Skip the Step in Between


The worst things we see in India almost always happened in the West too. The difference, of course, is that those things have stopped happening in the West by now.

Take the VIP treatment of rich or political prisoners, for example. We know the lavishness that the Jayalalithaa’s and Laloo’s have enjoyed during their imprisonment. But guess what? Spanish prisons in the 1580’s were pretty much the same. As Robert Goodwin wrote in Spain: The Centre of the World 1519-1682, Seville’s Royal Prison had a gate called the Golden Gate:
“It was called the Golden Gate because at this stage those who could afford the fees could pay 'no mean quantity of Gold' to 'stay in the sheriff's accommodation'…The accommodation was relatively comfortable, with its own roof terrace, and such inmates were largely free to come and go and many were given leave to sleep at home.”
For those couldn’t pay in gold, there was:
“The Silver Gate, where for a ducat or two a prisoner could have his shackles removed.”

Maybe there is hope yet for us. Except that the day may be centuries away, if the Spanish example is anything to go by.

On the other hand, it would be so much nicer if we could skip some of the intermediate steps and jump to the final end point directly. Like the way most of Asia and Africa went from no phones to cellphones and pretty much skipped the whole landline step in between. If it happened in one area, it could well happen in others, right?

Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarMay 25, 2018 at 10:38 AM

    For a change, this time around I preferred the opening rather than finish lines. In blogs and short stories the finish may my be of greater importance and not the opening, hence it is possible to make them catchy by giving attention.

    The opening I am referring to is this: "The worst things we see in India almost always happened in the West too. The difference, of course, is that those things have stopped happening in the West by now." I like this one because it gives me hope - we will do better. As of now, some behavior - be it of the people, be it of the netas/politicians - is distasteful, from the point of view of overall public display/consumption (if I may use this word).

    We are going to be better in social behavior and political expressions in the decades if not years to come. :-)

    ReplyDelete

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