Facts, Fears and Freedom

Dread, angst, a nameless but persistent fear – so many of us have become pretty much accustomed to living our lives with these and other emotions that come under the catch all label of “anxiety.”

If you are in the shower and your mind is running like a ticker tape that contains news of a falling bridge, the gang rape and murder of a teenager in some city or town or village, devastating floods in some part of your country or Nepal, and the continuing genocide in Gaza, then you are only a typical 21st century adult. While all this may suggest that the world has become a much more terrifying place for you than it was for your ancestors, there is a more fundamental difference at play. Yes, some awful events did take place earlier, even though climate change had not begun to show its worst effects, but your ancestors did not know about all these grief inducing bits of news for a major portion of their day.   

Today, when your mobile phone has almost become a part of your anatomy, as pointed out by Danish Sait in one of his telling reels, you go to sleep with some horrors pinging in your brain, wake up to another few, and negotiate your day’s tasks trying to draw comfort from cat and dog videos, comic reels, or games on your phone. And so it goes on, as you scroll on to the next day.

Of course, interspersed with all the terror inducing news and palliative amusements, you are also being offered mindfulness and tranquillity workshops, coaching for all manner of life situations, and spiritual takes by land grabbing gurus. If none of this has yet succeeded in making you feel more confident and comfortable in this world, or even, in your own skin, Rachita Taneja aka Sanitary Panels’ book Touching Grass will bring definite dividends.

The first and most important way this book makes you sit up and take note is of course, the sharp and unfailingly accurate comics. That sense of relief you feel as you recognize the bigot rifling through trash and dustbins, filing cabinets and people’s personal effects, looking for something that will hurt his religious sentiments, is very real. You laugh out loud, feeling reassured that such a vile and destructive species of person is being clocked and catalogued.

The second way that it delivers immediate help is by articulating concerns about the world around us that bring a clear perspective. We are all inured to that oft-repeated phrase, “Data is the new oil,” highlighting how data mining by large corporations that collect, process and monetize our personal information is what makes them so powerful. But we don’t know how we are to hold out against this encroaching power without dropping out of ordinary living. Well, it so happens, all the text portions of the book are taking us to the path of resistance to algorithmic manipulations. Rachita Taneja cites Bo Burnham, the comedian who pointed out with complete truth how social media hungry for engagement is trying to colonize every minute of our lives. She then takes us further, to touch grass and stay connected to offline reality, to see the patterns of exploitation and how the manufacturing of misery for some is being done solely to ensure the absence of any discomfort for others. Finally, she brings us to the threshold where reaching out, and strengthening communities is the way for us to make life more bearable and real.

Reminding us that,

“In challenging times like these, when it feels like we’re sliding backwards, we can’t get fragmented. We can’t take our online outcry as a substitute for organised action. We can’t settle for just moral victories…”

she provides practical and doable examples of what we can do right here, right now.

If you’re looking for one thing to give your brain something to munch on, raise a chuckle, stiffen your spine, and celebrate your freedom, Touching Grass works.