Ponderings of A Proclaimed Mugwump-Need for Positive Politics

Mugwump- is a term which stands out because of its peculiar sound, if you do not know the meaning, and stands out for the liberating meaning, if you understand the meaning of it. I came across this term while reading the The Autobiography of Mark Twain , wherein he wanted to petition the government and hesitated on account of being a Mugwump.

The term finds first usage in the English of Eighteenth Century and refers to one who is free of political inclination and derives its origin from the reference made to the Republican who refused to support his own party nominee in 1884, US elections, James Blaine. By the team, Mark Twain used it in his autobiography, it referred to someone independent of political leanings.

The term is confusing in pronunciation and meaning, though in today's time of political turmoil and quicksand ideology, to be a mugwump seems to be only reasonable political affiliation. Which party would you stand with when you do not know what ideology they stand for. The party in power resembles so much those out of it, that it is only minor difference in the level of arrogance which differentiates.

In times of turmoil, it is always better to build your own cocoon and stay in that, with a hope that some day the grey will melt into black and white on the either side and you will know which side to stand on. These are times of shifting loyalties and unclear convictions. To be stupid is alleviating and to be intellectual is a recipe for mental trauma. The world around us has lost balance, and its no wonder we don't know which way to head.

We are brought up to believe in a world in which the right and wrong, the just and the unjust, co-exist and the world stabilizes and prospers in the middle of these forces and counter-forces, which strike an equilibrium. The citizen today is at loss because there is no positive to counter-balance the negatives any longer. The negatives are responded to with negatives. The riots at the behest of one side of the political world, is responded by belligerent posturing by the other side. One man's inflation is other man's theatre.

How many times do we find, opposition parties travel to riot hit areas and set up camps to ensure restoration and rehabilitation? Inflation hits the poor, and the food on the plate goes scarce, but then on the street we find the theatre of absurd, with opposition leaders dancing with garland of tomatoes, highlighting scarce vegetables. Citizen is at loss, unable to understand who is being mocked, the party in power or the poverty of people. Are they blind to understand that the world needs balance and negative can not be countered with negative? When will we find them setting up food camps, emptying their ill-gotten election funds, thus creating a force of positive.

The light has to come in to fight darkness, you can not counter dark with more dark or funny dark. The world seeks the light and the political class is failing it. Violence needs to be answered with sanity and huger with prosperity. It is a difficult task, but is only hope that we as a nation have. Till then, I proudly continue to be a mugwump and the disease is spreading. You can not shame people into participating in the political process, you need to give them hope that things can change. We need to grow from the politics of protest to the politics of persuasion and progress.

I, being a mugwump, do not usually write on politics, not that anybody cares, but sometimes it gets too much and has to come out. Writing about desperate situations do not make them better, but it gives a moral satisfaction of blurting out my mind, with a hope that may be someone will listen. Your views??

Writer's Block- A Moment of Self-Doubt

I almost gave up writing for good seven to eight years. A period during which I wrote nothing but office mails and minutes of meetings and contracts and such things, dreary and dull, devoid of any beauty or romance. I would write in my mind, sentences getting written and erased in my mind. I quit smoking right at the turn of the century and the glamor of smoke forming poetry in the air to be scribbled with urgency was lost. So I did not write, until couple of years back a sense of loss, a scary thought of dying with all my thoughts faced me. Something told me I had it in me. It used to be fun. It used to be exceptionally fun in good old, pre-computer days when I would write on a paper with my pen. I felt that I was living half my life, with a half a me, the half which carried the truer sense of me, stifled and locked inside me. I would be loud, obvious, and laugh with the crowd which obliterated and belittled the intensity of thought. I laughed with a voice which scar...

The Politics of Language- Rekhta

Languages live and die with human interests. Language does not have with in it to carry itself through public apathy. Language cannot survive vacuum and apathy. One of the biggest loss of the 21 st century is the death of languages. While technology has been one cause of it, religious appropriation and attribution is another important reason. Suddenly we have Latin for Christians, Sanskrit for Hindus and Urdu for Muslims. Absolutist religions have brought clash of civilization to our doorsteps. This reflects in the election of Donald Trump in the US and the books on Islamic supremacy being in best-sellers in France. It is not totally unfounded. Technology connects the mankind in unprecedented manner. Therefore, famines of Bengal in 18 th and 19 th century could not cause mass transfer of humanity from Asia to Europe nor could most bloody of wars in 7 th century push people westwards, as much as it could today. One can easily call names to people who are simplistic and intelle...

Disjointed Thoughts On Writing- Blog Post on Writing

Writing in itself is a difficult task. No one wants anyone to write. Still people write. Some write expertly and leave their work for the posterity, some write shoddily, struggling like yours truly, and await readers. I try to write, as routinely as possible, if nothing else. I have been struggling with getting the manuscript of my collection of stories readied for publishing. Writing is easy. Being a writer is not. I have been struggling to edit the stories. There is a wonderful book- The Writer's Journal - by Virginia Woolf, which I keep going back to, now and then. No one impresses the difference between knowing how to write and writing better than Ms. Woolf. "..I think writing must be formal. The art must be respected." writes Ms. Woolf. I have come to realize how hard it is as I am editing my stories and trying to reach what could be a perfect name for the collection. However, the entire travel for a week could not find me finishing the task at hand. ...

NavDharmyug

Search This Blog