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Witerati | Phir bhi AI overkill hai Hindustani
Little surprise then that the new freedoms Digital India could be craving for are these --- freedom from the invasion of privacy, freedom from an overdose of social media exposure, freedom from the fast and furious life in the fast lane, and all that
It’s that time of the year again when the nation scrambles out of its business of living life in the fast lane to pause fleetingly for flaunting patriotic fervour on the sleeves of tokenism.
Miniature Tricolours flap left, right and centre --- on the underbelly of Urbanising India that are the traffic lights and roundabouts-turned-open-air slums, where undernourished urchins, thrusting mass-manufactured symbols of India’s freedom upon the half shut and reluctant car windowpanes of the rich and famous, are a grim reminder that even on the 76th R-Day, there still looms large that divide on the dividers. The divide between the haves and have-nots.
Tricolour tokenism also parades upon car dashboards, corporate cubicles of India Inc, on smartphone screensavers, on the Versace to Vero Moda “modaas” and sleeves of Mall goers.
It’s another matter that this year the Republic Day pomp and pageantry, of battalions to bands, is drowned by the din of another orchestra.
Albeit an orchestra that hardly spells music to the ears, rather sounds discordant and deafening. The Capital’s pomp and pomposity of Tol Mol ke Troll for poll.
Freedoms to thrive on
That time of the year, nonetheless, when we ritualistically express our gratitude for freedoms we thrive on.
Take the Right to Freedom of Speech. Sample some new-age scenarios.
Passersby in a public park snapping back with swag when a concerned citizen chides them for littering the place with their Lays or Haldiram snack wrappers: “Hey, Ms Swachh Bharat, why don’t you pick them yourself if you are so concerned!!!”
A different freedom of speech at work, elsewhere.
The bai wrinkling her nose disdainfully in Big B fashion, reminiscent of “Main aaj bhi phenke huye paise nahin uthhata,” when you palm off your old phone to her, petulantly proclaiming thus: “Madam ji, hum puraana phone nahin lete. Bete ne naya order kiya hai on Flipkart.”
Gen Z progeny constituting OTT-fixated Young India telling family elders, who deign to prod them to ditch Netflix one day and switch instead to Republic Day parade on TV, something smacking of freedom of speech on these lines.
“You gotta be kidding. Not even Sunil ‘Guthhi’ Grover and Kapil Sharma crack such jokes.”
Freedoms to strive for
Republic Days now come and go heralding newer forms of colonisations each season.
Colonisations of our minds, lifestyles, social spaces, Cyberia and all that.
Republic Day, thus, also spells yearning for newer forms of freedoms.
Freedom from the invasion of privacy.
The biggest coloniser of recent times is none other than Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is virtually the proverbial new Big Brother looming over the landscape. Waiting, watching, warning.
Sample a scenario of AI’s recent invasion.
Celebrity couple Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, in order to protect their right to privacy, recently invited the paparazzi to their place to meet and greet their newborn daughter, Dua Padukone Singh. They implored the Paps to respect one explicit request --- Not to click pics of the newborn.
The paps may have shown respect and restraint.
But beware, “Big Brother” AI was watching the show too. Soon enough, bombarding Cyberia were AI-generated images of Dua, left right and centre(stage).
So much for the right to privacy!
Little surprise then that the new freedoms Digital India could be craving for are these --- freedom from the invasion of privacy, freedom from an overdose of social media exposure, freedom from the fast and furious life in the fast lane, and all that.
The curious case of AI’s re-release of “Woh Kaun Thhi”.
chetnakeer@yahoo.com
