I too am Parameshwar: Meditation on the Killing of a 17-Year-Old

GROUND ZERO REPORT

By Saibal Debbarma

July 13, 2024

A boy has been killed. And I pen down these thoughts during the aftermath of this event when the whole of Gondatwisa is under curfew. All around me rioting is going on, the sky is resounding with the boom of shots fired at the bosom of the dark night and smoke bombs fired at the angry crowd crying for blood. Houses are eaten up by fire, shops are vandalised by nightly ghouls, there is a silence, a shadow of death wafting in the air.

I confess when I set out to speak of these things I am completely biased:  I am on the side of the dignity of human life, the sanctity of the dead and the power of the individual to speak out the truth. My biases stem from a painful realisation of seeing the lives of the aboriginal people of Gondatwisa eking out a life on the fringes of the dark jungle frontiers and anger at the indifferent ‘Gods’. And now what may seem an isolated event of violence has completely affirmed my trust that there is no evil in this world that cannot be snuffed out from the world only if people were willing to learn the fragility of human life.

          A boy, 17-years old, named Parameshwar Reang, was beaten, mangled, and then electrocuted with a hook line on a night of festivity and carousal near the ‘Ananda Mela’ by a mob. He succumbed to his injuries and died in the G.B Hospital. He had passed his class-12 examinations from Assam Rifles School and was supposed to begin his college life at the Union Christian College, Meghalaya. But the darkness of Gondatwsia devoured him. He could not escape from the hen-coop of economic, social and educational underdevelopment in the jungle frontier of Gondatwisa. Who allowed it to happen?

          The ‘Ananda Mela’ which is the site of the incident was taking place just opposite the Gondatwisa college, where I am posted as an Assistant Professor of English. The fair is marked by the presence of a ferris wheel and a ‘maut ka kua’. The people in the bazaar rumoured that it was a huge enterprise and lakhs of money had changed hands for the permit and for appeasing the local clubs and party members. It seemed that the fair would never end. It went on past a month. It became a regular fixture in the lives of the people of Gondatwisa, who were fond of festivities, loud music and carousal. It turned into a lake of light in the otherwise dark continent of Gondatwisa. There was illegal sale of liquor in the shops. The shelves of the refrigerators in the fast-food stalls of the ‘Ananda mela’ were decked with beer bottles and arrack. The mob that killed Parameshwar Reang were rumoured to be under the influence of alcohol.  

          Seldom will a pedestrian at night find a streetlight to show his way at Gondatwisa. It is a dark-filled land.  Some of the villager’s huts have a hook line connected to the main electricity line and ‘steal’ electricity to light their houses. They cannot afford to pay the bills. These hook lines are dangerous things, one can see water-filled bottles, rocks, and even dead birds tied to the hook line to keep it wounded around the main line. Often discarded hook lines carrying electricity charges fall lying like a dangerous snake waiting to suck the life out of its unassuming victim. Parameshwar Reang was electrocuted by such a hook line by the incensed mob.

         

Parameshwar was allegedly attacked by the mob when he tried to defend a mentally disabled boy who mimics political icons. This boy could mimic the speech of the ‘Gods’. Mimicry and satire are a part of India’s literary culture. It is called ‘vangya’ in Sanskrit and it incites the ‘hasya raas’ i.e. laughter. Until recently Indians were comfortable with dissent and comedy. But a homogenous ideology has swept over the whole nation and anyone who dares to say anything to the contrary will be stripped of all their humanity. The mob, it is rumoured, was offended by the mimicry of the mentally disabled person and attempted to molest him when Parameshwar tried to defend the boy, pleading with them to forsake the innocent madman his protests provoked their anger towards him, and he was beaten then, electrocuted.

          Parameshwar lay injured on the side, the fair went on, and as people heard about the violence, they subsided the fair ground. It is unknown for how long Parameshwar’s body lay alone on the earth, unreported, unfended . It is our nation’s usual attitude to atrocities, our philosophy of ‘bura maat dekho, bura maat bolo, bura maat suno’ practised with fearful zeal.  It reminds me of Nirbhaya’s raped body lying on the sidetracks of the Delhi Road. She was keening for water and people passed her like avoiding a polluted object. Parameshwar too had been polluted. Death freed him. A sense of sympathy for the madman awoke in Parameshwar perhaps, because in his sub-conscious he could find a semblance of mutual affection with the madman’s fate. His death unearths the disabilities and fragilities of the truth of being born as an indigenous person and a mad person. And when I understand him better by meditating on his death I can say, without fear, that I too am Parameshwar Reang, defiled, disabled but electrified.  

Saibal Debbarma, is an Assistant professor of English at Govt. Degree College, Gondatwisa.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Yakhrai.in.