Keep wearing the masks!!

“Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.”

A few months ago, there were rumors in my town about a guy, an alleged Psycho, who was attacking and robbing old people in their houses. Before going into that, let me tell you a little about my home town. It has a population of around 1.5 lakhs and is pretty much self-sufficient. The lands are fertile with very good irrigation facilities. Also, like most little towns like this, Tenali is never in the news. I mean, no big events usually take place here. People are well adjusted to the amount of mediocrity present. So, when a guy started attacking people mysteriously, it was no wonder he became an overnight celebrity. In the coming days, all that people talked about was about the Psycho. From my friend’s 2 year old niece to my 80 year old grandfather, people talked about it and naturally like in any other such situation, truth got diluted and stories were in circulation. Every homeless person if dressed shabbily is feared to be the Psycho. There were instances where people even beat up a couple of drunken rickshaw pullers. Even the slightest abnormal activity was assumed to be caused by the Psycho. The authorities even thought that there was an entire gang, considering the number of such stories popping up every day. While the fact remained that only a handful of robberies took place and a few people were injured with a pocket knife, people on the other hand began to believe that he killed at least half a dozen people. Adding to this is a little flavor from the television news channels and local newspapers. That is perhaps the first time people even knew there was a local news program on a channel called “Siti Channel”

To see what it actually looked like, do watch this video : TV9 

Why am I talking about something that happened almost a year ago? Well, that issue is not what I really want to talk about. A couple of weeks after that, a man was killed by a mob (like the one in the video, flashing sticks and smiling at the camera) who assumed that he was the psycho. Obviously, it turned out that he was not the person the police were looking for and since it was a mob that did it and the man was a poor homeless person, no one had to face any legal action. Weeks passed and people forgot. Forgot about the psycho, the town was not in news anymore and I guess I might be the only one who still remembers the killing of that particular old man.

But why do I still remember it? That particular incident showed me clearly that behind all the masks that people wear, we are still animals. Animals that can act upon nothing more than pure hysteria and can apply no rationality. Now if we calmly wear the masks and question ourselves, who is to take responsibility for his death? Perhaps all those people who kept talking about it, without realizing the kind of fear that they are instilling among the crowds even after repeated requests from the authorities; or perhaps the news channels for propagating the fear; or people like me who did nothing. News channels can be blamed and we can be proved innocent but is that the real picture? Aren’t we going to take responsibility? Or since there is no one to come before the camera and question, does his life have no value? Beneath the masks that we wear, aren’t we a bunch of hypocrites. I understood a clear double standard. Why is it that whenever there are events regarding corruption, exploitation, terrorism, rape and such, we will first identify ourselves with the victims and protest in anger against the authorities or seek justice by killing the culprits? Why don’t we take responsibility for the flaws as a part of the society? may be because the crimes are committed by some other individuals and not by us. Pretty convenient eh? Don’t we even have a slightest responsibility to at least wait and introspect? I’m only generalizing because with the new public participation boom, everybody can now voice their opinions and the kind of statements people make is scary to say the least.

But this is however just the face of the issue. The evil hidden behind is the real monster. As always, time passed by and I moved on. A few months later there was the killing of Gaddafi in Libya. People were literally beating him to death on the streets and since he is claimed to be a vicious ruler, they believed they had the right and yes, they celebrated. They danced around his corpse and made merry. Watching those clippings, I wasn’t sure who is scarier. At that moment I thought if I was faced with that mob, I wouldn’t have hesitated to run and hide behind Gaddafi. It was that scary.

And then we have our very own, hanging of Kasab. People spoke about hanging him public, shooting him on live television and such. I do not want to go into the debate of he got what he deserved, capital punishment and its implications because I see a bigger monster than that; the people. The kind of things that we can say and do were not only disturbing but scary. I read a number of articles in newspapers trying to understand different versions of the story. I also tried to follow the views of people on social networking sites. There was a guy demanding to see Kasab being shot in the public while everybody is watching. He also wanted it to be telecasted live on television. He wasn’t some uneducated person with no decency. He was an IT professional working for an MNC, perhaps grew up with a lot of care and affection from his parents. Do not misunderstand me. It is not a matter of an individual seeking justice. It is a matter of decency in the society that we live in. The kind of society we want the future generations to grow up in. Another gentleman claimed that it was the real Deepawali. It was really sad to read things like that especially coming from the so called working section of the society, people who vote, people who will have families soon and raise their own children. I believe those festivals are symbols of the victory of good over evil. People celebrated because evil was eradicated and peace and tranquillity (Loka Kalyanam) was brought to the land. Nothing of that kind happened here. If at all, we let out a lot more hate and showed our ugly faces to the next generations.

Even in personal life we learn through experiences that decisions we take when we are emotional won’t usually go the way we hope. That is precisely why they say Don’t promise when you’re happy, Do not reply when you’re angry and do not decide when you’re sad. During the state of this “hysteria” people say and mean, unimaginable and inhuman things. Perhaps that is state in which people commit crimes in the first place. Driven by different motives but inhumane, all of them.

Isn’t this blind hysteria? Something that is driven by nothing but rage and outburst of anger? Isn’t this a classic example of taking off the masks and revealing our ugly faces? Kind of what happened in my home town. Why talk about just the Delhi case while people around us facing with similar threats? Even in today’s paper, there were three different rape cases reported. There is no denying that justice should be served, at least to the victims and yes, measure should be taken to minimize if not completely eradicate cruel incidents like these. Should fear really be the way we seek to bring a change in the society? Isn’t that what had happened so far? Isn’t that exactly what religion has done and is still doing? Propagate morals through fear. Where did that bring us?

It is scary to imagine what we can bring ourselves to do. Triggered by hysteria, fueled by mob mentality that we all have, a little pinch of salt from the mass media, we take off our masks and show that deep within, we are still animals. Very barbaric animals. It should be understood that in a world where there are so many diversities in all aspects, it is not just difficult but sadly unfortunate to bring absolute order. History’s greatest tyrants have tried and failed. There will always be incidents that fuel public anger and sadly we all react the way we always do. Demand capital punishment for a few days and then forget. Horrible things keep on happening no matter what. When they happen, there are constructive ways to try help and really make a difference. Blind hatred is never the way. That is not what Gandhi did and even while disagreeing with the Mahatma on certain issues, that is not what Ambedkar did. We are people. Human beings. Let us at least try and give the next generation a better place to live and grow so that they know what to give their offspring.  Whether we have the moral right to question the authorities is one thing and since we will anyway forget the issue and move on with our lives, let us try and not show this ugly side. At least for our children’s sake. It is no doubt disturbing and heart breaking to even try and imagine the kind the pain the victims face. Let us take responsibility for once. Let us not propagate fear. Let us help the authorities by being better citizens. Let us try and mourn for the victims in silence. Let us pray for their recovery. Let us help them survive if we can. Let us thank our loved ones and hold them a little tighter. Let us love a little more. If we cannot do any of these, Let us at least keep wearing the masks!!

P.s.. Before leaving, do watch this video: Sunshine Vali Asha Smile and help in building a better tomorrow 😀