Resist tagging

Vasudevan Vasudevan

Retired

Resist tagging

One fine morning, my e-mail box was full of invitation from many to get tagged. Being used to few e-mails a day at the most , such a full box by itself made me wary wondering why so many want to get in touch with an old retired person. This led me to resist the temptation to respond positively. Another more compelling reason was my natural wariness when dealing with small words which often carry loads of meaning. Tag is one such which can mean an epithet or sobriquet , an adjective, noun or phrase, often a disparaging one to characterize a person. I immediately imagined me being addressed in different forms giving me an uncomfortable feeling like the one felt by my friend Mr Pattabhiraman, who was introduced by his friend to a third person as follows: " This is Pattu, son of kittu, well known advocate krishniyer. Incidentally your son Nattu (Natarajan the real name) is Pattu’s son’s classmate. Mr pattabhiramn was furious at his name, given lovingly by his parent’s almost equating him with the Lord Rama on his coronation day, being mutilated to such a snappy appellation fit for one of the lowest rank in Ram’s army of monkeys. Who will not be annoyed, if in one shot, one’s name, the predecessor’s and the successor’s too are reduced to names apt for some pet animals. Hence my temptation to resist tagging.

To follow close behind a person is another meaning for tag . In daily life we can see several examples. If you are regular TV-viewer you can find politicians tagging along with famous cine actors just to get photographic exposure. They are always there in close proximity. This tagging is at least saprophytic, the tagged one and the tagging one both deriving some mutual advantage. The former gets the muscle necessary for his or her protection of self and property. And the latter gets exposure so necessary for this species and also needed money. But, there is a more pernicious form of tagging. Examples are not lacking here too. One such is associated with the frequent foreign sojourns of our politicians in power. Apart from officials necessary to assist them, one often hears of close kith and kin making the travel entourage. All parasites, making merry at the cost of tax payer’s money. This is also often seen with our sports teams that go to compete in international arena. The number of officials often outnumbers the sportsmen. If this tagging can brutally be curtailed resources can be found to regain our past glory in Hockey or for that matter, our Sainas and Sonias will be lifting oft many coveted cups. Hence my temptation to resist tagging.

Seen from the above angle, a considerable portion of the millions tagged, as claimed by the site, may prefer to un-tag .To end with a tag - “ resist tagging”.

Dr. T . N . Vasudevan