The deep darkness of De

Why would a lifelong celebrity and a socialite columnist publicly demean people who have no way of fighting back?

In 1993, Daulatram Jogawat, constable from Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh, had a gall bladder operation which permanently ruined the balance of insulin in his body. He rapidly gained weight, soon reaching a gargantuan 180 kgs. Even small walks left him out of breath. In February 2017, he was sent to Mumbai as part of the bandobast for the BMC elections. While there, sitting on a chair making a phone call, he was unaware of being photographed by a gossip columnist to whom the sight of the obese cop had triggered a rather collegiate pun.

"Heavy police bandobast in Mumbai today!" she tweeted later. Jogawat must have heard of his public fat-shaming from a friend or relative. Fat people are specially aware of their bodies and extraordinarily fat people live with extraordinary embarrassment and discomfort. I don't know if Jogawat had heard of Shobhaa De, India's unordained 'Maharani of Muck'. He could certainly not have known that her ignominious entry into his life was going to be both karmic and irreversible. Interviewed by the Hindustan Times, Jogawat explained that he was not fat from overeating but insulin deficiency.

"If madam wants, she can pay for my treatment," he said. Madam didn't, of course. She tweeted out a half-hearted, double-edged apology, not to Jogawat but to the Mumbai Police. "Mumbai/Maharashtra Police, no offence intended. M.P. police, consult a dietician. . ." I used to know Shobha De in the 1980s, when she was Kilachand, did not have an extra 'a', was best known as a model, and was the gorgeous, fashionable and spirited editor of Stardust, Society and Celebrity magazines. I ran a high-minded cooperative of journalists called Sol Features, demanding preposterous rates of payment for stories we insisted could not be edited at all.

Shobha gamely went along with my wild story ideas and encouraged us with assignments and praise. I enjoyed our conversations.There seemed to be mutual goodwill. We lost touch as she moved on, divorcing, re-marrying and emerging as the raunchy, no-holds-barred bitch goddess of gossip journalism. She burst into my consciousness again one day with a savage column in the Illustrated Weekly, suggesting that a woman she did not know at all, Habiba Miranda, should slash her wrists and just die. Habiba, wife of legendary cartoonist Mario Miranda, was among the gentlest souls you could meet. Why would a complete stranger attack her so gratuitously and viciously?

My inner Rotweiler, the one who cannot abide a bully pushing around someone who cannot fight back, growled, baring fangs. But there was not a lot I could do: I was not writing much any more, did not have a column and Facebook and Twitter did not exist. Decades later, Shobhaa's devastating attack on the policeman Jogawat made that Rotweiler growl again. I still kept my thoughts to myself. In my world one does not attack fellow 'professionals' no matter how egregious. Civility still has a place in public discourse. But an article in Mint last month reminded me that deeper issues like trauma are involved with such public shaming.

Online shaming and slandering are devastating lives; WhatsApp rumours lead to lynchings. Naming a humanbeing in public forums is lethal; shaming them is close to intention to kill. My Rotweiler was growling. A final thought sealed it: if De herself had no compunctions about earning her living through open attacks on vulnerable people who could not fight back, why should she be exempt? There is a darkness in De. You wouldn't guess it when you read her high-minded feminist blogs where she espouses women's causes, roots for our patriotic servicemen at the border or calls out corrupt ministers.

But activism isn't always compassionate. I doubt that De, who manages to be fashionably feminist while decrying gender filters and labels, has ever felt anyone else's pain. When you insult people who cannot talk back to you; when you express outrageous and savage opinions just because you have the power to; when you feel neither regret nor remorse for your words; and when your ego is warmed by the flames of controversy, attack and counter-attack — then I start wondering if you're Donald Trump. Or perhaps @theRealShobhaaDe.

Ironically, Jogawat's story ended with unintended good, though not because De had planned it. The cop's celebrity led to an offer of free weight-loss surgery from bariatric surgeon Dr Muffazal Lakdawala of Saifee Hospital. Post surgery, the cop now weighs 115 kg, down by 65 kgs, and is looking forward to shedding 30 kgs more. He hopes to meet De and thank her for her life-changing tweet. De, benign once more, thanks the doctor for his charity and applauds her own malicious tweet for a job unexpectedly well done.

Here, viewed from there. C Y Gopinath, in Bangkok, throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai, the city that raised him. You can reach him at cygopi@gmail.com Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

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