The power of numbers

I heard a new word last week, and subsequently read it in the paper. I’m sure it’s been around now for a while, since the phenomenon it describes certainly has, it’s just that it seems to have missed my eye till now.
It is ‘mobocracy’.
In India in recent times, it is a word well worth coining.
Here are some facts: Sometime ago a mob had attacked an art student’s exhibition in Baroda, alleging that his paintings were provocative and offensive to the Hindu religion. In Bihar over the last week, twelve people were lynched in two separate incidents, on suspicion of robbery. In Nawada district, a mob gouged out the eyes of three youths for stealing a motorcycle. In Bhagalpur, a chainsnatcher was beaten up, tied to a motorcycle and dragged through the streets. In Mandya in South India, eleven Dalits were injured when a mob of over 150 people from “upper caste” attacked a Dalit colony. In Firozabad, a Dalit woman, whose son was accused of eloping with a girl of another caste, was burnt to death while her family members were held hostage. All except the Baroda incident occurred in the last one month.
Whatever the provocation, religious, social or caste based, and whether spontaneous or preplanned, mobocracy is a phenomenon fast on the rise.
I am reminded of a thought that had occurred to me sometime ago. The occasion was janamashtami, better known as dahi handi in Maharashtra, named after the extremely popular game that is played in every locality in the city, and that attracts bigger sponsorships and consequently bigger amounts of prize money with every passing year. All over people were on the streets that day, dressed in their very best, laughing, chatting, dancing to music blaring from loudspeakers.
Needless to say travelling by road that day was a nightmare. And that’s what made me think, looking at all those people on the streets, so carefree, and occupying the roads with such authority, that that’s what it was about. Here’s the common man, who slogs day in and day out to earn his daily bread, and goes about his daily life resigned to fate, with little hope of a better future. He toils because he must. And he hopes that the future will be bigger and brighter for him and his close ones, that he can make it so by working harder and harder still, but realizes too that that is but a dream, atleast for the majority of the people. The overriding feeling for most of his life is one of helplessness. Certainly I have felt it a lot of times, when I have found myself unable to help, either myself or people around me.
And then there are days like janamashtami. When he can dance on the streets and he is king of the road. When he feels a certain power. What is this power? The power to obstruct normal life, even for people way more influential than himself, who he bows down to every other day of the year?
And where does he derive this power? I suppose in numbers. So is that it then? It’s the power of numbers that gives people the confidence to do things they otherwise wouldn’t. And that’s what mob psychology is about. It could be one man’s vendetta, or the frustration of many, coming to the fore every time a mob gets out of hand. But whatever the source of the unrest, numbers render people nameless and faceless, and give them the power to commit acts that they wouldn’t dare otherwise for fear of social or legal repercussions.
That’s mobocracy. The evil face of the power of numbers.

In the name of the Lord

The latest controversy to have left me completely stumped and speechless is the one surrounding the remarks made by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, calling Lord Ram a ‘drunkard and a big lie’. I quote from a report in the Hindustan Times, ‘Karunanidhi insisted that he was only repeating what Valmiki had said in his Ramayan. “Valmiki has called Ram a drunkard, who regularly used to drink intoxicants” he alleged.’
Whatever his views on the Sethusamudran Shipping Canal Project, he could not possibly be helping its cause by making derogatory remarks about arguably the most important religious figure of the majority of the people of the country. Nor will its implications be lost on him. And being the seasoned politician that he is, he would decidedly have a very good reason for taking such a drastic stand.
I don’t know the first thing about the regional politics of Tamil Nadu, or the composition of Mr Karunanidhi’s vote base, but I find it difficult to imagine that any community or people would be happy with their leader launching an attack on an important religious/ mythological figure of another community. What then could be his motivation?
I can’t help but think that the most important outcome of this controversy has been the fresh lease of life that it is likely to give to the BJP. It is a ripe opportunity for the BJP to be back in the news, which they have successfully exploited, handed as it was to them on a platter by the TN CM.
For the last few days, as I expect for the next few as well, the papers have been full of related news, the latest being the call for Mr Karunanidhi's beheading by a certain Mr Vedanti, a former BJP MP and described as a senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, a status denied him by the VHP working president, who has chosen to distance his organization from Mr Vedanti by claiming that he is not a VHP member at all.
The customary responses have been made, and new ones come in with every new quote, right from his arch rival J Jayalalitha to leaders of the BJP and the Congress. BJP leaders have gone to the extent of saying that this will be one of the issues that will lead to a mid term election, as early as the first half of 2008. Other right wing Hindu organizations are making the most of the opportunity as well, with quotes flying thick and strong from all quarters.
Everything is working like clockwork. Only, to what end?

Shooting for NYATG

The other day I asked X what he thought of my blog and all he could think of saying was that it was too verbose for him to read.
Fair enough.
Here’s a little story with a picture.


Some months ago, I co shot with a producer- director- cinematographer- anchor from New York, for an episode on Mumbai, for a travel show called ‘Not your average travel guide’, a Discovery Travel and Living program. His name is Joseph van Harken, and he is a partner in a production house called Showcobra in NYC.
It was a fun shoot. The crew was small, just four of us: Joseph, Deepa of Mumbai magic fame, who was our guide to the city, Kottayan, who was our ‘location’ guy i.e. he was to handle matters in case we ran into trouble with the police, or the BMC or the plethora of other organizations that one needs permissions from to be able to shoot in the streets, and yours truly.
Joe, Deepa and I got along like a house on fire, and continue to be in touch. Maybe that’s what made the shoot fun. It was like hanging out with friends. But I’ll leave that for another post. The particular incident that I thought I would write about today happened on Marine Drive.
Joe wanted to take a time lapse shot of Marine Drive, with the sun going down, and the street lights of the ‘Queen’s necklace’ coming on. He wanted, therefore, a long shot from a reasonable vantage point. Deepa pulled some strings and arranged for us to shoot from the roof of one of the residential buildings near the Nariman Point end of Marine Drive.
We went up to the roof and Joe and I started looking for our shot. Except that we couldn’t find it. Nothing seemed good enough. We needed to be further out, or a few buildings further down to get the shot we wanted. The latter was not an option, and we were on the very edge of the roof already, hugging the parapet wall. While we were trying to figure out what to do, I noticed that the window ledge was fairly wide. I pointed this out to Joe, who agreed it was worth a try. So off I went to look for a ladder. Fortunately there was some repair work going on on the floor below and I was able to procure a tall stool fairly quickly. Time was of the essence, for the light would soon start dying and that’s exactly what we were there to shoot, dying light on Marine Drive.
Joe and I lowered the stool onto the ledge which was about seven feet below the top of the parapet wall. Then Joe jumped down, followed by equipment i.e. camera, tripod and a bag with spare batteries and tapes and other such paraphernalia, and finally me. There we found the shot that we wanted.
We set up the shot, pressed record and waited.
For the next 45 minutes we were stranded on that ledge, with strong winds blowing in from the sea, and believe me, the winds seem stronger when you are five floors above ground. We had to keep a hand on the camera to keep it pressed down, so that the frame wouldn’t change.
But every minute was worth it for the sheer adventure of it, and for getting the shot.
I hope it found it’s way to the final cut.