Tomatinas’ - Justified/Unjustified

For those of you who haven’t watched ZNMD and are too lazy to read some google link; let me give you a quick review. The Tomatina festival is all about squashing and squeezing ripe tomatoes and playfully throwing them at each other, all in the name of fun. In other words, it’s a new kind of holi played with tomatoes. This festival is big in Spain. It was showcased in the movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, thus giving rise to a new age fad.

At first when I heard of this, I was surprised. ‘Surprised’ may be a little underrated term. One movie is all it takes for us to replicate these cosmetic trends? Moreover replicating fashion, styles drama still seems a sanctioned idea. I agree I am from a country where Bollywood sets trends, and cricket drives us crazy, but then making sense is expected too out of our nimble minds. There is a difference between a custom and fashion. Intermixing of each can really prove disastrous. Mess is all that we are going to achieve.

I then realized that a lot of other people were thinking on similar lines. The festival was postponed. And now, a lot of people are trying their best to stop this festival from happening. An another night before I started writing on it, my notions were on similar lines. But when I read this article, it made me look at this issue with a different dimensions. Though I don't want to tag it a perfect dimension; I would prefer calling it a differentiated dimension. I do not believe it is right to waste resources, especially when the resource is food (which already exists in scarcity in our country), but simultaneously I have some questions. Do we have the right to stop people from doing what they want? For those who wish to participate and are willing to pay for it, do we have any right to play moral police and prevent them from doing what is perfectly legal?

Importantly Aren’t we all guilty of our own excesses? We misuse our purchasing power in every possible way. We take long showers during summer and waste gallons of water, when that water could have quenched the thirst of a poor man in a remote village. We go for long drives just for the sake of pleasure, and use fuel that could have been used to light or heat a poor family’s home. In most offices, the computers are never turned off. They use obscene amounts of electricity while an entire village lives in the dark and another section of the society faces daily power cuts. We buy ourselves those expensive shoes, we dine in elite continental joints and live the way we want to. In some way or the other, every single one of us has contributed to the inflating prices and the uneven distribution of resources. We do it because we believe it is ‘our own money’ and our own will to spend in a way we always have desired. Desire of ownership is killing in our country and no matter how much we dissolve this fact, it still remains a fact. So how are all these acts of ours justified? And if you do forgive yourself for all this, then what right do you have to point fingers at others who are wanting to pay for the tomatoes they purchase and engage in an activity that they think is fun.

Some might think what they do is more forgivable because none of their actions are directly resulting in wastage of food. Perhaps they should mind some rethinking. Take an Indian wedding for example and the massive amount of wastage that comes with it. We have 300 people on our guest list on average, and even that is a conservative estimate taking into account the average size of middle class Indian Families. We have 20 items on the menu. Most guests peck in and then leave their plates full of uneaten food for disposal. For the poor, your wedding celebrations are excessive. Just like the Tomatina fest seems excessive to us. Does this mean the poor have the right to march in and stop you from celebrating the way you want?

Other than that,  we all want to buy only fresh fruits and vegetables, forcing retailers to discard the old stock, thereby not only resulting in mass wastage, but also resulting in the increase in price of the existing stock. Doesn’t that count as wastage? Doesn’t it impact the economical environment?

People are forming groups to put joint pressure on the authorities to stop this event. And I find that very unfair and hypocritical on our parts. An article I read said a Facebook user went to the extent of saying, “We are seeking punitive action against the irresponsible organizers of this event.”. How self righteous is that? How easy is it to forgive your own self and call others irresponsible? And how do you define irresponsibility? Where and when do we draw the line that says this action of ours is acceptable and this one is not? Because every choice we make, even a simple one like browsing the internet, is denying the poor of  basic amenities and adversely affecting the lesser privileged section of our society in some way. So yes, considering how guilty we are of our own excesses, I don’t think we have a right to stop others from doing what they want just because this time, our values tell us it is wrong.

We need to remind ourselves that we are living in a free society , though the concept of free society rarely exists at times. Just to make myself clear, I am not justifying this fest. I think it is ridiculous to waste food and call it fun. But I am justifying their right to hold it. I always say I am not an argumentative India; i am trying to understand the concept of free society that we live in. What are your views on the La Tomatina fest happening in India? Do you believe you have a right to stop people from participating?