I believe that age brings with it what one
ordinarily calls responsibility. When age ripens an individual, it leaves the
person with deep awareness about the workings of the world around. Age may not automatically
confer wisdom on anyone of us, but it should at least bring in knowledge, a
kind of edge which leaves us aware of what is in store when we perform in
public. When a chronic bachelor is accused of possessing virile fingers, which
tend to take a life of its own and wander off in unintended directions in quest
of flesh of a different gender and is later left off the hook for being part of
a senior body, the eyebrows refuse to unarch.
An actress cries foul since she feels that she has
been, sort of,taken advantage of while she was inaugurating a boat race. Media figures out the senior politician who was seen
enthusiastically guarding the actress, keen on ensuring that nothing untoward
will happen to her and that no prying fingers will come any where close. The
helping hand stands her in good stead as the actress goes through her motions
and flies off to safety. The media clips show fingers which are dubiously/
dutifully guarding the lady. All hell breaks lose when the lady comes out into
the open, accusing the senior politician of misbehaviour. Damage control is in
full swing, when sundry leaders of the party honourably start to defend the
leader.
One supporter fails to understand how protection
could be interpreted as affront. To counter the movie clips which brings the
accused fingers to life, he parades a number of frozen snaps which look decent
and admirable. The fingers which are seen to be on the prowl earlier have been
domesticated in the still photographs. They are disciplined and are well
short of heading to foray into choice destinations. The stilling of the movie has
yielded excellent results. Another one asks how could a man who has remained a
chronic bachelor so far be suspected of doing what the woman says he did. A
lady supporter screams that a popular actor being touched and prodded is the
basic givens of their public experience. Hence a touch or feel need not be
blown out of proportions. A male supporter says that a senior politician
who has been the alter ego of a leader of yesteryears should not be kept
under clouds. For some others what is at issue is, whether one should take the
words of an actress who allowed her delivery to be shot seriously. A more devout
observation was by a lady leader who felt that since past of the
actress was involved in a condom ad, she is not beyond reproach.
But the comedy was brought to a humorous end by
the actress herself who said that she is withdrawing her complaint as the
person concerned has apologised . Interestingly she also added that she was
considering the age of the person while she decided not to push with the
complaint. In yet another good movie I have not watched, The Ship of Theseus,
the theme is said to involve the explorations of questions of identity and
essence. Well, is a man his fingers or his head ? Is a man his age? If the
fingers wag, is it because of his age or in spite of it? How does it read if
one applies the wag-the-dog theory? Can a man's urges be accounted for by his
age or will those be controlled by his age? Do these urges get better of the
sanguinity of the hoary haired ?
Not long ago there was a debate in the air about
juvenile delinquency. If a legal minor abuses a woman, that is if one who is
young, by the legal yard stick, molests a woman, would he be let off the hook,
on account of his age? Many screamed about the need to rewrite the rule book.
What we are dealing with here is gerontological delinquency, let us say. Should
we revisit the rule book and scrap the legal definition of seniors too?
The most curious aspect of the incident is that the
artist in question has decided to withdraw the complaint and is paying the
price for that. Sure, the clippings could be interpreted in a number of ways.
In the past too we have instances of senior politicians hands detaching itself
from the body and doing tricks in flights. Was that too flight of fancy
induced by age? The complaint evaporated, though it took much longer to, perhaps,
assess the age of the hand. But more than any clipping, stalled or otherwise,
the body at the receiving end will know for sure. A pat or a push, a feel or
tickle, the surface will know for certain. Hence the last laugh should have
been that of the actress.
It is sad to see gleeful politicos walking all
over her, for being generous enough to let go of one 's dignity, as a senior
people's representative couldn't let go of his democratic urges. Still, was not the act of the lady in question an open invite to be booted up on? The act of withdrawal which urged the political clientele of the group to lend a hand to cure aging morality!
Comments
Post a Comment