Sorry, this is not about the Charles Bronson vigilante movie of the seventies, this is about Rowley’s collapsing after his rambunctious night of pre-carnival, panyard feting. At most times, when a country’s leader falls ill, the people become concerned, start praying for him to get better but when the news broke that Rowley had fallen ill, Facebook was bombarded with letters and opinions that seemed more dire than what is expected on judgement day when there is supposed to be the weeping and gnashing of teeth for sinners who were being sent to a fiery existence in hell for eternity upon eternity.
Trinis, however, were almost jumping up with joy at the prospect of Rowley’s demise. All over there were experts on Karma who dished out to Rowley punishment for his deeds, pontificating that the law was a bitch that comes around to bite you in the backside for one’s wrongdoings and that Rowley having committed wrong not just to one person (which is normally the case for it to be vengeful) but to an entire country – a million and more persons – was due to receive enough punishment for the entire planet.
So while one or two PNM diehards expressed concern for him – this not being surprising as Hitler, Papa and Baby Doc, and other tyrants had sycophants wishing them a long life after they had killed millions of their people – most Facebook subscribers delivered a negative judgement on Rowley wishing for his passing.
As you sow, so shall you reap, and how you make up your bed so shall you sleep, are all guidelines invoked to justify karma. Helpless persons who cannot personally avenge the wrongs committed against them know by heart that if you hurt them what exactly karma is going to slap you with. So if you steal their money, they know you are going to become a street beggar; you rob them of food, you will end up in the land of famine; and for Rohan, you destroy the roads, your family end up using for your last send-off meal potholes as your bandhara cooking utensil and fire cracker.
Sometime last year, it was widely suggested that Rowley was the most hated person in the country and like Time magazine’s award of Person of the year, he deserved the person of the year for most hated. Does this reaction to his collapse coincide with that sentiment? L. Siddhartha Orie