“The culture of icon-worship is deeply entrenched in the South.
The people here are highly emotional. Admirers of iconic personalities, no matter what be their calling, think nothing of joining their leader in the other world. For them he is flesh of their flesh and blood of their blood; many times more than their own dear ones. Something in the South Indian’s psyche makes it impossible for him/her to withstand the void,” says noted Tamil writer Charu Nividita. “This tragic inability to distinguish reality from fantasy is what brings these people to this state of, so to speak, hyper-reality.”
“It is not just a leader’s policies and programmes – but also his personality that attracts followers; and many feel so mesmerised they see no sense in moving on once the icon is gone,” senior psychiatrist Dr Yerra Sridhar Raju of Hyderabad told TSI.
The moment news of YSR’s helicopter disappearing was flashed on September 2 there was mass hysteria in the state. It continued for an entire day, till finally the dam burst and the long suppressed emotions found their release in suicide. The live telecasts that the TV news channels beamed made emotions even more brittle. “It is entirely possible that had the news of YSR’s death been announced on the first day itself, the pent up emotions of a lot of YSR fans would have found an outlet in violence, and even killed people,” Dr Raju explains.
Sudden loss is always hard to take; but much harder when the person being mourned is someone like YSR or MGR. Charisma, yes – but there were also among these suicides those who took their lives because their leader’s violent and sudden death had put his welfare schemes in jeopardy. Would there be continuity in these?
The people here are highly emotional. Admirers of iconic personalities, no matter what be their calling, think nothing of joining their leader in the other world. For them he is flesh of their flesh and blood of their blood; many times more than their own dear ones. Something in the South Indian’s psyche makes it impossible for him/her to withstand the void,” says noted Tamil writer Charu Nividita. “This tragic inability to distinguish reality from fantasy is what brings these people to this state of, so to speak, hyper-reality.”“It is not just a leader’s policies and programmes – but also his personality that attracts followers; and many feel so mesmerised they see no sense in moving on once the icon is gone,” senior psychiatrist Dr Yerra Sridhar Raju of Hyderabad told TSI.
The moment news of YSR’s helicopter disappearing was flashed on September 2 there was mass hysteria in the state. It continued for an entire day, till finally the dam burst and the long suppressed emotions found their release in suicide. The live telecasts that the TV news channels beamed made emotions even more brittle. “It is entirely possible that had the news of YSR’s death been announced on the first day itself, the pent up emotions of a lot of YSR fans would have found an outlet in violence, and even killed people,” Dr Raju explains.
Sudden loss is always hard to take; but much harder when the person being mourned is someone like YSR or MGR. Charisma, yes – but there were also among these suicides those who took their lives because their leader’s violent and sudden death had put his welfare schemes in jeopardy. Would there be continuity in these?
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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