Armour

For the last couple of weeks ever since I read about people spending a fortune on personal security, I have been eager to write about the greatest reality show on planet earth which to me is definitely death. If there is one truth in this world, then that is the fact that once we are born we will die. The reason why I expedited this article is because this morning I got to hear that my close friend’s brother passed away. He was only 52 years of age and was leading a normal life. He just collapsed on the road and with it came his end. Earlier in the day he had gone to pick up his sister from the railway station which is a good hour’s drive from where he lived and had gone about doing everything that he normally did. There was absolutely no clue as to his impending demise. When death can take us by surprise and not even give us the time to organize anything, then why do we try to keep it away with the longest barge pole? Well that is human nature and it goes without saying that the majority of us plan for things far into the future.

Although most of us are not prepared for death, we also don’t go out of the way trying to escape from it. The spate of bomb blasts and terrorist attacks has instilled in the psyche of the common man that he cannot take anything for granted. He is not even sure of what is in store for him during the day. He has resigned to the fact that his life would remain thus. He cannot and does not expect any kind of protection from the authorities as he is sure that they spend their time and money only on themselves.

The rich and the Netas (again rich) on the other hand cannot just imagine that they will die. They think that with their money and power they can shoo death away. They equip their lives with the so called “ARMOUR” against death. To start with they engage the best of body guards, then they get themselves safety wear for all parts of their body and finally they see to it that their vehicles are made bullet proof. All this does not come cheap and costs crores of rupees. I recently read that to have a bullet proof car would cost from Rs. 15 lakhs to Rs. 45 lakhs. As long as the money is their own, there is no question of anyone raising a hue and cry. These days the papers are flooded with reports of requests or shall we say demands from the so called Netas clamouring for Z and Z+ security. Yes, as a nation it is our duty to take care of the people who hold the highest offices in the land and others who have genuine threats against their lives, but spending the tax payers’ money for all and sundry is just unpardonable. There have been instances when these armoured beasts have whizzed past pedestrians causing injury and death. Does a Z+ category entitle the driver of the vehicle to take the life of the common man?

My friend’s brother was a good man, a good husband, good father, good brother and a good friend. His wife and children and his only other blood relative his sister are devastated. Their sorrow is not any less than that of the family of a man with a Z+ category who holds on to his dear life. The Z+ category man may be able to save himself from the assassin’s bullet and bombs but how will he tackle the other ingenuous routes that death takes. Does he have an answer to it, if so I request him to share it with the world. Since no one has yet found an escape from death, what is the point of spending a fortune on all these James Bond like accessories? My request to our pompous Neta’s would be to channel the money that they spend protecting themselves and to spend that money on protecting the man on the street. If it were not for the man on the street, they would not exist. I also wish they would go through the poem DEATH THE LEVELLER by James Shirley which I learnt when I was in the seventh or eighth standard. Here is the opening stanza:

The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crookèd scythe and spade.