DJ wale babu mera gaana chala de… go the lyrics of a club favourite track. But the tragic aspect of an emerging hedonistic culture in the patriarchal, semi-feudal and macho social milieu of India’s emerging middle class just doesn’t provide the life hacks required to survive it. Ergo, a young man who went partying with his friends to a night club in West Delhi was killed and his female friend injured by a Disc Jockey after an altercation over playing of songs. Vijaydeep, the victim, apparently wanted a song he wanted at around midnight on the dance floor; the DJ, Deepak, said no.
Feeling ‘insulted’ in front of his female friends Vijaydeep allegedly confronted the DJ’s and in the affray that followed Deepak’s laptop fell and broke. The DJ, also apparently feeling ‘insulted’, picked up a butter knife from one of the tables and stabbed the victim with ferocious intensity and when his friend tried to intervene broke a beer bottle on her head. The next day, the DJ said he was ‘sorry’ and he acted in a fit of rage.
Urban India needs a culture of urbanisation, cosmopolitan attitudes and a drinking culture if it wants to party, Otherwise, let’s roll back the clock to the years of pseudo socialism and deprivation. At least such wanton waste of lives will be minimised even if entertainment, socialising in public spaces and individual freedom is the price we will pay for it.
