The old man is angry

I saw the Ram Jethmalani video on CNN-IBN long back but thought of commenting on the angry old man after I read Nitin’s post Ram Jethmalani rocks. Well when do people get irritated? 2 case as far as I can think. One when people oppose you and they point out the mistake you have committed. Out of you ego you don’t want accept the mistake and so try to form arguments in support of it. And also in the process try to evade the question by blabbering responses like “You don’t know a thing about it” or “What right do you have to oppose my personal decision” or try to prove his intellectual prowess and this trying to belittle the questioner. Ego comes by age and particularly to a person of his caliber, he without doubt the best criminal lawyer in the country. I respect him and I have high regards for him. But his stature would never have been reduced if he accepts his mistake, to err is human. But the big question is did he commit a mistake my accepting to defend Manu Sharma. Money would have been no issue at all. So why was he angry? Perhaps due to second reason.

Second case is when someone opposes you and tries to transgress the invisible boundary of individualism you have created around yourself. You know you are right but others don’t conform to your views. And then he has the ego of an old man, they generally feel that the younger generation can rarely be right just because of their naivete. That’s the usual generation gap thing. But the younger generation needs to learn respecting their emotions and vice versa. Jethmalani’s views have to respected irrespective of his rant!

Senility brings this peevishness and I sometimes wonder would I behave the same way when I grow old? I was once talking to my friend about this and he remarked,”Imagine your son coming up and telling you that he is in love with another guy and they want to marry!”. Inter-religious, Inter cast marriages might be perfectly acceptable in today’s society by the younger generation but for the older generation it is the same as gay and lesbian marriages are for us, or I would say a normal youth like me.

I had argued about his stand here

A SMS poll by CNN-IBN indicated that 80% of responders approve his decision. Everyone has the right to be defended and if Manu Sharma is really guilty then Jethmalani is no almighty who is going to save him from the claws of punishment. No doubt he,because of his caliber and stature, might get them a reduction in punishment or in the worst case might get them acquainted but are the other lawyers so inept that they cannot argue effectively? Why is his personal decision a national concern? I think everyone has the right to express himself openly without worrying about what others say. But I am also wary of this feeling of mine, Jethmalani might be doing a gross insult to his profession if he has taken up the case for money or to satisfy his ego.