Caught in the rut of rituals

We are a country of rituals. No we are not talking about the religious rituals that may or may not bring spiritual nirvana but those that we create along the way as culture evolves. Often they become the formulae for any kind of formal occasion and are followed through 'religiously' mainly because we have forgotten that beautiful, ethereal thing called imagination.

Am I being too vague? Well that is part of the disease – we are all too caught up in platitudes and euphemisms, generalizations and jargon that sound kind of important but ultimately, mean precious little. What pray tell, are we trying to convey when we say "we must raise awareness through capacity building and participatory action so that our programmes are goal oriented"? Jargon is no doubt, a good way to create enough fluff to evade prickly questions like 'who is going to pay for this and who really benefits'. 

Oh dear I am digressing, which, by the way, is also as ritualistic as having that mandatory piece of toast with your cup of tea for breakfast. We rarely come to the point, preferring instead, to go all over town before reaching the destination. This is especially true for the Chief Guest of any function, who will say he will keep his speech at a bare minimum but then becomes completely mersmerised by the sound of his own voice emanating from the microphone, prompting him to carry on a good half an hour evoking tedious, irrelevant anecdotes; and if he is a politician, making obsequious observations about his party and leader.

Which brings us back to the real point of this conversation – rituals. While it is the endless number of  seminars, workshops and inaugural programmes that keeps us going, we are also hell-bent on making these programmes as ritualistic (read hackneyed) as possible. The story has it that a good few years ago, during a book launch, a photographer, bored out of his mind with the series of speeches on a book he had zero interest in, decided that the best way to shoot would be to line up the speakers, including the eminent writer, and make them hold the book. Of course all the other photographers thought this was a brilliant idea, especially since it meant taking one single shot and calling it a day. Hence, the thousands of pictures we see of book launches that look like line ups at a police station to identify the culprit. No matter what the book is about or who has written it or which celebrity has come to talk about it – this is the only pose acceptable to the photographers as a 'launching pose', diligently complied with by the participants. Funnily enough, a similar pose can be seen of suspected militants or drug smugglers who are for some strange reason, 'displayed before the media'. Here, instead of a book, the suspects (who have not yet been convicted in a court) will be standing in front of their booty whether they be biscuits of gold or a medley of grenades, bombs and the obligatory jihadi books. 

Speaking of posing, nothing beats the ritualistic Facebook poses that signifies the whole point of dressing up. It is now a requirement for women especially, when they go to any function, dinner or outing, to line up sideways (so that they look slimmer) stomachs and faces sucked in, with smiles that usually show no teeth, for the FB post that may look identical to another hundred posts with different faces – and of course saris. The cost of clothing has significantly gone up these days as no one wants to repeat a sari on an FB post. Taking selfies with important people is another mandatory ritual at international events, though many times the VIP looks embarrassed, awkward or downright grumpy while the person taking the selfie sports a smug, slightly demented grin.

At public places therefore, people tend to be less interested in taking in their surroundings or even interacting with each other and more preoccupied with trying to find the best spot and expression for an FB post.

There are other more solemn occasions where ritualistic behaviour takes on ridiculous proportions. Take the placing of wreaths at memorials on particular days. This simple gesture of showing respect to the dead has been reduced to a circus act with members of various organisations or parties rudely shoving each other to fit into the cameraperson's frame. The crude floral arrangements with wire that threads the flowers together are suffocated by the big banners displaying the name of the organisation whose members are so desperate to be in the 8 o clock news. It is the same during press conferences with the actual speaker being squashed from all sides by random people showing the V sign who just want to be on TV. 

So why are we so mired in stereotypical practices that add little value to our lives and only serve to make them excruciatingly duller, uninspiring and devoid of meaning? Perhaps it is a reluctance to try anything new, to break the status quo. Perhaps it is sheer laziness that makes us stick with whatever has been dished out. Whatever the reason, unless we pull ourselves from this rut and inject some spontaneity and innovation into our lives we are in danger of being like those machines that do the same thing, the same way, over and over again. 

The writer is Deputy Editor, Editorial and Opinion, The Daily Star.