THE message in the theatre flashed, 'Please stand up for the National Anthem'. I stood up and so did the audience except for one man, who sat majestically with his legs stretched out. I saw him peeping left and right, but somewhere he decided that it was not worth his while to pay respect to the anthem. To say I was boiling would be an understatement. This is what followed:
Me: It's a criminal offence to disrespect the anthem.
He: Mind your own business.
Me: I consider an insult of my national emblem to be my business.
He: So what will you do?
Me: I will show you.
I walked towards the screen, asked for the audience's attention and posed the question of what should be done with him? I saw contempt in many eyes who turned at him. In some, I saw the anticipation of a thrilling fight. In some, I saw the look of, 'why waste a Sunday over a squabble?' I also saw my husband and two girls with the expression: 'Here we go again'.
A panic seized me. Was it me who was behaving irrational? Making a mountain out of a molehill? Being an uncalled for overzealous Indian? Most importantly, what had hurt me more his insolence to the anthem or to me when he said, 'mind your business'? The time that the crowd took to decide their stance, I used to search my soul and concluded that I will not play the passive citizen.
A man said, 'Let us throw him out'. The manager with his entire crew by now was in the hall trying to calm us down. Finally, he was asked to leave and the audience began to boo him. He made his way out as quickly as possible. Once I reached my seat I burst into tears. Many things came to my mind. Would I have done the same, if there was a group of guys in place of one man? Would it be fair to expose my family to the possible perils of this Indian zealousness? What if the audience themselves would have asked me to shut up?
For my family, now the common consensus is that henceforth they will reach the movie hall only after the movie has started so that they miss the anthem all together only for a nobler cause, 'in lieu of peace as against war'.
