Galaxy: Us and Them
Like twenty or under twenty somethings we liked to keep an uncomplicated view of life. It is not customary for people in the age as us to be burderned with the politics of grey zones, overlapping boundaires and fragmented society. We kept it simple. Our world was divided into two zones - us and them. As we entered the lush green campus of kanpur we were slotted into two different hostels - Hall II and Hall III. I entered Hall III and got introduced to the very simple social classification - those on the left hand side of the lawn tennis court were 'us' and those on the right side were them ( or vice versa depending on which side of the road you stand and look ).
Us and Them . A simple idea. The classicial dichotomoy one finds in any conflict worth its salt - from colonial struggles to presidential contests, the most interestring battles have been between the powerful two. There have been instances of multiples clases, and complex conflicts between these multiple classes, but somehow they never seem to capture the forces of the 'Us' and 'Them' conflict. You have one enemy and all your energy and passion is directed towards defeating that one enemy. Uncomplicated. There are no multiple targets, no varying degrees of enemity and friendships, no differing premiums on victories in different battles. And that is also why glaalxy was so fierce. There were no disctractions involved. We knew our enemy, our strenght and their weakness, we knew our battleground, we knew when we will fight, we knew for how long we will fight. We knew everything.- except who will be holding that shiled in their hands - 'us' or 'them'?
Us and Them . A simple idea. The classicial dichotomoy one finds in any conflict worth its salt - from colonial struggles to presidential contests, the most interestring battles have been between the powerful two. There have been instances of multiples clases, and complex conflicts between these multiple classes, but somehow they never seem to capture the forces of the 'Us' and 'Them' conflict. You have one enemy and all your energy and passion is directed towards defeating that one enemy. Uncomplicated. There are no multiple targets, no varying degrees of enemity and friendships, no differing premiums on victories in different battles. And that is also why glaalxy was so fierce. There were no disctractions involved. We knew our enemy, our strenght and their weakness, we knew our battleground, we knew when we will fight, we knew for how long we will fight. We knew everything.- except who will be holding that shiled in their hands - 'us' or 'them'?
Us and Them. Two tribes. Two soceities. Two nations ? (And here i launch into a slef indulgent social analysis.... those who prefer anecdotal material and prefer to draw inferences on their own are advised to skip)....
{ In progress ]
posted by Abhishek @ 8:24 PM
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