A Death that Did Not Sell

She died a death – unwanted and extremely ill-timed. She was only eight, or nine may be. And, it happened at an obscure corner of a district in West Bengal. I do not remember the exact pieces of fact from the newspaper report and nor do I care, for her death is not worthy, in the slightest bit, of mentioning or remembering. But, still, what it is about this death that prompts me to bring it up here? I will come to that. Later. And, how did she die? Of poverty, starvation, poisoning by debt-ridden parents, or perhaps a fatal mishap? No. People, I give you the snippets of a death, unexpected but at the same time, ‘unwanted’ too.

We all love a good death – don’t we?

image courtesy - homecinema

Like, Amitabh Bachhan’s Jay died in that iconic climax in ‘Sholay’ (or, in myriad other Bollywood blockbusters like ‘Deewar’, ‘Mukaddar ka Sikander’, ‘Agnipath’). Or, like the death of the pretty, little girl in Mr. India where she died in quite a ghastly bomb blast, courtesy the evil Mr. Mogambo. We still go misty-eyed even today when these are on TV. Deaths should be like this - heroic, glorious, tragic, beautiful, and hence, memorable. We all love a good death.

But, hers is not. Hers was a complete waste. Silly girl, she didn’t know she could have chosen a proper, and better time and reason to lay her anyway-uncared-for life. Okay, now again, “how did she die?” – She was beaten to death by a fruit vendor and his two associates ‘coz she tried to steal a watermelon from the pile of fruits. She was tied to a pole, kicked, beaten severely, and her little head was smashed by a watermelon.

image courtesy - getty images

In describing this small, insignificant incident, I have tried to stick to words which ought not to evoke any sort of passion or sympathy – yet, people, does it move you? A bit? No? Right, it doesn’t move you or touch your ‘refined, intellectual, compassionate’ heart which ponders over matters demanding your urgent attention and concern. Your seemingly apathetic attitude is totally legitimate and justified, for here, there was no dynamics involved, dynamics which could have fueled your opinions, or the willingness to express it. It's pretty one-dimensional rather. It’s a case of petty theft, and the punishment - it serves her right! Bloody scum of the earth! These are the elements which grow into poisonous, anti-social miscreants - these vermin should be and must be crushed to death. She had to die. It's ‘people’s justice’ you see. You do a wrong thing, you incur the mob’s wrath, and you pay the price – people will take laws in their hands and justice will be delivered. Simple.

Now, let me come the ‘untimely’ part of her death. I choose to call it ‘untimely’ because this CAN NOT be the time to die such a death. C'mon, I mean, this is POLL TIME in Bengal. Everybody who is a 'nobody' or an 'anybody' is trying hard to become a 'somebody' in Bengal. Donning either red or green, everyone is busy sorting out issues which are important – now, how do you decide what is important and what is not?

image courtesy - flickr 

The Current Definition of ‘Important’ in Bengal: If an issue has got the potential to feed on public sentiment, sympathy, and support, if it has got some hint of any political color (strictly, red or green - saffron or blue do not exist for us), if it has got the seed of getting any party some political advantage to score over the other in these climactic times of poll and ‘change’, if it has got some sensational connection that can make it into a ‘breaking news’ byte flashing on to screens of our mushrooming news channels.

Visualize This: Busy and important-looking news reporters in jeans, kurtis, and intelligent-looking glasses – (excuse me, I mean to say, the glasses look intelligent, not particularly, the faces of the reporters) narrating in their usually-always high-pitched, anxious-sounding voice, “...this is the place where the poor girl was…” and her mourning family, her mother and sister howling and wailing at the backdrop - if it catches the compassionate fancy of any of our big Bengal brigade of intelligentsia (a compassionate comment from any one of our eminent writers, painters, poets, singers, artists, film-makers, actors, playwrights could have taken the whole incident to another level) - it must be deemed as an important issue.

image courtesy - telegraphindia

But, no, nothing, as per the above mentioned criteria of becoming eligible to be important in Bengal, happened in this case. No one cared to stop, stare, or shade a tear or two. The news never even made it to the front page of the dailies (what?! Front page of the dailies? Don’t you know that front page spaces these days are reserved for IPL, celebrity tamashas, royal weddings, and poll campaign excesses? Didn’t you see the picture of a certain important lady descending from helicopters in remote corners of Bengal or the series of snaps where Deepika Padukone and Siddharth Mallya engage into an impromptu embrace followed by a passionate kiss on lips, yes you read that right, in front of a packed stadium audience which also included the father of the boy?! One newspaper even went to the extent of numbering the snaps so that readers do not have the slightest of confusion to figure out which state of action came after which).


