Thursday, September 17, 2009

The Cattle-Class Debate

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Who got hurt by the 'cattle-class-remark'? The fact is that those who understand merely the meaning of these ‘words’ never got hurt. A miniscule of our population who belong to the ‘cattle-class’ of a plane-journey is feeling the bruises left by the sharp edges of the words that Mr. Tharoor used. Only this class knows the way this phrase is used by the people of the developed country. But those who cannot afford to be even of that class are not bothered. The whole print and visual media and all the channels today took pains to remind the ‘rail-class’ and ‘bus-class’ that what idea Mr. Tharoor would be having of these classes if he thinks such of the economy-cattle-class. Let me tell them that they need not tell this to them since these classes know from ages that they belong to the ‘insect-class’. Nobody would feel agitated by this well known ‘revelation’. The ‘cattle-class’ wants the support of ‘insect-class’ in condemning the statement since they are in a miniscule minority. But unfortunately (for them) the 'insect-class' know their worth. Nobody needs a reminder to recall the differential compensations routinely announced by the concerned minister when a bus meets an accident, when a train accident takes place and when a plane hijacking occurs. It was the ‘cattle-class’ along with the ‘elite-class’ for whom the deal was made in ‘Kandahar’. It is anybody’s guess as to what would have happened even if only ‘cattle-class’ were present on the flight. The plight of the ‘cattle-class’ is that they were thinking hitherto that the ‘insect-class’ was in fact the ‘cattle-class’!
It is the media that is these days running our country. Due to this an opinion gets undue attention over another opinion not only because of the merit of the case. Media in India, is working like ad-campaigners. It is first decided by them that what is to be given attention and then all of them start beating the same track. I am yet to see the media remaining aloof when the gay community-verdict is discussed. I am yet to see a balanced approach from them whenever Mr. Narender Modi is mentioned in any context. I have always seen the media clearly taking a side when views about RSS and its Parivar are discussed. It is the ‘elite-class-gays’ and the ‘cattle-class-gays’ who are listened to while a discussion takes place. Those who sit in the opposition to this verdict invariably belong to the ‘insect-class’ and never get a proper representative for their views. Who does not want board examinations? In our system it is the examination-marks that is often used by the ‘insect-class’ to show their supremacy over the ‘cattle-class’ and the ‘elite-class’ combined. Now they want to use their class-identity to off-set a difference that may exist between two same-grade students. It is very clear that the ‘cattle-class’ and the ‘elite-class’ are heard by the media when they want sex-education (meaning ‘education-for-sex’) in schools whereas the ‘insect-class’ who wants sex-education (meaning ‘education-for-no-sex’) is never given their due attention.
Media is on the same side as that of the ‘cattle-class’ and they are going to win the battle irrespective of what the ‘insect-class’ thinks of the whole issue.