What a sadistic pleasure!

Kajal Chatterjee
Why do the society feel immense sadistic pleasure on viewing the plight and humiliation of others or remain absolutely indifferent to their woes? As a matter of fact indeed how many people feel pain for the victims of Gujarat pogrom or the  survivors like Bilkis Bano? How many people try to perceive the pain which the teenager Junaid or middle aged Afrazul Khan had to undergo while being stabbed or burnt to death in Haryana or Rajasthan respectively! Do the general population attempt to perceive the deep wounds of the families of Mohammad Akhlaque or Pehlu Khan? How many privileged persons take care to understand the feelings and suffering of countless of vulnerable innocents who had to suffer so much while depositing/drawing money to/from  their own accounts following demonetisation which also robbed the livelihood of millions of wage earners and ruined the economy of innumerable marginal farmers? When hundreds were dying like cats and dogs in inhumanitarian bank queues or without treatment due to lack of "legal cash"; we were witness to the sermons of the privileged well resourced plastic money holders "enlightening" the sufferers from their own safe ivory towers to "sacrifice a bit" for the cause of the nation! By drawing "inspiration" from Narendra Modi, many had "certified" the hapless in the queues as "holders" of black money! Or let's take the NRC. Irrespective of religious affiliation, innumerable full fledged Indians indigenous to Assam are already languishing in detention camps in the charge or doubt of being "infiltrators", lakhs have not found their names in the NRC! Indeed existence of infiltrators is reality in Assam.  But do anybody appreciate in what compelling circumstances of hungry stomachs and/or communal fangs have those vulnerable people settled in India! Far from having an iota of compassion for them, just shrill cry of "India is not Dharmashala" and "Throw them out"!  So much rhetoric revolving "Basudhaiva Kutumbakam", yet no space for the practically stateless Rohingyas! Escaping Myanmar in  overcrowded boats, stranded between nations in high seas after getting thwarted by the concerned destination countries, kids to senior citizens in dire straits --- yet not a bit sympathy for them! In this pathetic state of affairs, what better can be expected in Kashmir front! I want to ask the dancing "nationalist" folks how would they have felt had their respective states were also divided into two unilaterally without any discussion and converted into Union Territories! How would they have felt if due to closedown, they would not have succeeded in taking their suffering own to hospitals for as crucial treatment as dialysis or chemotherapy! How would they have felt if they had lost contact with children studying in other states or parents back home! By remaining absolutely safe and secure at a far distance from economic social or political flames;  it is very easy to act "nationalist" in case of demonetisation to NRC to Kashmir, isn't it! It is true that only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches, but at least we can hear the cry of the wearer and feel sympathetic towards their pain! But no, isn't this the time of dark/black/grief tourism with selfie maniacs flooding the site of carnages deaths calamity and grief --- be it in Kolkata or Kathmandu,  a site of fatal accident or terrorism claiming several lives! What a sadistic pleasure to enjoy the sorry state of others!
Though I am not a bit personally responsible for what is happening all around, still my head and conscience simply hang down in shame and disgust after going through such cold indifference towards those who are in such pain. In these worst of times of enjoying humiliation of others; in these times of immersing in Space missions, Cricket,  blatant consumerism and festival related frenzy all around as if the refugees or ordinary Kashmiris simply do not exist; it seems I am also responsible for the state of affairs at least morally.
The writer is based in Kolkata