A High School in Kerala, 1992
On that December evening, the five of us were hanging out by the side of our high school playground, trying to thrash out an answer to that eternal argument that three generations of Malayalis have managed to keep alive:
“Who’s more awesome, Mohanlal or Mammootty?”
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers — that’s what we were.
Now, this was December ’92. Although we were in tranquil central Kerala, completely untouched by the communal poison cloud that had swept across India, our conversation soon turned to the recent demolition of Babri Masjid by RSS/BJP terrorists — we were still high school kids but nevertheless politically aware high school kids, typical of 1980s/90s Kerala.
Out of the blue, one of us — let’s call him “Gopi” for now — took a stance that attempted to justify, or perhaps rationalise the demolition of the mosque. The rest of us were downright shocked and reacted in a way people react when they accidentally step on fresh bovine excrement.
One of us — let’s call him “Jyothish” for now — reacted almost violently to what Gopi said and gave him a rather colourful tongue-lashing. Gopi piped down real quick.
Now, to my knowledge, neither Gopi nor anyone in his family were members of the RSS or any of the Sangh Parivar affiliated organisations. And yet, how did a 14/15-year-old middle-class Malayali kid think it was socially acceptable to take such a bigoted position, that too in the pre-internet era? The only logical conclusion is that Gopi might have been merely repeating the living room or dinner table conversations at home or at extended family gatherings.
What one’s social circles say or do in public, goes a long way in determining what is acceptable behaviour.
Also Read: Why We Shouldn’t Call our Communal Friends ‘Bigots’
In Gopi’s case, the almost-violent reaction from his primary social circle — his high school buddies with whom he spends the most part of any given week — overrode whatever license-to-show-bigotry that he picked up from elsewhere. The brick wall of nonacceptance that he barged into must have made him realise that bigotry might end up isolating him from his school friends.
Gopi made sure that he never sprouted communal shit, at least in front of us, until the end of our high school days, after which we all went different ways.
