This post came as a savior. Thanks to you and hope to se

    1. krishashok Avatar

      No one misses anything by being off social media.

  16. Sushma Avatar
    Sushma

    I actually deactivated my facebook account once, because too many people on my friends’ list believed Aurangzeb had spawned Nehru ( well, not precisely spawned, but you get my point). Arguing with them was like being sucked into a black hole, depleting me of precious time and energy.
    You did well to get off social media. Blog away! 🙂

  17. Poornima Avatar
    Poornima

    Great post ashok…and very good decision…sad that it took u 11 years to know that the wife is always right…wink wink…

  18. Rex Avatar

    I’ve decided that I’m going to take my wife’s advice and go back to blogging

    Best thing I’ve read all week!

    1. Harsha Avatar

      Same here!!

  19. Saffrontrail Avatar

    Comments are enjoyable.

  20. Ramanan Avatar
    Ramanan

    Hi Krish, Glad that you have started blogging again. Your posts are, as always, funny, interesting, informative and thought provoking.

  21. Avinash Avatar
    Avinash

    Thalaivar vantaar! Thank you for blogging again 🙂

  22. vana Avatar
    vana

    Lovely Read ..!

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