Why Mallika Sherawat deserves ‘full Marx’ for her ‘wrongly-set’ chessboard
lot of philistines have been mocking haphazard chess pieces on Ms Sherawat’s board which only goes to show the innate inability of the commentariat to differentiate between the physical and ontological, proving that we are all blind to the real nature of perceived reality and all its creation. Those without the mental faculties of Ms Sherawat – who has a degree in philosophy from Miranda House – have even disparaged her for not knowing which pieces go where, when in reality she’s providing a much-needed discourse in ontology. Much like those plugged into the simulation of the Matrix, we often cannot see what's in front of our eyes so let me explain why Miss Sherawat’s chess board is a stinging criticism of reality, patriarchy, oppression, oppressive structures and society in general. The picture of her displaying her cleavage is a red herring to blind us to the real nature of the chess board, a laywoman interpretation of Juvenal’s panem et circenses hypothesis, known as the bread-circus duality which reminds us that the
Ageneral populace can always be distracted by entertainment or food.
The haphazard chess pieces – many of them not in their regular starting spots – are a reminder of the topsy-turvy nature of our lives amid a COVID19 pandemic. Every day science tells us something new about the pandemic, showing that we don't know anything about it.
The extra White piece is a reminder of the financial, fiducial, filial and caste privilege with which many of us are born and delude ourselves, into thinking that we've gotten to our current stations in life based on merit.
The extra White Queen is a poignant criticism of the patriarchal cis-hetero-normative nature of society which insists on gender roles. By putting two Queens, Ms Sharawat is challenging the innate patriarchy of the game of chess, which in turn is a metaphor for life.
The Pawn in place of a Rook, the Bishop in place of a Knight and all the other pieces which are astray is a silent reminder to those not born with the same privileges that they must not accept the circumstance of one’s birth and have what Barack Obama called the ‘audacity of hope’. Just because society tells a Rook that it must move horizontally or vertically doesn’t mean it has to lead life by those rules. One must always seek one’s path. It’s not, as Camus stated, as absurd as it looks.
After all, Sartre pointed out, the individual's freedom to act transcends any rule, which as Foucault stated is always oppressive and any critique of the structure deserves to be lauded.
As Nietzsche said life is about finding meaning through one’s will, which Mallika Sherawat is doing by channelling her inner Karl and pointing out that philosopher’s job isn’t just to interpret life but to change the circumstances. Full Marx, Ms Sherawat, we are not worthy. (The author is the Web Editor the Free
Press Journal and tweets at @nirmalyadutta23. The views
expressed are his own.)