Stench on our Skin

Image source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/photos/india/the-stinking-heaps-of-ghazipur-landfill-site/photo-EPOZjmghYwaqgrbKznFmSI.html

Men, often a few young boys,

Women, rare yet likely,

Huddled for a conversation

Like we do on a mound

Green grass covered

In the park.

But these men, boys, women

Are on a huge heap

Of stench emanating garbage.

Each morning, on trucks, lorries

Door to door

Apartment to apartment

Restaurant to restaurant

Picking up filth

Vomit-inducing rubbish

With bare hands

Without masks or gumboots

Displaying a normalcy

That isn’t.

Those big blue bins

With leftover food

Or used sanitary pads

With soiled diapers, or wet hair

Or when color codes we brazenly disregard

And throw that syringe, a razor

They touch these, it pierces them

But we play the ignoring game well

Pretending well

The non-existence of these humans.

Questions of caste

Of their subsistence

Unanswered yet known

Are relegated to the hind

Where cemented by conditioning

They pass along generations

And breed kids oblivious to

The strife of these men, boys and women.

The forms that resemble us

In cloak of flesh and bones

But on their skin is smeared

That invisible stench

Which no soap can wipe

And a part of the soul

Amidst it all is lost

And part of the mind

Numbed by cheap alcohol

Or that thinner

Caring no more to think

Rag-pickers, garbage collectors, koodawala

And all the hues in between

Part-dead, part-living

Cleaning our filth

Thought of, treated & thrashed as filth

These men, boys, women

Are on a huge heap

Of stench emanating garbage

Huddled for a conversation

Like we do on a mound

Green grass covered

In the park.

The Cost of Standing Up

 Image source: timesnownews.com

Electronic media was recently abuzz with an incident from Bhopal where a biker protested the driving of a SUV on the wrong side of the road by blocking its path with his bike. The footage captured on CCTV camera then goes on to show how the car driver thrashes the biker. A range of reaction poured towards this incident ranging from outrage against the wrong doer to appreciation for the young man. While it is heartening to see the courage of one person, it is often faced with the cost of standing up against crimes, small and big, that deters the average Indian.

One thing that struck me about the incident was the routine nature of it. A car coming from the wrong side of the road is dangerous, it leads to traffic chaos and accidents, yet it is one of the most common forms of violation that happens in front of us, and daily. An auto-rickshaw with 6 passengers, a forceful passenger in railway compartment, shopkeeper charging Rs 2 extra as 'cooling charge', etc are every day affair which when placed on a continuum of lawlessness might fall in the lower rungs yet are unlawful.

What prevents people to be that guy on the bike?

Firstly, who wants trouble?
The guy who stood up to the SUV owner went to the police station. Police has filed a FIR against the car driver. So long after the viral nature of the post is over, the guy has to go to police station for testimony, etc. This, assuming that police cooperates in the investigation and does its job diligently.

Secondly, it is not my job.
The human mind works very well to gauge a rough cost vs benefit. When an extra Rs 2 on milk packet is weighed against quarreling with the shopkeeper, writing to appropriate grievance cell and following it up, it is obvious which one is weighted more. it happens all the time in all situations and especially in those that requires things to be done while going out of ones way.

Thirdly, what if there is repercussion?
We, who consumed that video and all the drama and text along with it, do not know how well connected that SUV owner is. It is not for nothing that Bollywood has shown criminals coming back to create trouble for the whistleblower. What is happening to scores of whistleblowers in the country is a testimony to the fact how unsafe activism can be.

Fourthly, who will listen to me?
While one might know that RTO/Police/Traffic Police has to be complained against an errant auto driver, a vast majority might not know, in the physical absence of them, of how to do it. In the Indian quagmire of authorities, bodies, and more authorities and more bodies, one is barely aware of proper channels of lodging complains and thereby creating huge barriers.

Policing every part is not feasible, technology cannot be all encompassing and is often costly, incentives to be lawful are less and risk of punitive action against crime is low. All this makes for a heady mix where we average Indians pass off small unlawful activities like driving on wrong side of the road as innocuous and 'adjust' to these risks and discomfort.

That is why the Bhopal guy makes news.

Blue Whale calling from Odisha - 4 lessons

Blue Whale Challenge: Myth vs Reality. Pic Source: Getty Images

Odisha has also caught up with the latest thing in the market, the Blue Whale Challenge or let us translate it loosely to ‘Nila Timi Baaji’. And caught up in a big way. The police, the newscasters, the reporters, the administration have shown out-of-the-world seriousness to this internet game and the risk it poses especially to teenagers, who get addicted and kill themselves at the end of playing the game. But amidst the hullabaloo they are all missing the major point – that there is, in all probability, no online game called Blue Whale Challenge.

But this ruckus, fanned by media surviving on sensationalism, fed by authorities not trying to go to the depth of a matter, has many important lessons. Let me delineate four of them. 

Firstly, shoddy reporting has been the mainstay in this Blue Whale Challenge story. All the suicide stories, not just limited to Odisha, have not gone into the depth of the matter. Claims by parents and often the clueless police about the alleged game behind the suicide have been given prominence. While subsequently such claims have fallen apart, the widespread panic it has created cannot be undone. In an article Pranesh Prakash of CIS has cited many such examples. In an era when journalism is criticized by the common man, such poor standard does not help the cause.

Secondly, the way police has gone about this issue is uncalled for. The newly appointed DGP, R P Sharma seems to have taken this Blue Whale Challenge and its threats seriously. He has expressed his deep concern about it. Even Odisha DGP K B Singh has ordered for removal of it from social media, though I wonder how they plan to do it. It is the responsibility of police to not fan ridiculous claims and that is exactly what has happened in Odisha. But at one point they can’t be blamed for such incompetence, as such things are bound to happen at the face of the force lacking technical expertise in the matter and also known for unscientific methods of investigation.

Thirdly, this issue is a testimonial of how radically networked societies react to fake news. And such fake news that involves serious and utterly disturbing matters like suicide. It is likely that you the reader would have received Whatsapp forwards telling you not to click anything with such and such in the link for then Blue Whale Challenge will be loaded and you will get addicted to it. I mean, seriously? Do people even think what they forward? No. Panic brings about strange behaviour in people and this is an example of such. Controlling this menace, which is making people dumb, needs concerted effort. 

Lastly, and most importantly, this incident is causing light to be thrown at an issue that is taking away from where the spotlight should be – suicides among teenagers. 62,960 people in the age group of 10-24 committed suicide in 2013. And no blue or red whale caused it. These deeply worrying, utterly disturbing figures show what psychological issues exist in India. Are parents, schools, workplace aware of this, and if so are they doing anything about it? Do we have a conducive environment for normal and healthy growth of an individual? Does formal education, society, general ecosystem have mechanisms to help an individual under stress cope? Odia and largely the Indian society should ask these questions rather than indulging in senseless sensationalism.