India is Becoming a Nation of Duffers and We’re Evolving Back to the Neanderthal Stage: Avay Shukla

India is becoming a nation of duffers and we're evolving back to the neanderthal stage: Avay Shukla, Author 'Holy Cows and Loose Cannons: The Duffer Zone Chronicles' to Karan Thapar for The Wire

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In an interview to mark the publication of his recent collection of blogs called ‘Holy Cows and Loose Cannons: The Duffer Zone Chronicles’, Avay Shukla, who is arguably the country’s favourite blogger, says India could be becoming a nation of duffers and that we’re evolving back to the neanderthal stage. He says: “It is clear that the Indian side of the LAC is one big duffer zone all the way to Kanyakumari.” He also says: “Other countries evolve for the better, we have been consistently doing it for the worse, and are proud of it.”



This new collection comprises some fifty essays on a variety of different subjects but in each instance the Avay Shukla brand stands out. They are about our peccadilloes, our idiosyncrasies, our prejudices, our vices, our foibles and our misdemeanours. Some of them are serious, many are satirical, several are simply great fun to read.



Let me give you a taste of some of the things that have attracted Avay Shukla’s attention and his versatile pen. He is infuriated by Indians who suddenly turn against our Muslim culture and heritage. Of them he writes: “They have suddenly discovered God and find that He can only be a Hindu. After growing up on Mughlai food, listening to ghazals and qawalis, conversing in a language that has as many Urdu words as Hindustani, swooning over Dilip Kumar, Madhubala and Waheeda Rehman, saying wah wah to the poems of Ghalib and Gulzar … they have now concluded that these are evil influences, they threaten our Hindu sanskars and girls and the whole lot must be banished.”



Avay Shukla is also eloquently opposed to Resident Welfare Associations who have started trying to determine how their members must live and think. Of them he says: “They are gradually becoming the self-appointed gatekeepers of morality, culture and political discourse … the time is not far off when these busy bodies may determine what their members eat, how they dress, to which Gods they pray … why they may even insist that all their members vote for a particular party.”



The Kashmir Files is a film that has, in particular, provoked Avay Shukla’s anger. He’s extremely eloquent in his criticism of it as well as his critique of the way both the Central government and several state governments sought to promote the film.



However, don’t let me convey a wrong impression of this collection of blogs. Many of them are tongue-in-cheek. For instance, Avay Shukla applauds the use of black money in elections. Watch the interview to find out precisely what he says. And, of course, Avay Shukla says of himself: “I’m a congenital dog lover”. But he readily forgives those who do not consider a dog to be man’s best friend.



As you will see, I have carefully given you details of the subjects that Avay Shukla talks about but I have equally carefully shied away from giving you details of what he said. This is because you must hear Avay Shukla in his own words. Like his blogs, he is a memorable speaker.

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