You go out shopping, you go out for any reason, and what do you see ? Gawkers, people with ostensibly no purpose standing on the roadside, gawking. And you see them everywhere. Amazingly on every Indian street-corner, so many people with nothing to do, with free time on their hands. So, I guess trouble-makers have no problems gathering up a crowd, whether it is to riot through Bombay or Gujarat, or break mosques.

Sakshi Juneja writes about Amitabh Bachhan’s 63rd birthday, and the crowds which clogged traffic outside his home. Again, large crowds with lots of time, and nothing better to do than to stand outside closed gates, hoping that the great man would deign to accept good wishes personally ?

Categories : _culture_and_society