The Terror of Truth

Thanks to AA Kasab and his band of deadly brothers, my nine-year old today boasts of vastly enhanced cognitive skills. Like she can tell a terrorist, when she sees one. Or so I thought. But last night, as she traversed the many channels on the TV between Pogo and Disney ,she seemed to linger for just that small fraction of a second. I then heard her mutter 'terrorist' as she rapidly punched the TV remote and moved on to Hannah Montana.I turned from my book with a start. Did she say 'terrorist'? I didn't remember hearing anything about a terrorist in the last newscast.

What was she watching, my little girl? 

They just showed the picture of a terrorist, she said. 

Where? 

In the news.

Right, flip back and let's see that again.

Another rapid punching of the remote took us to one of the 'your own' channels, breathlessly breaking news as usual.

There, that's the guy, she said, pointing at the beatific face being beamed on the TV. A face radiating gentle grace, troubled only by a pair of doleful eyes full of hurt innocence. I was horrified. That's no terrorist, honey, that's Mr Ramalinga Raju, the boss of Satyam. Well, OK, the former CEO of Satyam. 

Terrorist, my little girl said. 

If you say so,but why do you think he's a terrorist? 

Coz he's on all the news channels, dummy. 

But honey, Mr Ramalinga Raju's no terrorist. He's just a businessman fallen on bad times.

Terrorist,she reiterated with a finality that brooked no further argument and flipped back to Hannah Montana.

That got me wondering.

The papers said Kasab and company accounted for 183 lives and a loss of approximately Rs 4000 crores to the economy. Mr Raju, on the the other hand, stacks up with 53000 lives and Rs 7000 crores.And still counting. Kasab had no kinship with the people he killed, no prior acquaintance of the lives he destroyed. For the 53000 employees and possibly a couple of lakhs more people making up the families of the Satyam employees, Mr Raju was God. The lives that Mr Raju set about destroying are of those that feted him, saluted him, loved him, worshipped him. 

If terrorism is what terrorism does, then surely the fear that Mr Raju has engendered in thousands of Satyam employees and thousands more in the IT and ancillary industries and millions more in India and abroad qualifies to be termed as terrorism. 

But, whereas Kasab and his dead mates failed to get any lawyer even to make a token representation, news reports say many powerful people are vying to protect Mr Raju. My friends took to the streets denouncing Kasab and lighting candles. Same friends are posting facebook notes mourning the bad turn of events for a good man.

I write of Kasab, plain Kasab, with no appellations and no qualms. I am careful not to miss out the Mister in Mr Raju.    

I am terrified, to tell you the truth!