A Life Full of Near-Lynching

Lynching is a dirty word. But it has been doing rounds in our midst for the past few months. We have heard enough of this in different contexts – be it a religious belief, issue related to social diversity or a societal threat.  The mob mentality has ruled the roost.  Be it the birth of a new social class and hence the vote bank or the death of a political leader, a set of people can get together and flow their emotions into some gratuitous lynching.

I was keen to know if it was specific to our country but realized that even the US had its own share of this disgrace. As a matter of fact, the word originated in the US, derived from the Lynch Law introduced by William Lynch, as far back as in the 18^th century.

Some of us perhaps have a propensity to impose our ideas and beliefs on others. And when a group of people converge on a common belief, the intensity of the focal point breeds irrational behavior.  As I traverse through my life experiences, I realize that some of the situations carried similar thrust and were just short of lynching.

During my childhood, we used to play cricket at a big iconic ground called Motijheel. On other side of the ground, there was a locality largely inhabited by people of a particular faith. Whenever we had an outcome contrary to the predilection of those boys, we got into trouble. A complete lot from the other side of Motijheel will gang up together to have it their way. The commotion that followed was just short of lynching. We just managed to escape every time, albeit losing a few of our cricketing gear in the process.

I studied in a Government school. Corporal punishment was not much of a taboo amongst the teachers those days. Two of my classmates used to get bashed by every other teacher on every other day. The boys had their own limitations that fell well short of the teachers’ expectations. Sometimes, it appeared quite vindictive and merciless. I wonder if all the eight teachers had gotten together on a given day and time, the result would have been nothing short of ruthless lynching.

Driving on the chaotic roads of Delhi and Bangalore had never been easy.  There have been occasions when I have witnessed an otherwise sane car driver inadvertently brushing through an auto-rickshaw. The ensuing fracas, with a dozen auto-rickshaw drivers surrounding the hapless car driver, had always been just short of lynching. I am sure, the experiences at Chennai and Kolkata would be no different.

And why leave behind Mumbai.  My Mumbaikar friends tell me - If you ever attempt to get into the Virar local while it stops at Andheri station, the result would surely be a case of near-lynching.  I have deliberately used the term ‘attempt’ as I am told, no newbie could ever succeed on that.

As I write this blog on a Sunday, my wife has been reminding me repeatedly of the chores lined up for me. The weekly visits to the grocery shop, the vegetable market and to get the leaking tap fixed. Her tone has been changing with every reminder, I could notice. I am only happy that the God gave me only one wife. Had it been more, the rising tempers could collectively have resulted in another near-lynching.