A Malayalam professor of Newman College of Arts in Kerala was recently in the front pages of regional newspapers for preparing a religiously inflammatory question paper which seemingly offended the religious feelings of another community. The next thing we hear is that this guy got his hand chopped off by a bunch of hooligans while he was returning from church after the Sunday offerings with his mother and sister. Welcome to God’s own country- Kerala… gradually turning into land of atrocities and cannibalism. Nations only 100% literate state is obviously not mature enough to discriminate between the good, bad and the ugly.
The news channels aired the news for the next 24 hours without a break and the most shocking scene came when I saw the victim’s sister carrying the cut-off hand in a plastic bag as tears rolled down her cheeks.
The evening shows in the TV channels were quickly filled up with serious discussions and debates on whether this was a planned attack on the communal harmony in the state. Religious leaders were called upon (the channel guys were certainly hoping for a possible brawl to increase their TRPs) and some unheard names from the political arena also rushed in with their best suit on. The discussions were all rubbish, quickly changing directions and taking up rather vague issues like governance of Christian missionaries in the state & alleged terrorist training camps in Muslim institutions. The politicians were not at all interested in mocking their grief for the unfortunate but were ready to announce their allegiance towards the next day’s ‘Bharat Bandh’. They quickly went on to explain how they oppose the weakness of the current Central Government for fuel price rise and inadequate support for the common people, as if they were the only messiah of the mobs. I turned off the TV when I couldn’t take any more of this Tamasha.
