The ‘Complex’ Lives of Vedan and Sarada

Nowadays, many are leading a very complex life, knowingly or unknowingly. The word “complex” is a polysemous word — it has multiple meanings based on context. The first meaning that can be assigned to the word ‘complex’ is a psychological condition involving deeply rooted feelings, usually of inferiority or inadequacy. The said inferiority complex can be about any social stigma prevailing in the society — such as discrimination based on colour, caste, creed or anything under the sun. The second meaning that can be assigned to the word ‘complex’ is something intricate, difficult, or with many interconnected parts. As the said word has two meanings, it cannot be used interchangeably in normal parlance.

However, the inferiority complex in the mind of a person can make his/her life very complex and complicated. In that way, one ‘complex’ is leading to other ‘complex’. Two recent news articles made me think about the word ‘complex’ in a deeper sense. One is the revelation of the former Chief Secretary of the State, Mrs. Sarada Muraleedharan, who alleges that her senior colleague had insulted her based on her dark complexion. The other is the allegations in the air about the arrest of ‘Vedan’, which is being coloured on social media as an attack based on his caste.

Both are representing different segments of the society — wherein the former is a highly qualified, educated and illustrious bureaucrat — whereas the latter is a ‘rapper’ who himself boasted as ‘uneducated, outcasted, oppressed, deprived and ill-fated’ in many of his YouTube interviews.

The former Chief Secretary, in her reminiscence, recollects about her wishful thinking at the age of four to ‘go back to her mother’s womb to come back in a lighter shade’ — which shows the deep-rooted complex in her mind even at a very young age. Though she had conquered the leaps and bounds in her profession and had attained the pinnacle of ‘success’ in her career — the dark complexion of her skin remained deep-rooted as an inferiority complex, which is now being regurgitated in the form of an allegation. There may be factual convictions behind her allegation — but the real reason for getting agitated is nothing other than the deep-rooted inferiority complex about her ‘dark complexion’.

Though the Chief Secretary’s allegation against her colleague was in the form of a confession — Mr. Vedan was in the news for allegedly possessing marijuana (a psychoactive drug derived from the cannabis plant) in his custody. Though narcotics is a dirty business — as famously proclaimed by Sagar alias Jacky — consuming the same is not even considered a social stigma nowadays.

When he was arrested, many had claimed it as an oppression of the ‘outcasted and oppressed’ — and started colouring him as a ‘victim’ rather than a ‘criminal’. Vedan, a self-proclaimed ‘outcaste’, is holding on to his deep-rooted complex of being a ‘Dalit’ — and Mrs. Sarada Muraleedharan, the former Chief Secretary of the state, is clinging to her complex about her ‘dark complexion’. These are two sides of the same coin — a classic example of making their lives ‘complex’ through the deep-rooted inferiority ‘complex’ in their minds.

One is a highly educated and top-notch bureaucrat — and the other is a very famous rapper/singer, who created a huge fan base of his own. Both, in my opinion, are self-proclaimed victims of their complex minds — who seem to enjoy the said complex.

The social stigma of ‘colour’ and ‘caste’ is often identified as a tool to oppress the weak-minded — but in my humble opinion, both of these factors are nothing but a reflection of an ‘inferiority complex’. Education, social status or celebrity status will not easily take away the deep-rooted complex which is imposed by the society — and such persons will either remain as a victim or simply play the victim card — and thereby make their ‘ought to be beautiful and celebrated life’ more ‘complex’ and dark.

BIJOY PULIPRA