The enemy within

Technology spurs some curious cultural phenomena. Take for instance mass SMS messages. SMS is highly popular in Asian countries, so much so that in some South Korean and Taiwanese movies, there are sometimes whole SMS sequences. The screen is split into two, the protagonists are shown furiously SMSing each other while the native language transcript plays out at the bottom, subtitle style. Now, here is the kicker, you are already watching with subtitles on. Imagine the confusion. Anyway, we digress.

So here is how mass SMS works (for the benefit of those in the cellular-technology challenged Western countries). Some smart aleck comes up with a supposedly funny or interesting message and SMSes it to everyone on his contact list. Silly perhaps, but it does happen. Each recipient in turn forwards it to everyone on his contact list. Sometimes they snowball into a huge chain SMS.

So, one day, you are bored and sitting in your office. This happens to be the day India had won the T20. Your euphoria has already faded away, bringing you back to harsh realities. Yeah, the evening commute too. Suddenly, twang! An SMS!

"Pak ko sharafat sikha denge, Hind ki taakat dikha denge… Ae Pak, humse punga no lena varna, JOHANNESBERG main kya, LAHORE main TIRANGA lehra denge, jai hind."

Out of sheer habit you proceed to click the buttons in a familiar sequence. Forward -> Select Contact -> All -> Send. You don't even stop to think. You have done it a zillion times.

The next day the sky literally falls over your head. You are summoned to your manager's office upon arrival and tersely informed that you are no longer employed with the organization.

That was a somewhat fictionalized account of what could have almost happened to Times of India reporter Mr. Balkrishna. Still confused? Read this in full.

Although at this point we are merely speculating about the circumstances, but there is overwhelming evidence supporting our hypothesis. We took the phrase and searched on the web. It looks like the particular SMS has been going around a lot. As a matter of fact it might have originated, albeit in a different context and somewhat different form in 2004.

Now, exactly what part of the message is communal? Let's rephrase it a little bit and see:

"Australia ko sharafat sikha denge, Hind ki taakat dikha denge… Ae Australia , humse punga no lena varna, JOHANNESBERG main kya, CANBERRA main TIRANGA lehra denge, jai hind."

Is Pakistan a friendly nation? Yeah, there are those track II people and all, but have you forgotten this? Surely things like that will bring out some passionate reaction from at least some people in a country of a billion. Even if Mr. Balkrishna were to single out a Muslim female and specifically send this message to her (which we totally doubt), how exactly does it make him communal? This is wrong at so many levels. We are told that minorities are as loyal to the country as anyone else. We are constantly being castigated for allegedly casting aspersions on the allegiance of minorities. So, how are we to expect that a minority might take umbrage at an anti-Pakistani remark?

These qustions will never be asked and proper investigations will never happen. Any person who admits to being Hindu is communal by default. For Hindus, Jai Hind is communal. Pakistan, humse panga na lena is communal. Basically we are expected to live as second class citizens and give up freedom of speech and religion.

A group of nasty females have descended upon the poor Mr. Balkrishna like vultures. They are baying for his blood. They want to send him to the purgatory before his time has come. Fortunately for Mr. Balkrishna, his boss turned out to be a rather stoic chap. He rejected the rabid group's first appeal. But make no mistake about it, they are not going to stop there. Mr. Balkrishna should seek alternate career options.

The blogger who is up in arms over the incident, did not react to this or this. But she went ballistic in condemning the outright communal Mr. Balkrishna for threatening and abusing the sovereignty of another country. Apparently this sort of way over the top reaction and possible lies and propaganda is supposed to foster a goofy feeling of peace and communal harmony.

Mr. Balkrishna has already committed a cardinal sin. He just happens to be a Hindu forced to live in a secular nation.