The Story Behind Ek Neta Ki Maut

Ek Neta ki Maut (Death of a leader) is the latest of my published stories. Special thanks to 21 Fools for doing so. Here is the link for those who haven't read it yet, and would like to do so!

LINK

The story is an outright fiction and none of the characters or locations or context are meant to resemble anyone or anything existent in the real world. (Ha! You don't buy it right? Ok, then read on...)

I had been to Bangalore years ago to appear for an examination on the day following Kannada actor Rajkumar's death and was shocked to see the anarchic state of the city. This picture was etched in my mind since then, and was easy to recall when I decided to take on the subject of political idolisation.

The primary focus of the story is on hero worship of political leaders and film celebrities. Where better a stage to it than the place where both the Chief Minister and the leader of opposition in the state legislative assembly are both film actors! So I decieded to have Chennai as the location of the story.

The other elements portrayed in Ek Neta Ki Maut are the growing nepotism in politics and the ideologies of party leaders and party workers that are incongruent to that of the political party they represent. This in addition to opportunistic monkey jumping by parties to form governments and attain ministrerial berths are seen as the biggest indicators that politics ceases to be a life of passionate social service but a mere profession for money making. I'd hold the same responsible for the Communist debacle in West Bengal last week. (Link)

Moving on from politics, psychology has been my favourite real life subject of study. I continue to be amazed by the power of human brain and always curious to know how it works! So when I decided to fade out the end of the story as a dream, I chose to include certain psychology concepts as well.

I am sure everyone has had their own experiences of having noticed reality being reflected in their dreams. From the kid who dreams of honourably using a toilet while shamelessly bedwetting in his sleep to the scientist who sees his research elements dancing in his dreams, I am sure everyone's had their own share of experiences in this regard. That is why I wanted the nightmare of the character (the riot and its impact) to lead to his real life condition (eye burning sensation probably due to conjunctivitis) as he gradually comes out of it.

Also there is this ever intriguing phenomenon called deja vu. The weird feeling of having already gone through something that is happening now in the present, and trying to predict responses and reactions of others based on the clues the brain throws in! True genius of the human brain! The story ends with a deja vu for the main character as his friend tries to rope him into a situation that he had foreseen in his nightmare.

Now the million dollar question remains would he believe his brain's story telling abilities and refrain from the plan or will he actually go ahead and experience deja vu!

Cheers! :)

Orphaned Heroes

I remember the day very clearly. It was late evening on a summer day in Mumbai, and all the people in my house (and a few from the neighbourhood) were glued in front of the television. No, it was not the latest Bollywood flick or an Amitabh starrer from the olden days that was being played on TV. Instead it was an episode of HardTalk India and Karan Thapar was griling the guest, as he always does. But in the course of talks, the guest could not control their tears and starts crying like a baby on the national channel in front of millions of viewers! This very shot that was used to publicise the particular episode of Hardtalk India, had paid off and countless number of people had huddled in front of television sets across the nation from homes to showrooms to watch this interview! And the guest was not a weak hearted survivor narrating their war ordeals or a tortured wife counting her days of agony; instead it was one of India's greatest heroes who had brought uncomparable glory to the nation in an international stage. Yes, it was Kapil Dev- the only Indian cricket captain to have won us a World Cup!

Kapil Dev was bitterly wounded by the match fixing allegations raised against him that questioned his integrity, and was on national television sobbing uncontrollably. He said, " I will commit suicide rather than take a bribe.... I feel ashamed that I played cricket. "

Ten years later, another national cricket hero, the person credited to rebuilding the Indian cricket team from being just another scam-stricken, low-morale team drowned in controversies into a team of highly talented youngsters with the killing spirit to take on even the world's best team- Australia at the highest point of their success (16 consecutive test victories) and leading India to the finals of Worldcup (the only one after Kapil Dev's 1983 team) - lay at the mercy of some money driven filmstars and businessmen to play in a tournament organised in India!

And what happens? He is not picked by any of the ten different team owners, and pushed to the shame of being overlooked in favour of more than hundred other players! And to top it with a layer of sadism, the co-owner of his home team KKR Shahrukh Khan quips "No team is possible in Kolkata without Ganguly... I would love to have him as an integral part of the team".

Under such circumstances we are forced to question whether we actually know how to show true respect to our heroes? Be it war heroes, sportspersons, filmstars or for that matter anyone who strives to gain our country global recognition and honour.

Will we do the same to someone like Sachin Tendulkar who has spent even the best part of his teenage for Indian cricket, ten years from now? 'Adarsh Society' scam is a recent example of how we do not respect the sacrifices by our war heroes in the Kargil war, instead try to hijack the bare little assistance that their family members receive from the government! Many of the best faces on and off screen who have been responsible for growing Bollywood to the cash-cow that it is today, die under conditions of extreme poverty, loneliness and enormous debt. One of Bollywood's all time favourite heroine and the first Indian actress to feature on the cover of Time magazine, Parvin Babi lay dead in her house for three days and later in the mortuary awaiting claimants for the dead body! These are the plights of people revered to be heroes and celebrities at some point of time in their life.

While we know to easily churn out heroes amidst us from the autorickshaw wallahs on the street to the fellow passenger in local train to the participant in a television reality show; we barely know to respect and reciprocate the efforts of the real heroes who work hard forsaking everything dear to them, for bringing pride and prestige to fellow countrymen by achieving the impossible on a global stage and making India rise above the rest of the world.

Kapil Dev and Ganguly are not individual cases of 'orphaned heroes'. In fact they are probably the more visible ones. Several ex-servicemen and families of war martyrs, former sportspersons, entrepreneurs, scientists and artists and many more will be out there to tell us how this country and the selfish countrymen turned their backs at them when they most needed their support, and in some cases humiliated them in public for unproven offences.

The respect that they bring to the nation must be reciprocated to them, and this must be done at any cost. It is because of the contribution of these achievers- the real heroes- that today India can claim to be a growing superpower and a major challenge to the biggest of world nations!