Came across this story from a most improbable source, a finance chap. A bunch of scientists decided to put a bunch of monkeys together in a room with a step-ladder in the middle and some bananas on the top of the ladder. Every time a monkey would attempt to go up the ladder, the rest of the monkeys got sprayed with icy cold water. After a while, the moment a monkey attempted to climb the ladder, the rest of the bunch would get together and beat the poor fellow up. And in some time none of the monkeys even dared to attempt the pursuit. The scientists then turned off the sprinklers. A while later, the scientists replaced one of the monkeys with a chimpanzee. The poor fellow being the chimp he was made a bee-line for the fruit, and all of a sudden he was being dragged by the neck and beaten black and blue by the bunch. The poor fellow had no clue why, but after a couple of beatings he got the message. Another monkey got replaced by a chimpanzee and attempted the stunt. The result was the same...the remaining monkeys and even the first chimp got some good muscle training and our friend learned his lesson too. The experiment continued and one by one, a new member would join, get beaten his behinds off and turned, until every member of the initial squad had been replaced. Even then, none of the chimps was allowed a shot at the Banans. They all got used to the "way things are done" and accepted it without question.
And as I was listening to the story, images of Khap Panchayat Sarpanchs and pandits outside various Hindu temples swam before my eyes. People blindly performing random rituals, not even able to hear the rattling blabber of the priest, let alone make head and tail of it, or an old buffoon of a sarpanch passing diktats to mulish folks who have no idea why they had to listen to old farts who had absolutely no stake in the young lives they simply decided shouldn't begin. I have had the bad fortune of living amongst some of the worst exclusive societies in some of the most traditional (read backward) parts of the country (MP and Rajasthan of course). And it was amazing how some very well educated people were so over-ridden by the "traditional values" of their community (read caste) / religion and simply refused to question them. Well..monkey see...monkey do.
It was in some wild way perhaps acceptable if people followed their own set of values...after all it is within their rights to want to question a system or not....but the Khap Panchayats are a great example of how those flawed ideals have come to be demanded of others. Ok...so monkey see...monkey do...and monkey make the chimp do too!
Even more incredible is how we seem to have assumed that these values are indeed a matter of pride. And as if that wasn't enough...we completely ignore the incredible sorry state our religions and castes have led us down to and even claim that other societies are worse off for not being as stupid as we are. The best paraphrasing of this I remember was watching Swades and the specific sequence where a similar panchayat boastfully declared that Amercia didn't have Sanskars and we did. So we went one more step...we prided ourselves in our blind ridiculousness and claimed superiority over peoples who have done far better on almost all indexes than us. In fact....while the world is attempting to become inclusive....our Marathi brigade would have us throw out all Biharis. No one questions why only Biharis...how about throwing out Gujjus, Marwaris and Parsis...? They are outsiders too, but the very backbone of Mumbai's riches! No one would question the hypocrisy!
Congratulations. We have surpassed monkeys too!
And as I was listening to the story, images of Khap Panchayat Sarpanchs and pandits outside various Hindu temples swam before my eyes. People blindly performing random rituals, not even able to hear the rattling blabber of the priest, let alone make head and tail of it, or an old buffoon of a sarpanch passing diktats to mulish folks who have no idea why they had to listen to old farts who had absolutely no stake in the young lives they simply decided shouldn't begin. I have had the bad fortune of living amongst some of the worst exclusive societies in some of the most traditional (read backward) parts of the country (MP and Rajasthan of course). And it was amazing how some very well educated people were so over-ridden by the "traditional values" of their community (read caste) / religion and simply refused to question them. Well..monkey see...monkey do.
It was in some wild way perhaps acceptable if people followed their own set of values...after all it is within their rights to want to question a system or not....but the Khap Panchayats are a great example of how those flawed ideals have come to be demanded of others. Ok...so monkey see...monkey do...and monkey make the chimp do too!
Even more incredible is how we seem to have assumed that these values are indeed a matter of pride. And as if that wasn't enough...we completely ignore the incredible sorry state our religions and castes have led us down to and even claim that other societies are worse off for not being as stupid as we are. The best paraphrasing of this I remember was watching Swades and the specific sequence where a similar panchayat boastfully declared that Amercia didn't have Sanskars and we did. So we went one more step...we prided ourselves in our blind ridiculousness and claimed superiority over peoples who have done far better on almost all indexes than us. In fact....while the world is attempting to become inclusive....our Marathi brigade would have us throw out all Biharis. No one questions why only Biharis...how about throwing out Gujjus, Marwaris and Parsis...? They are outsiders too, but the very backbone of Mumbai's riches! No one would question the hypocrisy!
Congratulations. We have surpassed monkeys too!
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