The various shapes of Aakar Patel

As lsquomasterstrokesrsquo go my favourite from journalist Aakar Patel is the tabloidsized headline in midday in October 2004 that went ldquoSonia Winsrdquo listing a series of events following the victory of a Congressled alliance against BJPSena in Maharashtra elections Only the results werenrsquot in yet Theyrsquod be the next morning when the paper had already been put to bedCorner of both the front and backpage read ldquoPaper palto Result badlordquo Backpage enumerated opposite options with the headline ldquoSena Winsrdquo Street vendors could decide the facing page depending on the actual result I may have seen something like this in the moviemusical Chicago 2002It was decidedly editor Patelrsquos idea Among similarly inspired others such as blasting The Times of India across middayrsquos cover for demeaning Mumbairsquos suburban residentsmdashbased on an innocuous Shobhaa De column in a neighbourhood supplement where she called them ldquoburbiesrdquoThis story I worked on Like other lsquoatrangirsquo ideasmdashsuch as playing a fictional relationship coach a globally travelled ldquoDear Dianardquo whorsquoll fix all your love bugs Patel wrote a daily storyboard of TV serialtype romantic issues Or chasing Bollywood superstar stories and their lsquolafdasrsquo based on blurry images of a fight even a kiss Pixelated pix in Story must follow To publish a fresh version of events later he could run the images again Tabloid editor Patel ldquowith verve and bravery in equal measurerdquo that I knew at this timemdashldquowho loved nothing better to do than a joyous dance in a hail of criticismrdquo Irsquom quoting Moureen Dowd on The New Yorkerrsquos James Bellowsmdashwas also surrounded by bhakts swearing by his word yearning for his approval everready to pleaseWhich is strange Because he could be an intimidating presence for his short attention spanmdashsay whatever you gotta in 30 seconds flat that was my rule Also that he wouldnrsquot suffer for a sec if he considered you a fool no you donrsquot wanna be that guyPatel barely wrote in the paper Barring unsigned diary entries here and there pontificating on TV commentator Mandira Bedirsquos noodle straps purple haze over Roger Watersrsquos concert or madness of the movie Maqbool Maybe he felt the editor mustnrsquot overbearingly come between the paper and reader He seemed too playful to be polemicalWriter Patel that followed a few years later iswas Indiarsquos best columnist Defined in my books as per the risk one takes with perspectiveopinion But more so the eclectic range of areas you express onmdashinevitably revealing something new with a gift of observation to state outside the obvious stillCollege dropout Patel is an astounding autodidactmdasha selftaught scholar of both the seemingly high and lowbrow A podcaster I heard rightly described his writing as ldquosuppressing a smilerdquo Itrsquos firstly unadorned by pretentious elegance or needless rhetoric getting straight to the frickinrsquo pointHis top contribution as mainstream columnist might well be to repeatedly examine individuals let alone communities through the lens of caste traits It is an apt way to figure Indians Thatrsquos what makes us unique Especially the supposedly deracinated cosmopolitansmdashsince yoursquoll notice caste remains the biggest blind spot thereAlso few if any Indian English language columnist has as sufficiently employed his freedom of expression to take unpopular stands with takedown pieces on so many holy menmdashfrom Swami Vivekananda to mercenarial history of Indian Army Indiarsquos SouthgtNorth or tearing apart Sachin Tendulkar alongside Bollywoodrsquos KhansWhat good is the right to free speech if not exercised in its joyous excess An answer to a column is a column still One of his takedowns I recall was dedicated to Twitter concluding why must one write where there is no moneyI think he spoke too soon Among the similarly inclined Patel 30 on Twitter is what brought him instant socialmedia famemdashshitposting sometimes in an adorably desi pidgin broken English basically primarily to communicate disgust at a culture that promotesorchestrates communal hate online and otherwiseSarcasm apart this is activist Patel Hersquos associated with the Nobellaureate Amnesty International allowing him a presencevoice that carries even greater weightreachconsequence You could argue thatrsquos also a notional protective cover which doesnrsquot belong to most citizens who we keep exhorting to ldquosay somethingrdquo They best express through their vote You hope thatrsquos an informed and fair one I know this is a debatable point We can debate it forever Whatrsquos beyond debate across history though is the power of ordinary citizens named civil society as a collective to raise individual voices often at the cost of facing direct heat from their governments The dumbest diagnosis is to call the state that retaliates thus as suffering from some kinda desperationThink itrsquos a sign of certain ruling politicians as so noncomplacent that even with electoral victories and superpowers hence they miss no opportunity to find and scare any opposing voice big or small through carrots but mostly stick setting an example for potential othersThe paranoid winsurvive sure But persistence is all that the lesspowerful have anyway Besides raids on Amnesty Patel top Twittercritic of the current government has twice been disallowed from leaving the country from the airport He still says what he likes But he must stay within India where the government is This is pure mutual love What elseMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper