THREE IN A ROW

Three in a row – on death row. The circumstances were different. But the lessons to be learnt have much in common; from the recent deaths of Bal Thackeray, Ponty Chadha and now Ajmal Kasab.

Thackeray’s actual day of death was in all probability artificially prolonged by life support systems, to enable the police and civic authorities to put together the logistics for handling millions of mourners. It is indeed surprising how cynics and critics have taken for granted the elaborate security, media and logistic arrangements that had to be put in place at such short notice. Should we not salute the Govt of Maharashtra for foolproof arrangements, and even the orderly Shiv Sainiks, who reportedly numbered between 1 to 2 million? That Sunday, the 18^th, I publicly prayed in church for everything to remain peaceful and under control.

This does not mean that I am eulogising Thackeray’s ideology. Far from it. I was working in an automobile company in Mumbai in the early 70’s. That was when the Shiv Sena was into southie-bashing. That was also a time when I saw pitched battles between the Sena and the Dalit Panthers. To the credit of the Sena, I also saw several of its ambulances that were brought to our workshop for servicing. I also recall the “shock and awe” in which employers held the trade unions controlled by the Sena. When I became Works Manager I had the onerous task of terminating the services of a perpetually drunk worker who owed allegiance to the Sena. I dismissed him. But the waters remained calm, as they were at Thackeray’s funeral procession. I now pray that Mumbai and Maharashtra continue to show calm and restraint in the post Bal Thackeray era.

While Thackeray’s death due to sickness and old age was expected, it was different for Chadha, who died on the same day. The moment I read of his death I was reminded of a parable that Jesus Christ told his disciples about hoarding possessions (cf Lk 12:13-21). A rich man was exulting in his bumper harvest, for which he decided to raze his existing barns, in order to build bigger ones, to store his riches. After that he would take things easy, eat, drink and have a good time. But that very night he was called to his Maker. The similarity to Ponty’s case was not lost on me. It reminded me of another passage from the Holy Bible. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit has a man from all his labour … one generation passes away, and another generation comes, but the earth abides for ever” (Ecc 1:2-3). Many women and children, whose husbands/ fathers guzzled Ponty’s liquor, would now lick their lips and say, “All is vanity, and futility too”.

What of Kasab? Millions of Indians who rose in self-righteous indignation on the right to life, in Savita’s case in Ireland, now gloated at the justified taking of Kasab’s life! How fickle is public opinion and debate! Here again I am not objecting to Kasab’s death penalty. He deserved it for a horrendous and outrageous act of aggression against the nation; and for wantonly taking the lives of innocents. For those who, again, rather self-righteously proclaim that we have no right to take human life, I would agree that it is the norm (rule). But exceptions prove the rule. And Kasab’s actions were exceptional/ incomparable; what our Supreme Court calls the “rarest of rare cases”.

On the interface between divine law and human authority, another Biblical quote could put things in perspective. “Everyone is to obey the governing authorities, because there is no authority except from God … Magistrates bring fear, not to those who do good, but to those who do evil” (Rom 13:1,3).

I wonder what Thackeray, Ponty and Kasab will now be saying to their Maker and Supreme Arbiter? Will they still be trying to justify their actions before the Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent One? Will they be repentant when they come face to face with their victims? What will Thackeray say to the dalits, south Indians, Muslims, Biharis etc whom he considered “the others”; what will Ponty say to the victims of liquor consumption: and what will Kasab say to the victims of 26/11?

Death is a great leveller. Death row is flat, be they three or three million in the row. Would that we remembered that while we live.

NOVEMBER 2012

THE RAPIST IN ME

Does this sound like a lethal expose?  It may or may not be, depending on how “shock proof” you, the reader, are.  So ready yourself for some eclectic shocks!

I am a senior citizen, happily married, with two grown-up children.  Though financially burdened I cannot pretend to be under privileged.  I was educated in elite Christian schools and enjoyed many of the best things in life.  I have interacted with the highest in the Government and in the church, and held (or still hold) important positions in Church and Society.  Yet I consider myself a potential rapist.  If this revelation shocks you, then you need to read on.

The recent brutal gang rape of a young woman in New Delhi has focussed media attention on rape, sexual assault and molestation, and to the vulnerability of women in India.  The media, both print and electronic, has gone to town on the issue.  Most protesters, commentators or panellists have either blamed the police, or demanded that rapists be hanged or chemically castrated.  Some have spoken about social mindsets, family values, the Bollywood influence, etc.  But most of the “angered species” come across as terribly self-righteous.  For want of a better term I will call them the “Self–Righteous Indignant Brigade“.  In Jesus’ time many of these were Pharisees, who were shocked, indignant and disconcerted by the former’s words and actions.

