SHOES & SLAPS

I've been waiting to write this piece for quite sometime.Infact I've been waiting for more similar incidents to occur so that my article gets more meat.And being on the subject that it was,I was sure that the wait wouldnot be long.It all first started years ago ( atleast from what I've seen of electronic media ) when an iraqi journalist threw a shoe at the then US president George.W.Bush.The whole world ( including me! ) simply watched in awe that how could anyone dare to throw a shoe at someone just like that.Not an ordinary someone but the president of the USA.

While the arab world cheered and made a hero out of the shoethrower,this incident seemed to set the ball rolling.More and more public around the world seemed to come out of the woodwork with a newly gathered courage that politicians were not inaccessible like they were previously thought to be.Infact they were quite vulnerable.They were just a shoe throw away!Temporary solution of public frustrations became symbolised now with a shoe.
Not happy with a certain politician(s)?Just throw a shoe at them to demonstrate your grudge or disgust seems to be the curent flavour,going by the growing number of such incidents.

And with the media constantly following these high profile politicians 24x7,rest assured that any of your such shoe throwing incident would be picked up by the media with unashamed glee.And the shoe thrower in turn would become an instant celebrity with day long breaking news,coverage,
debates in the news channels( held in their honour of course )who needs such sensational feeds in their equally corrupt and not-up-the-mark news bytes.
Shoe throwing guarantees instant fame!!!

When the shoe throwing acts seemed to spread like fire and seemingly caught on with numerous incidents around the globe where policians and the likes of them etc came under the wrath of public with shoe attacks,it is hardly possible that Indian public would be left unaffected from it all.With the alarming number of notorious corrupt politicians,it seemed that the indian public was just waiting for such a release.Shoes!A great tool to express their pent up frustrations and helplessness.
So,in India right from the PM.Manmohan Singh onwards most of them ( L.K.Advani , Yeddyurappa , Chidambaram , Omar Abdullah , Mulayam Singh etc and yes more recently Rahul Gandhi too ) seemed to have been exclusively shoed at too.They all have had the priviledge of having a shoe thrown at them by the public and have tasted public anger.Of course whether the thrown shoe hit its target or missed it by a few yards is not that important at all.What is important is the very 'act/action' of carrying out such a harmless but a totally unconstitutional gesture in full media glare.And to make matters more interesting ( aka spicier ),of late,these shoes have been largely replaced by punches ( Prashant Bhushan -lawyer and Arvind Kejriwal - RTI activist incidents ) or slaps ( the recent Sharad Pawar incident ) Whether such attacks on these individuals are justified or not lies in one's own sensibilities.But from all these acts one thing is very clear that the public is frustrated and pissed off at the existing corrupt system.The public is very angry!And an angry uncontrolled public can go to any extremes.Who can forget a Libya or an Egypt?The whole world is witness how the frustrated long-oppressed public suddenly revolted in bulk against the decades long dictatorial regimes in these countries.

Whereas ours is a democracy.So can a simple slap put the house ( India ) back in order?It might surely not solve all our problems but these shoe throwing incidents ( also including the punches & the slaps ) definately sends out a strong message to these political personalties that 'Dont screw us anymore.We've had enough!'
Read >> My Take on Violence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoeing