Tragedy, like in a Guru Dutt film

Tragedy, like in a Guru Dutt film
M. Mukundan

Naturally, no one wants accidents and calamities. But somehow they do happen from time to time, ravaging the earth, shaking cities and ruining families. What is surprising is the fact that when floods and earthquakes take place or when two trains collide, it gives an insight into the way our society reacts in the face of such disasters.

For example, when floods submerge vast sheets of the countryside uprooting families and killing the cattle, you know very well in advance what will follow. Helicopters will rise in the air and hover over the submerged landscapes of human grief and misery. From the sky, ministers will peep down and dictate instructions to their secretaries to release flood relief funds. We will watch it in colour with bated breath over our favourite news channel. And, down below, fund raising will be taken up by various NGOs, schoolchildren and newspapers. People will contribute generously, in many cases not because of their compassion for the orphaned children of the flood affected area, but in their eagerness to see their names printed in the list of contributors appearing in the media.

And what if two trains collide, throwing each other over like two mating reptiles? What will follow is a film already shot and lying in the can. You have to just dust it and run it on the projector and you will see the scenario unspool before your eyes. The minister of railways with the chairman of the Railway Board and other officials rush to the site of the accident. The minister announces on the spot an ex-gratia payment of one lakh rupees to the kin of the deceased, and 25,000 rupees to the seriously injured. The minister also announces that a commission of enquiry will be constituted to look into the accident and to suggest remedial measures. There will be articles in the press underscoring the urgency in modernising the signal system of the railways. And you forget all about it until the next collision of the trains take place.

We know for sure that floods are caused by nature and train accidents by human beings. But what causes the death of a politician -- nature or man? Maybe politicians are brought to life and shown the doors of death by a dark god of sombre wisdom. Nevertheless the death of a politician also throws light on the way our society operates, though it does not compare favourably with the magnitude of the devastation caused by natural calamities. Even when a politician of lesser importance passes away, we hear the predetermined elegies: a promising life cut short, an irreparable loss to nation.

Natural calamities and man-made accidents happen so frequently that now they seem to be a cliche. They are passe. They are like Guru Dutt's black and white films of yore tinged with melodrama. We like them, but they bore us. We need more ``in'' stuff, more spicy things. And what is more spicy than a beauty contest for instance?

When a lass from Haryana or Punjab is crowned Miss World or Miss Universe, what will follow is already choreographed. Wearing her tinselled crown and sash, she descends upon the Capital. She is taken through the streets in procession. She calls on the President and the Prime Minister and Soniaji. She addresses a press conference, thanking her parents profusely for encouraging her in her quest for the coveted crown. And, finally, the inevitable ritual: Escorted by TV cameras and press photographers, she spends time with street children or AIDS patients.

When events unfold according to an already choreographed script, what we lose is the beauty of a straying word or the excitement of a chance encounter with the unknown.