MAKING SOMEONE SMALLER, DOES NOT MAKE YOU BIGGER

Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Two days of incessant masti at a family friend’s wedding was nothing short of epicurean indulgence in a luxurious five-star hotel in the heart of a metropolitan. On the third morning after a sumptuous breakfast, as my daughter and I stepped into the hotel lobby a thunderclap ‘SHUT UP’ resonated in the otherwise hustling and bustling place, making all of us halt in our steps. What followed was a shattering silence as all eyes tried to discern the source of the sound. In a few seconds, the silence was pierced by another ‘SHUT UP!’ this time louder and more agitated than the previous. The source of the sound was traced to a short-statured woman in her forties standing at the reception desk of the hotel lobby.

As it appeared from a distance, the woman had some issue pertaining to the luggage that stood between her and the cowering and apologetic bell boy. Less than a minute later, a torrent of the ‘choicest abuses’ in chaste English were showered upon the hotel personnel by the woman who could not be appeased by any number of entreaties on the part of the Front Desk Manager. The woman was certainly in a mood to create a hullabaloo and the decibel roared through the walls and roof of the hotel. We had already handed over our keys at the reception and were ready to leave the place, so we left the scene without knowing the reason or the outcome of the bluster but throughout our journey back home, my thoughts returned again and again to the colossal ‘Shut up’ and the quivering porter. A quote read long ago reverberated in my mind, “Making someone smaller does not make you bigger.”

The incident, it seemed, had left a significant impression on my daughter too, for, she felt that whatever the case, the woman should not have shouted and created a ruckus by hurling abuses at the poor man. We both were of the opinion that the first thing taught to people or personnel serving in the hospitality industry is to be extremely courteous and servile towards their guests. It hardly seemed plausible that the trembling man would have shown discourtesy to the woman. As far as some material loss is concerned due to mishandling of the luggage, once again our opinion colluded on the fact that no amount of material loss endows you with the power to undermine another man’s dignity. Any kind of abusive behavior– physical or verbal, in a public place is uncalled for and clearly hints toward the discriminatory stance of ‘power to abuse’.

I still remember my first exposure to ‘power to abuse’. I was in the sixth standard and had gone to meet my friend, a colonel’s daughter. From a chink in the drawing-room curtains, I saw the five-feet-something Mrs. Colonel lashing out at the six-feet-something orderly. As soon as the poor fellow opened his mouth to give an explanation, Mrs. Colonel quietened him with a resounding slap on his left cheek. I get goosebumps till day whenever I am reminded of the incident.

Over the years I have realized that earlier what used to be labeled as the ‘spoiled brat syndrome’ is now slowly extending its tentacles among certain adults too who love to exhibit intimidating behavior and use abusive language as a symbol of emancipation. On a personal note, I felt that whatever her grievances, the woman could have taken a civil route to highlight them by either talking to the higher-ups or lodging them in the hotel’s complaint register rather than giving the loudest possible earful to the staff. Her abuse of authority or status can be summed up in Isabel Allende’s words, “What I fear most is power with impunity. I fear abuse of power and the power to abuse.”