Mundanity, meaning and merit

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There is also a prevalent argument of diminishing attention span and the traits such as immediacy, intensity, polarity and conformity, as the late doyen of international relations, Henry Kissinger, has also been theorised. Scrolling through endless feeds, one cannot help but notice a quiet resurgence of Kafka, Camus and Dostoyevsky among contemporary readers, even though the book reading is perceived to have lessened with time.

An underlying reason is the winds of absurdity, alienation and existential angst prevalent in society. Or perhaps it is the acceleration of time or unhindered development that once took decades and ages and is now compressed into a few years, making these works resonate anew. Or more glaringly, it is the silent espousal of the mundanity, the resignation to the rhythms of a robotic existence, drawing this generation to these writers.

Camus touches a chord with the current lot who find themselves trapped in the Sisyphus struggle of rolling the boulder up the hill, only to witness it tumbling down, in an analogous mechanised 'condemned' grind of 9-to-5. An absurd routine with an elusive sense of meaning, vacillating between exhaustion and necessity, groundhog days of office life with a never-ending pursuit of tasks and busywork, maintaining appearances and illusion of progress.

It all leads to a brutal sacrifice of the side view, the awareness of surroundings is forfeited, and silent obedience becomes the measure of efficiency. Mechanical conformity is preferred over thoughtful dissent.

Then there is the Kafkaesque, the castles of silent oppression and endless trials. The frustration of today's youth with the oxymoronic realities: paucity of opportunities with the sky-rocketing inflation, the relentless cycle of job applications with the illusion of meritocracy, the have-nots struggling in the corridors where the space has already been ceded to those 'haves' born into influence or have reins connected with power circles. All echo Kafka's nightmare.

The Trial of Joseph K, who is trapped in an opaque and indifferent system and greases elbows for meaning and merit, but ultimately succumbs to bureaucratic processes. It is relatable today as it mirrors that there are systems that exist without explanation, where the citizenry are condemned not by some direct rulings but implicitly by the uncodified norms. Or 'the man from the underground' whose desperate and incisive voice rises in defiance, but at the same time is also aware of the absurdity. Despite this realisation, what if the defiance is hushed and the absurdity engenders resignation instead of resistance?

Winston Smith, an inhabitant of George Orwell's 1984 dystopian world, also wrestles with the dilemma of doublethink along with doublespeak. It reflects today, as on one hand, people hold contradictory beliefs simultaneously and believe them to be accurate, causing them to consider what is fed while subduing their critical thinking.

The parallels between Orwell's and current times are remarkable: where conformity is victory, turning a blind eye to the facts is seeking the truth, half-truth is full wisdom, silence is virtue, surveillance is security, and restriction is freedom.

Similarly, as Camus's Meursault viewed his mother's death as an inevitability, the contemporary society has reached a point where it has internalised a similar numbness. It has become insidious, as there was a time when suffering sent shockwaves. That time has passed, and now war, famine, genocide and displacement have been reduced to a 24/7 endless broadcast, passive consumption and easily forgotten news cycle. This ceaseless drift, disguised as a choice, has dulled reading, questioning and thinking.

Yet amid all this, there are people, like Kafka's Mr K, who rise above the pay scale, the fetish appeals and the theatrical excesses of power, and see beyond the walls of these illusory excesses. As it is not the submission that lies at the core today rather to stay immersed in a belief that it could not have been otherwise, or nothing else was ever possible.