Of batons and the next generation

The ruckus that is being raised and staged over Rs 72.5 cr for procuring lathis in UP is a senseless one. Here adjacent to Nagercoil not only enough lathis were procured but enough policemen too had been packed to 24X7 proceedings to ensure that the celebrations of the political party went without a hitch. With cops throwing blanket all over the 20km-long stretch between KKRI and Nagercoil, the lathi was the only instrument in hand to ensure that none of the 10 million black and red flags were uprooted for the next 10 weeks and none of the cutouts, billboards of leaders and the issues that were once dear to them and having gone further were brought down for the next 10 months.

It was the lathi - and the multitasking operations that it could be employed for - that was pressed into service with the express message none to be used unless and until the Kalaignar blew hot and cold . Well hot and cold coffee had been served for the people on the dais who had been firmly told to not spew the hot and cold venoms reserved for those sharing the dais. Well for the aam janata in attendance had been promised mass meals and the coupons for the next six days as the patriarch was visiting the town after six years.

There were heaps and heaps of newspapers lying scattered here and there. Probably the meals coupon were tagged to them. The papers and the stories it carried, i opened up to the wide, wet and wild world of the political party and how its promises changed priorities at every passing rally. The paper fed meal was all that was promised with veg meals at a place six kms away with the serpentine queue going right to the outskirts. Well, the lathi-wielding cops could have the meals at the place next to the dais with the rider that they were able to convince the event managers on the lathi being logically employed to intimidate the public to mark their presence in the rally.
In Nagercoil and the areas around it the budget to stage the stir-and-shaken celebrations ran into several hundred crores to precisely kickstart the passing of the baton(lathi) to the next generation of leaders. And here we are bickering over the Rs 72.5 cr amount spent to rain the janata with choicest of abuses and slangs in the state of the North. THe day the highest man in office to the lowest ebb that one can presume to flow would be with the same sentiments with the lathii-wielding cops and super cops stretched beyond your and mine imagination. Post verdict they would be asked to rain blows on the crowd which has not shaken enough to cause a stir ; and if enough mayhem is on the streets , the lathi would be employed in appropriate proportion to bring sanity.
Mind you these lathis have been employed and cops deployed at vantage points of the state for the time being. These batons of power and indulgences would be passed on to their counterparts in other states where a mayhem is about to break out over any issue under the sun.

These batons of beauty come in different shapes and sizes clearly defined by the size of the state where it is to be employed; the scope of the stir to be covered; and more appropriately the forces at work who would instigate the lathi borrower to go full throttle or lie muteless as the circumstances may be. No cribbing over the baton where it changes hands generation after generation with the sole determinant being that the life should go on come rally, rains or raining baton blows. After all a few baton blows here and there is a necessity to kick us out of our slumber and forthrightly approach for the rally where attendance is wearily thin.

After all the govt of the day wants the excitement quotient to be sustained, the TVwallahs the story strong enough to drive them out of their senses. The story that is intersprsed with the inscrption that the the following unfolding story has these sponsors. For the State government, these court delivered moments (against the adverse travel advisory) gets more tourists to the state given the pledge the large number of tour operators take to come out with the best tour package to date.
As these undercurrents were defining my return journey from Nagercoil, i settled for a late-night food at a dhaba which happened to be its first and last day of operation. The prime mover behind the dhaba had opened it with the faint hope that the rally would bring new visitors to his spot. But there were more goons and less visitors. And these visitors vowed to never return to this joint nothwithstanding the likes of DMK, MDMK, ADMK and other Big and Small Ks deciding to hold a joint rally in and around its surroundings.