I waited for a few days before writing this post anticipating that some concern must be raised, some protest must be heard somewhere. But, her below poverty-line social status, her Muslim minority identity, her gender, her age – nothing did earn her death the required political mileage to make it to one of the talked-about and debated issues across the city. It is very much fashionable and ‘in’ for the youngsters these days to hold silent, candle march. But, there was none to protest her death and demand justice. So, I come to the conclusion that her death must have been an ‘unwanted’ one – no one wants her cause. No one wants her death. It does not sell. It is ill-timed – we don’t have the time or effort (these should be conserved for the coming important days of forming a new Government and an overnight state of ‘change’ all across Bengal) to waste over such trifles.

image courtesy - hardknocklife

Flashback Mode: A few years back. A young guy in his twenties committed suicide on railway tracks. A suicide note was found confessing that no one is responsible for his death, yet, there was provocation, and resistance from the rich and influential family of his girlfriend which led to their separation and consequently, to his death. Soon, investigation started. Big names started to tumble out of the dirty bag. Names were taken, bribes were given, promise of justice was delivered, people took notice, and one particular political party had the foresight to make it a state-wide issue blaming the Government for sheltering the wrong-doers and for the complete law and order failure in the state. Soon, the state witnessed an unprecedented surge of mass movement demanding peace and justice slamming the Government. Anything and everything ranging from pollution, corruption, inflation, power cuts, traffic snarls, potholes on roads, global crises, Al-Qaida terror attacks, neighbor’s son’s poor marks in Board exams, break ups, bad hair days, pimples, no signal on mobiles, no appraisals, bad hangovers – everything was started to be linked up with the incompetence and ill-governance of the three decades-spanning Left Front rule in Bengal. Elections came. The Opposition cashed in on the issue. Media gave full support. And, coverage too. The brother of the deceased was made a candidate. The leader of the Opposition, with her head covered in the pallu of her sari touched the feet and seeked blessings with a beaming smile from the mother of the deceased. Point was proved. Hearts were won. Seats were lost. Victory signs were flashed. And, winning smiles were exchanged.


Now, what is so wrong with the little girl’s death that could not fetch her the a sort of popular martyr status? What were the operational factors in that death which are obviously lacking in her death? Why is no one talking about such a ghastly crime being committed? Why is our minds divided in our reactions to two different but fundamentally similar (any death, unnatural, untimely, is disturbing, unfortunate and if it is plotted or perpetrated, it is to be condemned) incidents? What is this politics behind such discrimination?


Question: The guy was young, good looking, educated, employed, belonging to the minority community, and most importantly, his death was for a reason far more ‘popular’ (a young guy killing himself for the cause of love, the fact that the rich family of the girl was opposed to the match and tried every trick in the book to separate them, evokes pity, sympathy – Tollywood came up with scripts bordering along the lines of a similar plot with fresh faces, the movie became an instant hit, made good business, plus created debates whether or not it was based on real life characters and incidents) and thus, attains the ability to appeal to mass imagination and tug at the strings of our hearts, has immense scope of capitalization and and hence, bankable. Is this the reason why that particular incident kept up the public and media attention while this ugly (I can imagine her under-nourished frame, patchy, brown skin, yellow teeth, mud and dust on her feet and ankles, unclipped, dirty nails, running nose, mop of hair with no touch of oil, dressed in a faded frock with no zip to keep the pieces together) little girl failed in her death too, to achieve the status of being talked about when she’s gone?

image courtesy - getty images

Perhaps she could have chosen to die a month ago - probably then, the political parties would have spared a thought to consider if at all her death is eligible to be made into an issue. Now that elections are over and poll results are out, just bury the ghost and move on! You don’t have any other work, or what!