Things go viral; that is the way of the world. A man from Mumbai predicted through Twitter, a self goal in the world cup and he was the epicenter one week back. Last week, the focus was on little Katie, the daughter of a simple Google staff. This Katie learned that her Dad is not likely to get a leave on his birthday on Wednesday. She might have dreamt a pleasant outing or an entertaining get-together. She did not know who or what Google is. However, she took a piece of paper and wrote to Google: “Dear Google Worker, Can you please make sure when daddy goes to work, he gets one day off. Like he can get a day off on Wednesday. Because daddy only gets a day off on Saturday. From Katie. P.S. It is Daddy’s BIRTHDAY. P.P.S. It is summer, you know.”
As she expected, she was replied, “Dear Katie, Thank you for your thoughtful note and request. Your father has been hard at work designing many beautiful and delightful things for Google and millions of people across the globe. On the occasion of his Birthday, and recognizing the importance of taking some Wednesdays off during the summer, we are giving him the whole first week of July as vacation time. Enjoy!” If people across the world generally think of expressing appropriately what they need, I think India is distinct and no little girl in India is likely to try such a chance. One of the prime reasons why Indians fail to reach their goals is that they refuse to express what they really intend. Even educated guys reserve their plans and do not share it with others. How shall the Universe know what they mean? The one who wishes to set something need to speak it out at every chance he has. It makes a difference because it is not the person who truly creates what he/she intends, it is the Universe. The Universe picks up what we mean only when we speak on our plans aloud in present simple tense.
Article 19 of Constitution of India guarantees freedom of speech. In fact, Indians are not that free but are highly restricted. Insulting other religions or beliefs is an offense according to section 295 of Indian Penal Code; defamation is denied through section 499 (India is one among the few countries in which defamation is a criminal offense); hate speech is prohibited through section 153(a) and finally section 124(a) controls offensive messages. Truly speaking, public responses in India are highly restricted by the Constitution. But, no Sections or Clauses in Indian Constitution restrict anyone’s freedom of expressing his/her needs, intentions or wants. Still, we love to reserve our freedom to express ourselves and India deserves the title of ‘Republic of Throttled Expressions’. Why not we practice the art of legibly expressing our intentions and utilizing our freedom of fair speech?
Joseph Mattappally
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