Rather than point fingers at “the other”, it would be more useful if I began with myself.  At the tender age of 7 I was packed off to an elite boarding school in the hills.  My twin sister simultaneously went to the adjacent convent boarding school.  Two Sundays in a month brothers were supposed to visit their sisters in the convent.  I seldom did, because games were more attractive than dames!  For my Intermediate I moved to another prestigious boarding school, where homosexuality and sly visits to prostitutes were par for the course.  I was now 15, and gradually becoming aware of my own sexuality.

At 16 I entered degree college (don’t be surprised), which was co-ed.  It was here that I really found myself being attracted to the fairer sex.  At 62 that fatal attraction has not ebbed! I had very strong and enduring friendships with various women before I got married, but I never had a strong sexual urge, though several opportunities presented themselves.  It was only after marriage that I actually discovered my sexual appetite.

Now I find this appetite whetted in a way.  So I see myself as a potential rapist, who has the carnal instinct to seek sexual gratification in another woman; and I cannot pretend that I will not succumb, should the opportunity present itself.  Though this does not mean that I will actually do so.  I am very fond of good food.  If I am walking past a shop selling biryani or tandoori chicken, and the aroma hits me, I will be sorely tempted to indulge myself.  This does not give me the licence to raid the shop.  I am also not supposed to eat sweets, but temptation is always there, and I often succumb.

The determining factor here is that of self-control.  This is the tipping point.  How do I develop it?  A priest once said to me “Do not lose in a moment of darkness what you found in a moment of light “ I was impressed and repeated it to my spiritual guru, another priest.  “Rubbish”, he snapped at me, “nothing happens in a moment”. The reality sank deep into me.  There may be a “Tipping Point”, but it is always a gradual build up over time.  Hence raiding a biryani shop, or raping a woman, is not a sudden act.  It is a premeditated build up, because of one’s personal conditioning.

A management guru once spoke of one’s ”Area of Concern” and “Area of Control”.  We are concerned about many things – nuclear war, crimes against women, inflation, civic problems, etc. We often focus so much on these “Areas of Concern”, that we do not give due attention to the “Areas of Control”.  In the given instance what is under my control – my desires, my attitude towards women, etc.  Should I blame society, police, my parents, etc, or should I assume responsibility for my own thoughts and actions?

Social conditioning does have an impact on us, just as I was exposed to different situations in boarding life.  On the other hand there was also family and a religious conditioning, where I learnt a strong moral code, of what was right and wrong.  This sense of morality in turn was rooted in religion, in my case Christianity.

I must confess that at the age of 20 I fell head over heels in love with a young lady and even left the comfort of my home for her sake.  But the relationship soured, and so did my attitude towards women.  I lost respect for women, and now only viewed them in a frivolous and flippant way, a fun thing to be used.  Fortunately this flippant phase ended four years later when I personally encountered Jesus in my life, and committed my life to him at the age of 25.

I was now told that each human being, including myself, was a temple of the Holy Spirit; hence should be held in that high esteem.  Unfortunately, this remained a spiritual or intellectual notion, devoid of substance.  Nevertheless, it did have some kind of sobering effect on me. But I still found myself strongly attracted to the opposite sex, though devoid of a brute carnal instinct.

In the course of my spiritual journey I met a seminary professor who frankly stated that most Catholic priests are celibate, not by choice (self–control) but by lack of circumstances or fear of consequences! There is lesson in this.  Besides control, we also need to avoid circumstances (situations) that unnecessarily excite us, and also need to remember the consequences (both legal and moral) emanating from our acts.  For the weak–kneed, fear is a strong deterrent.

Rather than sermonizing or being self-righteous, I have chosen to share my own story, in the hope that it will touch the heart of another potential rapist like me, or even a clerical paedophilic (another equally heinous act).

The more we increase our Area of Control, we consequently decrease our Area of Concern.  The Vishwa Gayatri Parivar, with whom I am closely associated, has a slogan “Hum badle, sab badle” (change one’s self, and others will follow.)  We need to begin with ourselves, if we want to change society, and make it a safer place for women.

I believe that, as parents, we begin by inculcating the correct values in our children, with no gender disparity. Co-education is the best foundation for boys to discover that girls are also intelligent beings with equal potential and feelings.  They will not see them as “objects” but as persons.  Without being prudish we also need to avoid all forms of pornography and anything else that inflames uncontrollable sexual desires, as also drugs and alcohol that numb our sense of right and wrong or give us a false bravado.

