Articles
Your Slip is Showing
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 19-Aug-2024
Let me begin with a frank admission. Since my school days, I have hated English grammar. On the other hand, my wife is a grammarian, knowing Wren and Martin’s grammar like the back of her hand. She compensates for my many inadequacies.
The word “slip” is both a noun and a verb. The grammarian tells me that a noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. A verb is some kind of action. Here’s a classic example of the word in both forms in a single sentence. “He let slip the slip of paper from his clumsy hands”.
Why am I harping on the word “slip”? It has many meanings, idioms and connotations that have a bearing on our current state of political affairs. I will list them before delving deeper.
- Pardon, your slip is showing
- A slip of the tongue is no fault of the mind
- There’s many a slip twixt cup and lip
- Mind your step lest you slip on a banana peel
- The prisoner managed to slip away under cover of darkness
- The boss gave his employee the dreaded pink slip
- The chairman sent a slip to the loquacious speaker to conclude
- The F1 racer followed in the slip stream of the car ahead
- Ten million Indians suffer from a slip disc
- The aggressive batsman was caught in the slip cordon
Ten steps that sound like the Ten Commandments! Each one is pregnant with meaning and can be juxtaposed onto our current political scenario. Let’s begin with the first – Pardon your slip is showing.
This is a polite way of drawing a lady’s attention to her undergarment protruding below her dress. It is common in western attire like a frock or skirt. In India most women wear longer clothes that do not require a slip. However, if one is wearing a relatively transparent ckikankari kurti, then a chemise would be worn inside. This French word comes from the Arabic Qamis, corrupted to kameez, that could either be an outer shirt or an inner slip.
But there are seldom any niceties in the rough and tumble of politics. If one were to say that your slip is showing, it would mean that, despite the outer garb or finery, the dirty inner linen is visible to the naked eye. I see this happening with sickening regularity in the political arena. The government makes stupendous claims about an Atmanirbhar Bharat, Amrit Kaal and Achhe Din.
But there are much too many slip-ups—horrible foreign relations with our neighbors—Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and China. We have backed the wrong horse in both Ukraine and Gaza. The post Pulwama surgical strike against Pakistan ushered in the votes, but not peace and stability. The suddenness of demonetisation and the Covid lockdown on an unsuspecting public resulted in untold misery. The abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of Kashmir have not had the desired results. The list is endless. It would be safe to conclude that not just the slip is showing, but possibly the emperor has no clothes at all!
The second is a slip of the tongue. Such a slip can be pardoned. But if the tongue is used for hate and intemperate speech against “others”, using words like Muslim, mangalsutra, mujhra dancers etc, then this is not an accidental slip up, but a deliberate act that cannot be condoned.
As St James has cautioned, “We all trip (slip) up in many ways. Someone who does not trip up in speech has reached perfection … The tongue is only a tiny part of the body, but its advantages are great. Think of how small a flame can set fire to a huge forest. The tongue is a flame too” (Jas 3:2,3,5). Or as Jesus said, “Whatever comes from the mouth comes from the heart; and this is what makes someone unclean. For from the heart come evil intentions: murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, and slander. These are the things that make a person unclean” (Mat 15:18-19). So we need to guard against poisonous darts from the tongues of politicians.
Thirdly, there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip. There is a similar colloquial saying that there is a difference between “about to give birth and actually giving birth”. This is applicable to stillborn ideas that don’t take off, like the Agnipath scheme. The leakages from the roofs of the hastily constructed temple in Ayodhya and the new parliament building could fall in this category of slip ups.
The fourth is the warning about slipping on a banana peel. Since we Indians are prone to littering, we are literally in constant danger of slipping and falling. In politics, pride and power are the slippery surfaces, when one non-biological man’s “guarantee” seeks to sway the nation of its feet. Those at the top need to be reminded that when they slip, it will be in only one direction: down.
The fifth is slipping away under the cover of darkness. This is subterfuge or camouflage. The sure fire way of covering up one’s failures is the strident religious appeal that Hinduism is in danger. Under such a cloak of darkness, all other shortcomings are quickly forgotten.
The sixth is the pink slip that is given to an employee informing him of his dismissal from service. Unfortunately, with rising unemployment and paper leaks the pink slips are everywhere.
The seventh is the warning to the loquacious speaker. They never tire of hearing their own voice or airing their “Man ki bath”. They are oblivious to the ennui of their listeners. A two hour speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort is the latest case in point. Is it now time for the people to pass the slip (ballot paper) to say “Time up”?
The slipstream is the eighth. It is a tactic used by Formula One racing drivers to stay in the vacuum created by the car in front, thereby increasing one’s speed. I see many camp followers and “fringe elements” following the leader to attack vulnerable groups like the minorities or handing over the Adivasis ancestral lands to big corporate houses.
This leads us to the ninth, the slip disc. Many of us are suffering from the slip ups of those in power. We are stooped with the burden of their erroneous or malicious acts. At the same time, many of us should also show more backbone to those in power.
Finally, the slip cordon; used to great effect in cricket test matches. Public life is not a wham bam T20 game. It is a long haul, like a test match, that is the real test of captaincy. A tried and tested (pun intended) approach to a well settled or aggressive batsman is to first arrange a slip cordon on the off side, then bowl wide of the off stump, thereby inducing the batsman to snick the ball into the slip cordon and be caught out.
In India’s political spectrum, we need astute and intelligent captains in the opposition ranks, both in parliament and the State legislatures. Only then can we ensure that there are not too many slip ups in public life.
The writer does not owe allegiance to any political party.
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(The Author is the Convenor of the Indian Catholic Forum. Views expressed in the article are personal)
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