Too many words and ideas? Zoning out? Arright! Back to numbers.
Illustration/Uday Mohite
We live in a world that pretends numbers are the most meaningful truth. So this column is about numbers.
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52.9 degrees Celsius: the temperature recorded in Delhi on May 28th. 56 degrees Celsius: temperature recorded in Nagpur on May 31. 60: number of heat related deaths in India since March 1, of which 25 were polling staff. Such incidents are often reported as a spike of abnormality in the otherwise routine, linear story of progress. So, more numbers.
16,344: suspected heatstroke cases since March 1. Did you know that there are two types of heatstroke deaths: exertional and non-exertional? Exertional deaths are caused by exerting oneself in direct sunlight, like by doing hard labour in the sun. These account for 10 per cent of heat deaths. Non-exertional deaths happen among the old, the sick, babies, who cannot cool down even in night-time but do not have access to cooling or water. Yaniki, the poorer you are the more vulnerable to the weather. “These are not categorised as heat strokes and are hence, possibly not counted as heat deaths at all” head of the Indian Institute of Public Health was quoted in one paper. Too many words and ideas? Zoning out? Arright! Back to numbers.
2: number of people dead in the recent drunk-driving accident in Pune. 17: age of the driver of the car, a Porsche. 160 km/hr: speed at which he was driving that Porsche. 69,000: rupees this young man spent in two pubs that night, 48,000 in 90 minutes at the first pub. Size, speed, guts—qualities we idealise each day. 300: number of words in an essay on traffic accidents the judge gave as punishment homework. Three lakhs: alleged bribe paid to get the boy let off. One: blood sample swapped, to fudge the blood alcohol report. Three: number of people arrested from Sassoon Hospital for abettment. 601 crores: net worth of his father, Vishal Agarwala, real-estate developer. (Development as you know is a national cause. Those against it are anti-national). Speaking of national, meanwhile in Gonda…
24: age of two software engineers who died when an SUV in Karan Singh’s convoy hit them. One: woman injured in the same accident. Also 24: number of hours Karan Singh was incommunicado. When he spoke, it was with words, not numbers, ki actually the men driving the motorbike hit the woman and they fell and made the SUV hit them. It’s her fault, as abusers say. Speaking of abuse, Karan Singh’s father Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is accused of sexual abuse by women wrestlers. The BJP still gave him a ticket. Due to a fuss they swapped him with his son. Like that blood sample. Khoon phir khoon hai. Numbers speak, but you have to do the math to hear them.
You are thinking: what is the connection between this and the weather yaar? You can buy a ticket to watch the election results in the cinema this year. Politics becomes synonymous with elections. Only numbers —wining and losing—have meaning in this view. But, like the temperature, that is only a moment, where a web of connections and intersections manifest.
We are connected by weather, and also by values, in a relationship with each other and all of nature. To thrive as human, with some sense of beauty and possibility, we must create for ourselves a season—and politics—of connection.
Paromita Vohra is an award-winning Mumbai-based filmmaker, writer and curator working with fiction and non-fiction. Reach her at paromita.vohra@mid-day.com
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