“History repeats itself, that’s one of the things that’s wrong with history.” -Clarence Darrow

Playing by Different Rules – 2

by | Sep 16, 2012 | Blog

Ajaz exposes the duplicity

(Mr. Ajaz ul Haque, 42, was born in Srinagar. He completed his school and college education in South Kashmir. He is presently on the faculty as Producer in the University of Kashmir Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMRC), and a columnist for the Greater Kashmir. In leisure time he enjoys reading.)

VIP’s First

What Taj
Mohiuddin’s guard did to a traffic policeman on duty is nothing new. This
cop-beating-cop story is new only because of the sameness of the character. The
theme is unchanged. Let all die but minister has to be the first to go. If he is
late by a second, that will finish us as a people. So cling to walls, climb a
lamppost on the road, lie flat, still yourself, arrest your beat, but ensure
that he (along his cavalcade) doesn’t waste a minute more. Don’t forget he is on
a life-saving mission as `important’ as attending a marriage party. Since the
victim of this terror turned out to be a cop himself, hence the news. We are
familiar with this (what by any standards of languages can’t be given a better
name than) hooliganism.

Minister apart, an `ordinary VIP’ (contradiction
intentional) carrying the airs and graces of a so called Very Important Person
literally kicks out all on the road to pierce his way through. These VIP drivers
(their company adequately justifies the title) want to simply fly. The masters
are happy in seeing their chauffeurs roar on the road to throw an impression
around that the man they are carrying is no way unimportant. This attitude of
our prominent people is becoming a new form of malignancy eating us physically
and emotionally as well. One wonders as to why are these guardians and makers of
the law in a hysterical haste. Why do they want to trample over human bodies to
reach their destinations. A pleasure ride of a VIP is to be conducted as an
emergency affair. Ambulances carrying patients are not that desperate to reach
hospitals as is a VIP entourage to reach the spot. Higher the profile of a
person, wilder the behaviour. A VIP car honking from behind and the cavalcade
literally unleashing terror on the roadside reminds one of the Dogra rule. We
hear it from our elders that how nightmarish would a Maharaja’s leisurely walk
prove for the people. As the king would stroll around the city, subjects had to
scurry to save themselves so that they are spotted. Though the times have
changed, but the mindset of our rulers stays the same.
I

t doesn’t happen
with politicians alone. It’s true with all those who wield power. Bureaucrats,
administrators, police high-ups and even academics are not free of this
infirmity. This desire to be different always drives one crazy, no matter who
you are. Suggesting measures to check the menace will be the most
inconsequential we can do.