Adieu to “saluting” our “VIPs”!

• Some time back, my friends and I chanced upon an opportunity to watch a movie in a city theatre, in it’s VIP screen. The better part is, we got the tickets at a nominal price.
  Undoubtedly, we were feeling pretty “awesome” about it.
  The movie happened to be NH10. Against the sombre backdrop of the movie, the pleasure of watching it in a VIP screen lightened our mood. We quipped about how thrifty we were compared to the other movie-goers in that screen when it came to savouring our snacks and drinks; not leaving behind any left-overs.
• Around the same time, on one of the laidback noons, I was browsing through the news channels on TV earnestly hoping to find some worthy news to watch. There, something on NDTV arrested my interest. It was some kind of sting operation in Delhi. Few seconds later, it became clear that it was surrounding the high-headed VIP culture ubiquitous in Delhi.

It portrayed public’s reaction (read infuriation) to the VIPs attitude of throwing around their weight everywhere they went. The outcome of the mock drill was loud and lucid; the forbearance of public had crossed its threshold for such bigoted section of human beings.

• In the week gone by, Pune Mirror carried an article echoing similar sentiments of Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis. It said our CM bemoans the antediluvian practice of the Police force having to salute VIPs. The astonishing revelation to me was that police actually reserves a cadre of labour force to simply perform this gesture of respect for our VIPs! In the present dearth of manpower, a certain batch is kept aside for this purpose! Vexed by this routine, the CM declared that this practice would be abandoned henceforth.
  Whether it is a politically motivated move or something more on the logical/humanitarian side, only time will tell.

These seemingly discrete happenings are the basis for this post of mine.

First there were only VIPs. Then came, VVIPs.
I haven’t come across a more demeaning usage of the word “very”.
Equating affluence or power with importance of a person defeats the very meaning of the word VIP.

The customary visits of VIPs to the city has exasperated me every single time the city routes are altered to make way for his/her cavalcade. The quotidian traffic only aggravates, much to the annoyance of the working class, students and common man. It sort of irks me to see policemen having to guard this procession as if that’s their only worth!

A progress from discouraging VIP culture to relinquishing salutes to them, will go a long way in refining the mindsets of people.
I am curious to understand what became so “VIP” of my friends and me just because we watched a movie in an opulent setting.
How about carrying out a small naming ceremony for the theatre screens?We have Silver-Gold-Platinum for usual screens. Let’s do a quick reshuffling and baptize our entertainment hubs after precious and semi-precious stones as well! Add that shimmer to your status when you say, “I am going for Avengers to a Diamond screen at so-and-so multiplex.”
Call it Emerald or Ruby or even Topaz, perhaps, to add that dash of pizzazz to the name!
Simple indications as this, will help get rid of the “VIP” tag when used in such ill-founded context. Putative VIPs can make way for venerable souls whose work imputes them to be, in actuality, a Very Important Person…

We can share our thoughts on this…