Oh, To Be Lucky Like...

Who else do we know who meditated so with such impeccable timing (much of the Lok Sabha elections over and with only the last phase to go) and hordes for unsolicited defence of the grand meditation at public expense? asks Shyam G Menon.

"What a lucky man!" I thought as I read the news item on Prime Minister Narendra Modi heading to Kanyakumari for a 45 hour stay with meditation session included.

On Wednesday, when the world was informed of the trip, temperature had nudged (if not crossed) record high levels in the national capital.

In contrast, over the May 30-June 1 period of Modi's meditation, the south west monsoon was scheduled to set in over southern Kerala.

Meditation or none, a visit to the deep south in time to experience the monsoon's onset and the way it moderates temperature in the region is a nice way of escaping Delhi's punishing heat. And that is without the political heat of an unpredictable Lok Sabha election, factored in.

What makes this escape to Kanyakumari as epic as John Sturges's unforgettable The Great Escape, is the accompanying cavalry, albeit not in the form of soldiers to elude (as in the movie) but as uniformed police personnel at the elite visitor's disposal -- some 2,000 of them assigned to guard and make sure everything goes okay.

Then there is the sanitisation of the areas nearby, clearing it of dispensable 'others' so that the visit and the meditation may proceed smoothly, undisturbed and safely.

It doesn't end there, with the location of meditation being a rock in the sea and the sea as much a dreaded source of insecurity as land in the eyes of our security pundits, news reports did not fail to mention the Coast Guard and the Indian Navy also drafted in to maintain vigil while the VIP meditated.

Modi's fan base, ever protective of its precocious God of a leader, has already lauded the meditation drama as an act of national integration and undying love for Tamil Nadu.

Makes me feel: saying "What a lucky man!" isn't enough; it should be "Indeed what a lucky man!" I mean, tell me: Who else do we know who meditated so with such impeccable timing (much of the Lok Sabha elections over and with only the last phase to go) and hordes for unsolicited defence of the grand meditation at public expense?

In fact, the only precedent is Modi himself -- some years ago, he had sat in meditation in a specially prepared cave near Kedarnath in Uttarakhand with tight security to boot.

I remember the impression it made; the imagery that the widespread publicity of the exercise evoked.

My neighbour in Thiruvananthapuram told me wide-eyed after seeing photographs of the VIP ascetic in the media, "He is something, isn't he?" That the impression was partly fueled by the extremely settled, householder life my neighbour led with hardly any adventure therein for comparison, wasn't part of his reasoning.

He didn't know that sitting in a cave at moderate elevation was very do-able and has been done by many with far less facilities at hand.

The whole iconography and narrative around a prime minister, already a messiah of sorts to many, pictured in deep meditation in a cave, shook him up.

There was discipline, there was simplicity, there was toughness -- everything the images conjured up ran counter to the conventional picturisation of Indian VIP life.

Like many others, my neighbour turned a blind eye to the behind-the-scenes preparations of many that made the imagery possible.

End May 2024, the VIP gaze in search of meditation, has shifted from the Himalaya to the Indian peninsula's southern tip -- Kanyakumari, and the rock there with a statue of Swami Vivekananda, respected by Indians and uniquely this June 1, as Kolkata heads to the polling booth, also remembered as one of Bengal's greatest sons.

Not surprisingly, the ruling party of that state, which counts the BJP as a political foe in Bengal, has threatened to approach the Election Commission should the meditation event in Kanyakumari be telecast live.

While that does take a bit away from the luck I attributed earlier to the VIP, it certainly adds to that talent for immaculate timing and that appetite for political mischief and one-upmanship, which Modi's fans love to celebrate like a poke in the Opposition's side. They love it, when they irritate the Opposition -- don't they?

For some others however, rationalism and level headed perspective rules. "This is a joke," my yoga-worshipping friend said after I shared the media report of the exclusive meditation event, in a sanitised zone in the deep south with security forces keeping vigil alongside.

I agree with him. But I think there will be many like my neighbour from years ago, who will be highly impressed by the much-publicised VIP act around what is essentially a human endeavour to withdraw from everything and find peace within.

I can't expect everyone to notice the irony of so many losing their peace so that one man may meditate in peace. I may be wrong, but I suppose expecting somebody to meditate for long in Delhi's high temperature is impractical.

Even with all the air conditioning our nation can command? But then, I am guilty of overlooking what it means to be lucky and entitled to do anything, anywhere.

Shyam G Menon is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai.

• INDIA VOTES, 2024

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com