[Reader-list]: the Act of leisure

[iram at sarai.net]

Dear aniruddha,

The core issue is not that pandu hawaldar was shooting
something akin to a shadi video of Taha, Bikas and
Gaurav in New Friends Colony community centre without
their permission. The point to ponder is exactly WHAT
he intends to do with the footage?  Will it be part of
a citizen profile library that anyone can access?

However you are absolutely right in believing that we
have equated the concept of leisure with freedom to
move around! In fact, I feel that freedom to move
around is far more important than any concept of
leisure. So, what is leisure? Is it a generic term? Is it individual? and 
is it different for economists/ sociologists/
psychologists and historians etc etc.?

Cheers,
Iram

PS: `dubiousness of means while shooting documentaries
or EFP’s”- It is an important issue  but is it central to
this discussion?

>
> Dear Iram,
>
> I was aware of the incident at CC but had not given it a serious thought
> until i read your posting. Let me explain why.
>
>
> Apparently your main accusation against the cop is not that he asked our
> friends to leave but that he was photographing them against their
> knowledge.If so, let me venture to say that ,that is something we are all
> guilty of.I think it is far more revealing to photograph people in
> informal
> settings, when they are unaware of it. Our celebrated media revels in
> it.How
> many times have we seen a Outlook or India Today capturing perfectly law
> abiding citizens in slightly uncomfortable and uncompromising situations?
>
>
> Starlets kissing, teenagers holding hands in Lodhi gardens..and so
> on.Havent
> we all resorted to a certain dubiousness of means while shooting
> documentaries or EFP’s?At least the cops usually will not (dare not),
> publicize their material.We can sue them if they try.That is not to say
> that
> I am defending the Delhi Police.Surely not! Our policemen are often
> uncooperative and sometimes a downright nuisance. However it is unfair to
> paint them entirely in black based on one incident.
>
> What I do not understand is what the aforementioned incident has to do
> with
> leisure. If that dumb cops’s point was to prevent people from hanging
> around
> after midnight then maybe there is some justification to it.Delhi is after
> all notorious for its late night crimes and coupled with the security
> threat
> is enough to make our callous authorities paranoid and even overreact
> perhaps. I think you are equating the concept of leisure with the freedom
> to
> move around.
>
> The point is that society at large ( my family included )
> will simply not be able to comprehend what we gained by strolling around
> late nights at CC, doing nothing in particular.There’s nothing wrong with
> that per se, its just that it does not fit in with societies concept of
> leisure. Of course if you are shooting late at night at CC , then the cops
> don’t bother, it’s a hard nights work after all!(I speak from personal
> experience).
>
> Leisure to my mind is entirely contextual..Leisure in the private sector
> is
> often a part of official policy. They are recreations formulated by the HR
> in an organization to help the employees de-stress and unwind , so that
> they
> can perform better and increase productivity. My friend who is working in
> American Express was asked to go to a resort in Rajasthan for a few days,
> as
> a ‘change of scene’.Any refusal to go would be met with frowns and
> disapproval.Another friend in TOI has a compulsory yoga session in the
> mornings on weekdays, due to which he has to reach office one hour
> earlier.Ad agencies are hosting an interoffice cricket tournament, with
> match practice on weekends,most schools have their own Extra Curricular
> Activities after school hours..the list is endless.
>
> Psychologists argue that such activities are necessary to broaden an
> employee’s horizon and keep him/her alert. Undoubtedly there are many who
> will consider this too as an invasion of privacy and examples of needless
> regulation.Thus its pretty clear that it is not the state alone which
> decides what leisure should consist of; rather every group, community or
> even society have their own conception of leisure which those outside the
> group may not approve of. One cannot have uninhibited freedom in a society
> bound by rules.
>
> And what about our immediate families? We may( and do) consider boozing
> late
> nights at CC as leisure, but both cops and our families will be in
> complete
> agreement, that it is an unwanted, destructive habit. Thus don’t our loved
> ones contribute to stereotypical notions of leisure as well? The
> authorities
> do what they do because they know that they have both legal and
> sociological
> sanction behind it.The solution is simple.You cannot change the state if
> you
> don’t change the mindset...
>
> aniruddha b
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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