Witcher Hunt in 2020 India

“Choose the lesser evil”- a frightening command from both sides of battle, attempting to compel the humanitarian assassin. Last night, I watched the pilot for the show ‘The Witcher’. An interesting choice for the first day of the new decade. I wouldn’t say that it’s a class apart when it comes to mythological analogies but it was a light, cinematic reminder of the hero’s journey. “This is destiny”, said one too many people who either lost or were killed. You may think that this introduction seems like a television review but its just a Piscean soul linking a scene with what seems like a terrifying six months to cloud India in 2020. This is me wishing everyone a happy new year as we aim for strength and unity to guide us through these divisive times.

In December 2019, a law titled the “Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019” (“CAA”) was passed by both houses of Parliament, currently thriving on the Government having a sweeping majority and an insignificant opposition. Having formally studied the law and having a fair understanding of public law, international relations and public international law, I still faced a large dilemma as to how to react to something that is right but is nuanced just enough to escape its righteousness and cause chaos through poor translation.

The Witcher reignited an important reality. I’d like to go into it just a tad bit to add some more analogical promise to Geralt of Rivia — a monster hunter’s hero journey, and perhaps my own. You have two sides avenging their own beliefs — the Magician and the Princess. The Magician believes that said Princess has been mutated by her mother (Lilit) and is a weapon of mass destruction. The Princess can control minds and has perfected swords(wo)manship, ensuring that everything in her path is obliterated. The Princess, on the other hand, believes herself to be a persecuted victim for her mutations, who was raped and left for dead by the Magician’s men, and was merely trying to avenge her pain and continue surviving.

Of course, Geralt as a neutral assassin embodying stealth and prowess, is approached by both, the Magician and the Princess, to assist in protecting the lesser evil and ensuring balance. While I do think Henry Cavill is ever-gorgeous, his response was so much more — soulful, ever-essential and hopeful. He said, “when I am asked to choose between two evils, I prefer not to choose.” When I first heard this, I had an instant crush on him. A few minutes later, I considered him as someone who took the easier path.

Next, we see him conversing with the Princess. He asks, “Are you a monster?” She realises that he’s cornering her into acknowledging that her being vengeful is, in itself, a trait of a monster. I couldn’t adjust to that idea completely but I did feel something move inside me. While this deserves a completely different analysis on my views on justice and abuse, him asking her to leave town and forget her vengeance was undeniably profound. He said that the only way to start living was to be free.

The difficulty is recognising what is evil. Our hero, Geralt, speaks to his horse about the first time he had to face a similar predicament. He once was weary and he chose “the lesser evil”. At this former impasse, he couldn’t see himself as a victor or a protector of the innocent. He considered himself a monster.

We see a being who understands the individuality of consciousness and understands that everybody has weaknesses and strengths. Depending on the view one takes, anybody could be a monster. It would appear that he believes that any side-oriented fight, proposing violence as a solution to “uphold a value system”, or give “victory to the greater good” was a choice he vowed to avoid.

A few more minutes later, I realised that it was never about Geralt taking an easier path because, if he so wished, he could’ve killed both of them. You see, he genuinely embodied stealth and prowess but, he was a humanitarian (or ‘beingatarian’ in this complex multi-being world). In the few moments that he let himself slide under her kindness, he let her in decisively. While he knew he was releasing control, he was aware that he could not be harmed.

He was, of course, off-course. Now interrupted by the Princess, he was first seduced and later given a message through psychokinesis that would guide him to the place where she would finally avenge her pain. She wasn’t interested in his ideas on survival, strength and nobility.

You may disagree with my view on the CAA but it remains irrelevant. Your dissonance and my view are not threatening as we continue to remain non-violent. What upsets me is the chaos. The abuse behind opaque communication nuanced to mobilise mob-interests and the absolute lack of any humanitarian agenda through this past one month has been astonishing to say the least. Not a single voice has been loud enough to admonish the attacks on humanity. The voices continue to persist and highlight the “Hindutva fascism” or the “anti-Muslim” consciousness. It’s as though people have forgotten that ‘divide and rule’ was a thought that won amongst weak persons and not a tool that always wins amongst all. If people are to learn from their mistakes, they would not repeat their fate by doing everything that ignited the same result 60 years ago.

In real-time, this pilot reminded me that a man who follows signs with the view that it is his destiny to make a mark, prophesising accurate values, is a lesser man. Today, we see this approach from both wings of society. What troubles me is that these wings are not divided based on economic or sociological approaches but are divided on religious views. What further breaks me is that the larger wing is gaining stronger momentum because the minority wing fails to realise that their accentuation of religious identity is only assisting the drift. What hurts more is how the majority wing has won the hearts of the weak who cling onto their religious identity as their only source of community with such ease. We persist to economise religion, thus increasing dependency. After 60 years, have we not yet learnt to revere nothing other than non-violent skills or interests, education and humanity in community?

I have a serious problem with any organisation that evangelises religion or bases its wars on religious identity. This is not because religion is unimportant to me but because religion is only important at a very personal level - to keep one’s own heart & mind in some semblance of sanity. It provides hope & faith, not because one reveres a particular identity but because it gives you a rule-book that disciplines your daily affairs and adds routine. The moment it surpasses this duty and becomes a tool that hoards and breeds, it’s dangerous. Spirituality is individual and the moment you believe another without it resonating with yourself, you aren’t awake. You are just a foot-soldier.

I could never be a foot-soldier for such a cause as it would defeat the entire concept of a person choosing beliefs for himself. Am I against a community that enjoys coffee over similar views of the heart? No. Similar to sexual attraction, book clubs and liking RnB, these things are precious and need community. Though, if you have a sexual community like Osho did, one does think that the moment a community turns into a self-preservatory bundle, you are beginning to become a cult. It could be safe but it could also lead to mass-murder because of a violent propaganda, unrelated to your alleged daily coffee/bed agenda. Any view can turn from club to mob when you choose to mobilise it negatively. Religion being used for this is the dirtiest trick in the book.

Collateral damage is not the concern of most leaders in history but, if it were the concern of both wings because they are people, it would prove that the solutions that have been found as of date are poor and are assisting all vested interests. The problem isn’t with our constitutional right to protest but it is the voice that is loudest at a protest. If that voice fails all rationale behind the protests in the first place, we have failed to mobilise productively. Then, it is not consciousness but mass mob-ideology that is speaking.

I won’t be surprised if “WeSupportCCA” wasn’t just an IT Cell error but a ruse for further protest. I confess that I have also seen some appalling, sensationalised views from the other wing too that have caused more fear & distress than share a message of genuine pain. This isn’t to undermine all those voices that are sharing information regarding the on-ground atrocities being committed. This is a reminder that we must continue to protect rational views, fact-collection and disallow any action that leads to suppression of communication. We cannot afford more loss under the garb of police order. However, don’t antagonise aimlessly only because you want to be a part of something.

Geralt of Rivia finally kills all who attack him. He prepares for zero-offence but he has spent time and energy to be capable of flawless defence. He plays a game of sword-Aikido with the Princess, begging her to concede and part in peace. She refuses and meets her fate. Nature will find its way to teach all abusers their lessons. What I fear is the number of people who are harmed in blind-faith of the fact that they are being abused or that they are successful abusers. May Geralt of Rivia give us all the strength to find humanity in these difficult times and protect all who face unwarranted violence and restriction.

(If he turns out to be difficult in future episodes or the books, don’t be nasty to me. I’m digesting life episodically and we’ll unwind future-knots softly. Hate is a dangerous premise.)

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