Fear-Hypocrisy-Reality-Society
Today is 11th January, 2026.
Eleven days into the year, and more than a decade into the NDA-led government’s rule.
This isn’t about whether I support one party or hate another. It’s about something that has slowly started affecting my life personally — and I think it’s affecting many people who are standing at the edge of adulthood, responsibility, and reality.
At some point, if we stop questioning what’s right and what’s wrong, we’re not protecting ourselves. We’re shaping the future in silence.
“Paisa Baanta Ja Rahi Hai”
Today, while getting a haircut, the barber casually said:
“Paisa baanta ja rahi hai.”
I’ve seen slogans like this online — reels, posts, forwards. But hearing it in real life hit differently.
This is happening around us.
In Baner, for a Nagar Palika election — not even a Lok Sabha election — money is being distributed, 5,000-10,000. From BJP Congress and may be others.
Later the same day, my maid told me she couldn’t come in the afternoon because she had gone to collect the money being distributed by a party.
Two people, Two different sections of society, Same reality, Within half an hour.
And we seem okay with it.
When Speaking Feels Risky
I’ve been posting criticism of government policies, mostly at the central level. Especially after seeing Bihar — what it was during my father’s time, and what it still is.
I thought of posting this incident as an Instagram story. Calling it out.
Then a second thought hit me.
What if someone reshares it?
What if it reaches the wrong people?
What if my family is affected?
What if I am?
That fear stopped me.
And that’s where the disappointment began — not with the system, but with myself.
The Loop We’re Creating
Another thought came to me later.
Because of fear, I’m developing a kind of hypocrisy -> Because of that hypocrisy -> I’m quietly justifying silence.
And when many people do this, we slowly shape a society that normalizes fear.
A society where people hesitate even before forming a thought, let alone expressing it publicly.
That fear creates silence. -> Silence creates acceptance. -> Acceptance creates the same environment that caused the fear in the first place.
And the cycle repeats.
Just Documenting This
I don’t know what to call this.
Fear/Hypocrisy/Helplessness.
Or just growing up in a society where speaking has a cost.
For now, I’m just documenting it.
So I don’t forget that I once felt uncomfortable enough to think about it.
Maybe others feel this too. Maybe they’re silent as well.
I don’t know how to give this a collective voice yet.
But I know that pretending this feeling doesn’t exist would be worse.
Maybe this honesty, even if quiet, is a small start.