Why this kolaveri, kolaveri, kolaveri di?

The word kolaveri literally means murderous rage. But in the way it is commonly used in jest by the residents of the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, it simply connotes any kind of commotion or hullabaloo.

And that is the sense in which it has been used in the song which is now all set to become a record-breaker on YouTube with the number of hits fast approaching 10 million in its original version, and many millions more, perhaps, with imitations and parodies in the various languages of the world depicting different types of situations.

What is interesting is the report that police officers in India want to work out versions of the song and its title to combat road rage and force bike riders to wear helmets.

And that part of its possible utility is really closer to the bone. For, looking around, one is tempted to ask ‘Why this kolaveri?' in the literal sense of murderous rage that is taking hold of human relationships all round.

Everybody is on short fuse. A security officer stops some ruffians from entering a club and is beaten up. A toll gate attendant asks for payment of the prescribed fee and is shot. A teacher pulls up a student for poor grades and he stabs her. Even a disciplined force like the Army is not exempt: A superior is killed by his subordinate just for not granting the leave asked for.

ANGRY GESTICULATION

As a headline of a write-up in a social networking site puts it, road rage, air rage, office rage, desk rage, work rage, bike rage, trolley rage ... rage is the word of the moment.

Of course, road rage has always been a familiar phenomenon round the globe. It can only get worse with the number of cars registering a steep increase.

Reuters has already conducted a survey of its salient features in the US where the States of New York, New Jersey and California are found to be the worst, with Wisconsin and Idaho having the fewest instances.

There have been occasional shoot-outs indulged in by infuriated drivers, but on a less horrendous plane, it takes the form of angry gesticulation with fists and arms (13 per cent), obscene gestures (10 per cent), cursing (36 per cent) and honking horn (43 per cent).

Air rage too is a frequent occurrence and it left at least one person dead in flight, again in the US, some years ago.

A new entrant is the ‘desk rage' including acts of aggression, hostility, rudeness and physical violence in workplaces.

A quick surfing of the Internet throws up this disturbing tidbit about conditions in the US: In 1996, more than 18,500 non-fatal assaults, and in 1998, more than 700 homicides, occurred at work.

According to the US National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, between 5 and 10 per cent of homicides and between 8 and 10 per cent of assaults are committed by co-workers.

FATAL REPRISAL

It may well be that custodial and the so-called encounter deaths are also the result of the simmering megalomaniacal rage afflicting the police personnel on account of the unbearable stress and strain that they undergo on the job and the woefully bad working conditions.

At this rate, it seems that nobody can be taken to task for any lapse any more for fear of fatal reprisal.

That brings me to the original question which is serious enough for sociologists, psychologists and psychiatrists to delve deep into and come up with an answer: Why this kolaveri ?

Reportedly, top business schools like the Indian Institutes of Management have taken up for study the reasons for, and the implications of, the viral spread of the song. They should expand the scope of the inquiry to include an authoritative analysis of incidence of rage in all its forms so that it can be channelled along positive and constructive lines for the betterment of the society.

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