SLAVERY, SPELT WITH A 'C'

 

Slavery, Spelt With A ‘C’

I thought I was born free…
But you want me to remain enslaved
From the cradle to my grave.

I thought I was born free…
To lead my life, mindful of the mundane
Overawed by the ordinary
Rejoicing in a relationship with the meaningful
Pursuing the banality of mere happiness.

My happiness is…
Greeting the waking sun with surya namaskars
Inhaling the pleasance of petrichor
Talking to plants in the garden
In the company of curious avians, eavesdropping.
Conversations at the kirana store
Sparking the joy with a spring clean
Supper with family around the table
These are all my favourite things.
What a loser!... you say “What have you achieved?”
 

You see, you and I view matters very differently.
Your success is slave to my success
Your happiness is slave to my success
But my happiness is not slave to my success
Which is not music to your ears.

 If I spent my life in perpetuity
On the hedonic treadmill
Always competing… married to work
Addicted to the relentless quest for success
That would please you!

From gold stars in kindergarten to star employee
To five-stars ratings for my app,
For my food delivery… for my taxi ride
You’d have me hooked on praise
Addicted to the dopamine fix of ‘Likes’
Fearing failure, perpetually unsatisfied
And incapable of happiness.

I’m the broiler
Fatted for market, by the market
On the poultry feed of discounts,
Buy-one-get-one and cash back.
You’re most comfortable when I most consume.

I only matter when I ‘buy-in’
To your promises of Utopia in 4K
Screaming from the front page of my morning paper
Validating my success by the television, I own
And the version of my Apple phone ... no other
My single leaf high grown tea
And the market value of my gated community.

My success ...
Drives the profit hungry algorithms
Feeding your Frankenstein
To bottle my water, modify my food
Pollute my air supply, plasticize the oceans
Mine the planet mindlessly
And mine my mind for data
All for the sake of my convenience and comfort.

I'm no more an individual… not even human
Not a citizen with rights…merely a consumer,
Undeserving of a full form
Minimized to UX and UI
I consume; therefore, I am
Else, I don't exist.

You want me shackled in a wireless world
Cocooned in an invisible web
Conditioned to exist in virtual cellitude,
Anesthetized of my senses
Severed from the sights and sounds of reality
Bound by unlimited bandwidth
And the unlimited freedom to consume.
Cajoled along, on the carousel of convenience.

You’d have me spend every waking moment
In the vice of some device
Genuflecting towards its window
Frozen in the seductive glow of enlightenment
Of the Holy Trinity
Where I must only…
Amazon and I shall receive,
Google and I shall find,
Facebook and it shall be opened unto me.

I refuse to be your social lab rat
Liking, Clicking, Tagging, Sharing and Re-tweeting.
Sold for ads; writing my own destruction.

I will not be the fattened calf
For your feast at the high table of capital.
You’re welcome to remain incensed
Calling me Communist!
When what I’m saying, makes common sense.
 

If there’s anything more I can do
To bring your Frankenstein to its knees
Sending your maleficence into free fall without a parachute
It would provide me much happiness, to please.

No more using my car, I’m going to cycle instead
No more processed food, I’ll bake my own bread
No more using my mind against me
Peddling the cocaine of virtual reality
I am not ‘user’ or ‘product’ for your profit
And the carnage it is causing.

Freedom will only find true meaning
When we’re emancipated from slavery
That’s spelt with a ‘C’


©2020 Ranjan Kamath