Opinion Matters?

 You know this. And I know this too. But this mutual appreciation or abhorrence won’t take us anywhere. Once I follow your work, do not expect me to follow your page. Better, do not ask me to like, comment and subscribe to your channel and share whichsoever jerry-rigged content you dash off. Yes. By the same token, you can stop reading further.

But if you still believe that ‘discourse’ is one of the most effective methods in academics, writing with care and simplicity matters, art is beautiful yet jarring at times by choice, or critical perception with subjective arguments are probiotics to your craft - scroll through.

The difference of opinion between you and me inevitably leads us to a difference of mind. We are not born to agree to disagree. Let us not pretend that we can count in myriad of perspectives and debates. In fact, we stare intensely at a sweet appreciation, and crave for a ‘like’ from our masters and friends, and so do they! If you believe you are doing better, you are growing, it is because the people around you say so. And it is like a network effect; it is reciprocal. You think you are open to discussion, only to get caught in a vortex of self-gratification.

A blockchain disowns an evolving or degrading block as it disrupts its inherent integrity and forces other blocks to be altered too. It is a secure and consecrated zone of beliefs and creeds. Keep your imagination restrained and mellow - you are taught so. Do you still dare to be different?

In reality, you heard how Bidhan Chandra Roy and Jyoti Basu were cordial to each other outside their political sphere or how Utpal Dutt and Rudraprasad Sengupta used to take a sip of tea in an earthen pot after a hot-headed verbal argument. But public memories are fluid and keep on altering in their most unprecedented twist. Historically, there are more shreds of evidence of how two brilliant minds were not only intellectually but also socially at loggerheads.

Patting each other on the back or being an ardent critic behind the back is not only limiting but detrimental to our expressive and illuminating vision. When our friends drag us back, let us understand our critics would call us for a moment and say that either of these directions is wrong. Stop, and reboot.

10 December 2022