We have a national language that sometimes creates controversies, an endangered national animal, and a national game that is not popular anymore. For the national game, I have an idea, it could be called ‘passing the buck’.

This game could be played by every Indian irrespective of gender, state, age, literacy, caste, creed, or religion. There is no age limit or restriction on the number of players or physical attributes. All you need is to be innovative. Other than cricket and Hindi Cinema(I don’t like the word Bollywood), this game could be the uniting factor for Indians. All Indians play it; we just don’t know that we do.

The training for this game starts in school, if you don’t get good marks blame the teacher.

“She hates me and is more interested in her attire and make-up than teaching”.

“But your classmates performed so well”?

” Mom, they take tuition.”

If you play the game well, your mother will hug you and arrange for a tutor, even if it means an extra hole in the pocket.

The game and its benefits continue, even as one grows up. If a daughter-in-law breaks the glass, the ma-in-law could say, be careful with the crockery and if the glass broke because of the mishandling by the ma-in-law the young lady could be blamed again; she didn’t place it properly. After a few years, the daughter-in-law becomes adept at this game, and the roles could be reversed. Women can blame in-laws, who can in turn blame the matchmaker in case of arranged marriage, or the daughter-in-law for trapping their innocent son in cases of love marriage. I gained all this knowledge by watching Hindi films. Men should not feel less privileged. They can be active players of this game, they can blame luck, a nagging wife, or the boss for their issues. It all depends on the company they are in. Men can also blame destiny, the exploitative ‘rich man’, and the rising inflation for their drinking problems and a reason for ill-treating their wives.

The rich man can blame his social obligations and PR for his coming home drunk every day, and not spending time with his family. We all blame the government and politicians blame each other. It makes your life simple, you are let off the hook. You look good and things go on, the way they were. No messy confessions or inconvenient truths to deal with. All you need to do when faced with an unpleasant situation is, find a scapegoat, and pass on the blame. Anybody can be held responsible for your problems- destiny, mother-in-law, neighbour, boss, politicians, the government, America, China, 200 years of British rule, satellite television, and how can I forget Pakistan. If you are innovative you have infinite options.

‘Passing the buck’ has evolved onto Whatabouttery now. Whatabouttery is a potent tool to justify mistakes big and small, even crimes. It is not a new concept, it was used by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan in the film Deewar, nearly five decades ago. The famous dialogue- pehle us ka sign leke aao, phir uska sign lekar aao(first make this person sign, then make that person sign), was a perfectly used Whatabouttery tool.

We have heard about the karma theory all our lives, in fact, it has come in handy in many cases when we want to wriggle out of of tough situations. There is a slight twist in the tale, you can blame other people’s karma for your faults now. If you complain, you can be asked counter questions: where were you when X did that, or X’s grandfather or grandmother did that? You have no right to talk on the subject because you didn’t raise a question then. You might have a perfectly legitimate answer, as you were not even born when X had committed that mistake. No one has the time and patience to hear you. They misuse the saying “kettle calling the pot black” and move on.

Not confronting reality and blaming others is a convenient and very effective way of confusing others. Justify your incompetence without trying to find solutions. A world where we seriously assess our problems and take responsibility and decisions would be a much better managed place. I am not very sure if it would be a happier place.

Passing the buck has missed the bus, let us declare Whatabouttery as our national game. It is popular and effective. We will win all competitions in this game. If not, just blame someone else.

Photos and content by Prerna Jain