Was working peacefully when the mobile phone of one of my floor-mates started its melifluous tone - Kaanta Laga.
I was disturbed from the peace of my "eyes wide awake" sleep and wondered why people cant keep their phones in vibrator modes atleast in Office.
I couldnt help but hear his loud voice and disbelief when he said "rajkumar is dead". there was a sense of urgency, desperation in his voice and somehow everyone immersed in their work, suddenly began to mourn and discuss on the possibilities of some kind of curfew, bundh, violence in the city. Then there were also the endangered species who enquired the nature of his death and when they got to know it was because of "cardiac-arrest" paid a second of mourning and went back to work.
Having been born and brought up in Bangalore, despite being from the Northern state of Punjab, i had grown up admiring the superhero of the kannada film industry. I hardly heard him indulge into the world of politics, taking sides during matters of internal or external safety, rarely exploiting his larger than life persona to mint incessant sums of money. Hardly did he set a foot wrong - the kind of hero everyone wants. He belonged to that rare breed of human beings - Achievers, Path-breakers, Trend-Setters and yet Humble, Satisfied, Considerate. He will remain a true super-star.
The next day was a Bandh to mourn the irreparaible loss of a great man.
It wasnt just me mourning the death, but also the cable-wallah and i had to make do with only News Channels all through the day.
And when i heard the news it just did not make sense. The day such a great practioner of non-violence was laid to rest you would expect it to be a day of state mourning, every-one respecting the thespian's thoughts, recollecting the glory of the man, his principles.
Instead what happened was exactly the opposite
- Mobs turning ugly, violent during Rajkumar's Procession - people getting killed.
Policemen, News Channel crew getting beaten up by "so called admirers" of Rajkumar.
I call them "so called admirers", because it is hard for me to digest that people who look upto Rajkumar - a non violent individual as their hero can indulge in such kind of actions. And for me people who laugh and make merry after beating up innocent policemen, bystanders, looting general stores just cannot be mourning the greatman's death.
Before i could digest the sight of helpless policemen getting beaten up, i realise that the 'shirtless wonder of bollywood' - Salman Khan is released from the jail.
It is an irony that he should be put behind bars for his killing of a Deer among the numerous cases pending against him, including that of killing a man while driving in an inebriated state.
By now i think a lot of people do understand the case and privately agree that maybe salman broke the law by killing the endangered species of deer, but they would like to see the judiciary not take a strict view of this, since they think the judiciary is acting high-handed, because of the star's profile.
I wonder to myself .....
These heroes of the modern world, would like to be a role-model to the youngsters of the country as long as the going is good - When their movies do good, they encourage the public and the media to buy tickets, watch movies, buy associated paraphernalia etc. but the moment they commit a crime, forget owing up to the crime, they are not ready to encourage the justice system to treat them as a role model ( something people should never do ) - They plead and rant the media, asking to be left in peace.
And on a day when he was granted bail, on return to his hometown of Mumbai, he was treated like a Hero as if he was being accused of commiting
a crime wrongfully. I also dont know which news channel is going to take up the case of the Actor's drunken driving exploits of running down a poor daily-wage earner outside his bakery.
One image in the aftermath of the Jessica Lal Murder case decision was Priety Zinta conveying her displeasure and persuading Jessica's sister to fight and expressing her support. Well why doesnt she speak in the same manner about the poor guy who got mowed down. Is there some hypocrisy in her actions or has she just lost faith in the judicial system or does she fear from speaking her mind in this case?
I think in this scenario, the actors can learn a thing or two from the Politicians.
When a Politician accused of commiting a crime ( Criminal Offense ) is discouraged from fighting an assembly/state election ( read plying their trade ), the modern day actor should be discouraged from plying his trade ( read release any movies ) till he is absolved of the Criminal charges.
I hope justice previals.
I also caught fleeting glimpses of Mr.Arjun Singh pushing the case for 50% Registration in Schools of Higher education - IIT's and IIM's. I fail to understand Arjun Singh's mindset. He was very outright and blatant in the previous Govt. ( read NDA's ) move to lower the fees for IIT's and IIM's, which i think was good cause it would have helped really meritorious students belonging to the poor section of society from pursuing world class education. He however proposes a new bill, which would help reserve seats for those from the lower strata of society. But ironically the Fees for the Management institutes were raised by almost 15-25%.
I hope that common sense and merit based reservation only prevails in the above case and we are not pushed into a MANDAL like situation again.
Amidst all this i was reminded of what one of my colleagues mentioned this morning - The Beauty of Democracy is that, you are right as long as a majority percentage (51%) believe in that - Doesnt matter whether what you believe and do is fundamentally wrong or right.
I hope that the majority believe in the RIGHT thing.
God, Please show us the right way and help us turn our hopes into reality. Please follow the corporate ethic and distribute your work, power and responsibilities and help rediscover the god in each and every human-being. For with all the happenings around, at the moment it seems the god in most of us is lost.
