Is it 50 years already? Not that it looks like yesterday. Some may argue that half a century is not a short enough span to recall every detail, while for some it is not a long enough time to forget. Hence, memories are both clear and foggy. That happens with everything that becomes a part of history or changes its course.

This too happened that way. The year was 1975 and it happened somewhere around midnight as the calendar flipped from June 25 to 26. In an age when television was a luxury only a few could afford and news was not 24×7, a nation woke up to this news with the morning bulletin on All India Radio: “The President has proclaimed Emergency…”. This was followed by the assurance, “…there is nothing to panic about.”

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Article 352 was in the morning air and the city moved on with a sense of calm.

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The newspaper reported: “A sense of calm prevailed in the capital this morning. Clusters of people in bus stops, at pan vendors and in offices were not discussing the possible outcome of the Emergency and its implications. People by and large described the day as a ‘historic one’.” Historic indeed. The trains were reported to run on time and people left for work with their eyes on the collective wrist watch that chided them to “work more, talk less”. Chai shops and tiffin joints were savvy enough to put up tin plates or posters marked “Do not talk politics here”. Hence it was a smart move to avoid eye contact or talk of only convenient things — by mutual consent. After all, most of the talking lot had either been arrested the very first night or had gone underground. The hunt for the rest was on and the term “midnight knock” gained currency on the streets. Any speculation, opinion or articulation was best avoided or dismissed as the bazaar gossip of anti-nationals. The radio announcement had specified that imposing the Emergency was “a necessary response to the deep and widespread conspiracy which had been brewing ever since certain progressive measures were introduced to benefit the common man and woman of India.” Censorship was much needed and soon most newspaper offices were deprived of electricity and power. Nation building was in progress.

When an unprecedented extra-constitutional move (as some say) was used within the constitutional framework, citizens learnt to smile by choice, go to the talkies and watch Sholay — a film about a retired jailor devising an extra-legal strategy to commission two outlaws to kill an antisocial who had created a reign of terror. In such historic times, the film created history and was on everyone’s lips. When friendships, lips, contacts and eye contacts were being watched, it was safer to discuss movies than a day at work. Why bother with fundamental rights when entertainment can be the oxygen for the masses? For this, there could be nothing better than the miniature radio sets or transistors glued to every other ear on the streets. Film songs and cricket commentaries interspersed with audio capsules on nation building were media for the masses. So, when the Indian cricket team beat the then mighty West Indies in Port of Spain, chasing the highest total of that age, no one batted an eyelid when the euphoric commentator exclaimed that this was all thanks to the much publicised 20 Point Programme by the Government. Now we were talking!

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And if one had to talk, a whisper was a wiser move. As days went by, whispers grew louder. The press which “crawled” when it was “asked to bend” now published blank editorials as a mark of protest against censorship. The Common Man, a popular newspaper cartoon character, was in the editorial page, buried inside a newspaper full of nation-building headlines. But wait, why are we talking of all this now, 50 years later? Will there be an Emergency again? Of course not, then why bother?

Almost three generations have turned 18 and marched to the polling booth in the half century since the Emergency. Irrespective of the power of the day, there are knocks on doors, but not necessarily around midnight. And now when the cricket team wins, it’s usually because it’s good. Of course there’s no point remembering the inhuman acts of coerced vasectomies with free radios in return, when they have failed to yield votes. The citizens have voted and made peace with the fact that the party in power doesn’t matter. It is the vision that counts. The vision to turn any Indian city into London, Shanghai or Singapore has often been articulated across party lines — just as there was a vision to transform the Capital during the Emergency. Delhi was all set to become an Indian Paris. Our mohallas or local neighbourhoods were set to become Parisian arrondissements. Hence demolitions of slums at La Porte de Turkman were necessary. Never mind, and move on.

The Common Man too moved on and then vanished from the newspaper, much like the political cartoon from the editorial pages. Humour however can still be under suspicion — we have learnt it is wiser not to laugh. Irrespective of who is in power, it can be a tough life for one who forwards the “wrong” cartoon, leave alone the stand-up comic round the corner. Obviously there won’t be any blank editorial now as genuine news, fake news, alt news and memes pass on with the scroll of a thumb, 24×7. It is the viewer’s democratic discretion and there’s no censorship. And when there is no censorship, television anchors are welcome to shriek as much as panellists are welcome to shout. It’s the 9 pm rating that counts and pushing opinions as news is a staple at dinner. The audience then makes up its mind and goes back the next day to work more and talk less. Self-censorship is an art in progress. So will there be an Emergency again? Of course not. Just chill — there’s nothing to panic about.

The writer is a graphic novelist and the author of Delhi Calm, a graphic novel on the Emergency