I do not want to give a long list of do’s and don’ts.  My humble plea is that each one of us men accepts that we are potential rapists on the one hand, and temples of God on the other.  Self-understanding is the first step towards self-control. As sinner turned saint, Augustine of Hippo said, “Help me know me, help me know thee”.  Another great saint, Francis of Assisi, on seeing a criminal being led to the gallows said, “There goes Francis, but for the grace of God”.  Let all of us potential rapists increase our self-understanding and self-control; and humbly implore God’s grace.

DECEMBER 2012

THE HUSH PUPPY SYNDROME

RAMBO NAMO has done it again, and succeeded in grabbing the headlines. At a rally at Ferguson College, Pune, on 14^th July, he accused the Congress of hiding behind a burqa. I have no problem with Narendra Modi attacking the Congress party, its policies or performance. However, he stoops too low to attack persons. His latest diatribe is to call arthashastri (economist) Manmohan an anarthashastri (meaningless person).

Why is “nationalist” Namo using a partisan metaphor like burqa? Is he not degrading both women and Muslims? Ironically, the podium from which this invective was hurled had the name of Ramzani Sound! The message should not be lost on us; that we are a composite culture with a high degree of inter-dependence between religious communities.

So why is nationalist Namo using such obnoxious and insensitive idiom? Is he a rampaging bull in a china shop? Or is he a shrewd and calculating person, who knows that the media is desperate for sound bites, and therefore obliges them with colourful metaphor? Having won several elections, and having a suave managerial style, is he also unfolding a media strategy, based on sound managerial technique, sociological and psychological analysis? Has Modi’s tongue gone out of control, or is it all under the control of his spin-doctors?

Let us analyse another recent Namo utterance. Referring to the Gujarat riots of 2002, where over 1000 Muslims were butchered, he used the analogy of a person sitting in the back seat when a puppy gets crushed under its wheels. There was a hue and cry in the political establishment, so Namo had to retract by saying that in India we worshipped all forms of life. Actually this was the second time that Namo put his foot in his mouth, after his Rambo “evacuation” of 15,000 Gujaratis from flood ravaged Uttarakhand.

Some of Namo’s diehard yuppie fans may have liked his puppy analogy. I found it an expression of his utter ruthlessness, of a dictator’s boot stomping on the voiceless. Namo claimed to be in the backseat, and therefore blissfully unaware of what the driver was doing upfront. This is the first deception. Namo is a hands-on type, who leads from the front. He is positioning himself as a decisive leader, as against an indecisive and moribund UPA leadership. Would such a leader have been on the backseat during the 2002 pogrom? The answer lies in the question itself. If Namo was the driver then he is guilty of culpable homicide. His analogy of Muslims as puppies again reveals the utter scorn and disdain with which he looks down upon the “other”.  

Another occasion when Namo showed how dispensable others are in his dispensation is after two of his colleagues Bajrangi and Maya Kodnani were sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in the 2002 pogrom. Namo was quick to distance himself from his erstwhile confidantes, going to the extent of demanding the death penalty for them. This is nothing but cold-blooded ruthlessness, his willingness to make a sacrificial lamb of his own people, so that he comes through unscathed.

The international best seller “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell has impressed me. It is a book that many marketing gurus would swear by – the factors that tip the scales of an ordinary product or idea, and convert it into a runaway success. Marketing and advertising agencies analyse human behaviour, people’s aspirations or frustrations, and capitalize on them. They then correctly position themselves as the answer to the situation or solution to the problem. An ad driven media is only too willing to oblige the marketing gurus. 

Interestingly, this best seller begins with the example of the Hush Puppies, “the classic American brush suede shoes with the lightweight crepe sole”. This product was floundering until the manufacturers stumbled upon the fact that it was most popular among “the clubs and bars of downtown Manhattan”. The company then reinvented its campaign to cater to this downtown segment of society. From sales of 30,000 a year they jumped to 4,30,000 pairs in 1995, and further quadrupled the next year. This was because the company had its pulse on the people, and was able to capitalize on the aspirations of the marginalized, by changing its marketing approach.

It is reported that Namo has an excellent team of marketing, media and management professionals. I am sure that they are aware of success stories like that of the Hush Puppies; which is why they were quick to underplay Namo’s rare slip up about the Crushed Puppy. But in true Rambo style, over ambitious Namo may leave some of his tech-savvy team gasping as he rushes ahead in his desperate attempt to become the Prime Minister of India.

Whether or not the Congress led UPA is able to scramble together a majority in the next Lok Sabha elections is not of much consequence. The real fear is of a puppy crusher going from CM to PM. We can no longer talk of this in hushed tones. Namo is sure to tip the scales. In which direction, remains to be seen.

JULY 2013