No Man, No Cry

Men tend to cry not when they are sad, but when they feel cornered. For such men, it makes little sense to say that they have dared to cry, in defiance of the stern norms of machismo. Kapil Dev, an athletic and swarthy male, cried on television when asked about match-fixing. Prashant Vaidya, a former medium pacer, said the performance should have won him an Oscar.Hansie Cronje, with the craggy features of the guy in the Old Spice ad, cried in court. Our prime minister threatened to bawl over the anti-Sikh riots. Tears can achieve what an eloquent speech or argument cannot - throw the person or community to whom it is addressed off balance. Like a boxer���s feint, it buys time to wriggle out of a tight situation, as surprised onlookers forget their argument and anger. Media magnifies the event, photographs and all, at times needlessly vesting authority with a sense of grace. Images of tearful leaders ���up there��� shedding tears for masses 'down below' don���t belong to this time and age. The Sikhs who lost everything in 1984 are supposed to feel honoured, even blessed, that Manmohan Singh, a modern and benign king, was moved by their plight. Shouldn���t Muslims who lost their near and dear ones in Gujarat be moved by A B Vajpayee���s poetry, his deep sighs and silences?
If poetry seems like a tall order for Singh, he could take a few tips from Shah Rukh or Dharmendra. It���s actually quite simple: One needs a thin, reedy voice rising to a high pitch before it snaps like an adolescent���s. From there, it���s not too hard to turn one���s face into a damp, crumpled piece of paper. Does Singh spend some time with immature, insecure and attention-seeking men? Such people know when to turn on the tap when their women accuse them of breach of faith or point to personality flaws they cannot accept. Entirely exposed, these men either try to extract pity or resort to violence, verbal and physical. Theatre comes naturally to them, because they are desperate to put out the fire of the moment. So does politics, since such men have learnt how to mask themselves and manipulate people.