Art ,I always was taught to believe, should be interpreted the way one chooses to. I like to call this "syndrome" among us Indians as the "one answer syndrome".
We like to believe that there is only one correct answer to every problem. It is a strange irony that in a country where religions, cultures, civilisations have coexisted for ages , there exists a system which teaches the millions of children that there is only one true solution to every problem. A child does not have the freedom to interpret a painting the way he wants to. A young boy has to interpret the works of Tagore, Ghalib, Premchand the way it has been described in a "guide book"!!!!
This dangerous trait of our education system has been clearly reflected in our political system. How many times have we seen political parties opposing eachother just because their ideologies do not match??? How many times do we see the opposition leaders protesting good policies just for the sake of maintaining their status of being an "opposition"????
We need to learn to accept an alien ideology. We need to learn to coexist and grow together. Our country needs an "opposition" that "supports" the government when it is required.
26/11 was one incident that made us hang our heads in shame. The dirty mud slinging, terrible statements from opposition leaders proved the fact that this "one answer syndrome" is deep rooted in our culture now.
We do not know how to accept a different solution to the same problem. We do not know how to accept personal failure. As the future of this country it is our duty to change this trend. Our next generation should now have the freedom to think and look for solutions. They should not be forced to accept the "one answer" to the "one problem".
We need minds and not recorders.
-----[This write up was previously posted in Deshnirman.]
he he....i wonder if ever Blake was asked to reanalyse and explain about his own works....he might have come up with an alltogether different interpretation of his work which he might have created with another perspective in mind...n i guess thats what made me hate the subject literature so badly...all we were supposed to do was mug up n vomit....only after class VIII...(i do still remember ..wrote an essay on 'Mtv culture'...which was really appreciated by our teacher Madhushree Kirti)... did i realize that some teachers were open to new ideas while others were still the "gora brahmins" of the old skool of thought...n after that i thought do hell with them...i will write what i feel n think...but alas it resulted in poor marks in all the vernacular subjects almost throuout my student life :( ...
ReplyDeletei wont go into politics now... but one answer syndrome will be here to stay...n if you have power in your hand you will find that your answer is the ONLY ONE RIGHT ANSWER.... :)
Maybe One answer syndrome is here to stay....
ReplyDeleteBut as John Lennon once said
You may call me a dreamer........But am not the only one :)