Keeping Ideas Alive: Wednesday Discussion Circles

Why is it essential for informal discussions to take place outside the classroom? To talk about questions that go beyond the textbook, to talk about things that seemingly have no direct significance in our everyday lives, unless we really pay attention to it? 

It is the hope that when we engage in discussions that transcend our everyday, we will cultivate a keener, more sensitive means of being in the world. It is with this in mind that our Wednesday discussion circles took off. The plan was to have a theme every month and discuss books, movies, art, music – anything that falls within the purview of the theme. 

For the month of November, the theme that we picked was the idea of banning and censorship. Where else do you begin a conversation on censorship and banning in the South Asian context than Manto and Chugtai? We discussed Chugtai’s Lihaaf – a queer story from the post independence era and watched a short film against censorship by Belarusian artist —- on censorship. 

The children arrived at the curious human paradox, at the crossroads of which, the ideas of censorship and banning exist – the more we censor something, the greater our urge to transcend it; but what if with time a nation, a community, a people forget periods when censoring didn’t exist; forget words, phrases, history; forget that remember is an option? 

We end this theme with a movie screening next week – Jafar Panahi’s acclaimed film Offside, a story inspired by women who disguised themselves as men to enter football stadiums to watch matches, an act that was banned in Iran. We will attempt to look at the idea of banning as something that is not just imposed on words and ideas but also bodies. 

Until then, let’s use our power of the word wisely - to question and to be kind.