The Slap and the plight of the common man

It isn’t common for me to travel often and I am always apprehensive of the travel for various reasons. But yesterday, I found myself in Mumbai for a quick meeting and was supposed to return the same afternoon on what was an otherwise uneventful day.

We finished our meeting, and the prospect extended the courtesy of hosting lunch. Full tummy, we started our journey back, with the driver taking the term “push the pedal” far too seriously. While passing through one of the sleepy hollows of Mumbai traffic, one of my colleagues quipped, “Sharad Pawar ko kisine thappad mara” and shoved the mobile phone ahead. Thinking it was one of the multiple jokes that float around on the SMS, I read and ignored – it literally said that a Punjabi has slapped Sharad Pawar, watch any news channel!

Nothing happened for a long time other than the conversation dying down and people trying to catch up their sleep. Then the car came to a screeching halt near the first toll booth on the expressway and everything came to a standstill. The booth had been shut down as a mark of protest, because their leader Sharad Pawar was slapped by some maniac. People were walking on the sun baked asphalt of the expressway; some were seen pleading the booth attendants and some were waving flags – showing others they were in control here.

As the luck may have it, the Commissioner of Police of Pune, Ms. Meera Borwankar was also stuck in this traffic jam, a few cars behind ours. Ms. Borwankar chose to sit in the AC comfort of her car as folks were standing helplessly on the expressway. A make-shift chaiwala was making the most of the situation by serving tea to the aggrieved passengers. A well-dressed man walked up to us and asked what happened. I told him in exactly the same words as the SMS. What has happened to this country, he quipped, we all shrugged shoulders and he went back to the comfort of his SUV. A Caucasian was seen taking pictures and making video of the scene on the expressway. A man dressed in white shirt and white pants was seen walking towards the toll booth. He must be some big shot politically, people said in hushed tones. But there wasn’t any movement. Finally a few police vans arrived and everyone started returning to the cars hurriedly. The expressway had been opened after having been stalled for more than half-an-hour.

The telecom revolution means instant spread of information – we saw Sharad Pawar being hit, thanks to the power of 3G. We spoke to family members asking them to be careful and we also heard that Pune has erupted in riots! Our driver had by now gotten very anxious of reaching home and started speculating if the roads will be open! A few places on the bypass were blocked because folks who took umbrage to the whole situation were burning tires. Apparently, a bus had been burnt near Swargate and one on SB Road! Rumors flew around like houseflies.

So, Sharad Pawar had finally had his day! The bigger question is what was achieved by stalling the expressway and burning a few tires?

India is unlikely to erupt into any kind of revolution – the Arab spring itself has turned into autumn and the candle light vigil for Anna will evaporate as soon as the candle is burnt. But the political class needs to understand that there is a high-level of distrust and subdued anger in people’s mind about them. While the slap may be a laughable incident, even more laughable is the reaction. As if the current expenditure is not enough, politicians are now making statements such as a review of the security apparatus is necessary. While the security might be a concern, building ivory towers is hardly a solution.

The real question to as is: Is anyone up for the challenge of solving the real problem? Is anyone from the political class up for a deep introspection?