Reading about the recent Pawar-shoving incident gives me the creeps. Why ? Because it reminds me that vermin like Pawar and his ilk, actually rule India, and are responsible for the “welfare” of the state. Does it bother me that a GREAT INDIAN POLITICIAN WAS (gasp) SHOVED ? No, not a whit. I’d have been more bothered had a common man on the street been ill-treated by Ponting or his team.
Ponting’s defence on his team being a little exuberant in their victory cuts no ice with me. No one asked them to do a sashtang pranam or pay obeisance. All that is expected of an adult is to not beckon, shove or gesture in a fashion that may be taken as offensive. Exuberance is OK, but one must conduct oneself with at least the barest of etiquette, especially in a foreign country. Even with my exposure to the Western concept of respect, and the fact that a non-Indian might be more in-formal, I still feel that Ponting and his team desperately need a crash course in general good manners.
Initially as the drama unfolded, I thought Pawar took it uncharacteristically well – for a politician that is. He dismissed the whole thing as a non-issue, and said that he did not expect an apology. However he later reverted to his true colors, and changed his mind calling it totally uncivilized behavior. Ah, well, I’m thinking – here comes the tamasha.
And tamasha it was. Tendulkar protested on camera, and ranted about on the slight to a person so dear to cricketers. All that love for Pawar. Well, the guy does want to keep playing cricket, doesn’t he ? So, he might as well kiss Pawar’s ass (on television, no less !) when he has the opportunity. And then as expected the NCP called a bandh to protest against the great man’s insult. Apparently water, electricity, roads, food, starvation are not issues, but an insult to the NCP leader is. Besides the fact that Pawar was the trophy presenter and had spent his time being there to honor the Australians, not much qualifies him as a great man.
However, it is the philosophy of babu-dom, that causes us to treat even the most lowly politician (and who’s to say that they’re not all lowly ?) with awe and undue respect. On TV, whenever you see a minister he’s surrounded by bodyguards and lackeys. Lackeys who run hither and thither pushing away people so that the great man/woman can walk un-impeded. Lackeys who hover obligingly – Shall I hold the umbrella so that you’re not blinded by sunlight , Sir ? Shall I hold the door open for you, Sir ? Shall I push the common people away, Sir (they smell, and they want food, water, electricity) ? Shall I wipe the snot off your nose, Sir ?
On crowded roadways, I’ve watched all traffic halt and wait as cavalcades of supposedly important people is rushed through. At airports, lesser politicians line up with garlands to honor the bigger fish back in desh, from whatever foreign land they’ve been vacationing in. Sycophancy is the shelter of the weak, of course, but what of the “leaders” who actually allow such bootlicking behavior to continue and flourish ?
On a an NDTV show, on a totally unrelated topic (spread of dengue), I think it was Sanjay Kaul who argued for the citizen to demand good governance. If one expects an elected leader to not do his work, you can bet he won’t. Treat them like the scum they are instead of heaping upon them the privileges of governance and they might see the light.
