Business Standard

Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.

An award to attend award shows

Everyone loves an award, whether it's based on arguable merit or, these days, the number of Twitter followers you can tweet it to

Bs_logoImage
Kishore Singh
Last Updated : Jan 19 2018 | 11:51 PM IST
It’s raining awards in New Delhi. The city that is at the helm of the honours riff has enough and more for every miffed sportsperson, or writer, musician or dancer who’s failed to make the rollcall of the Padma Bhushans and Vibhushans. But where the government fails to reward talent, other worthies have stepped in to take on the onus with a trophy and a certificate — and a party to celebrate. My wife loves the parties, which is why, towards the end of 2017, we were invited to and attended a half-dozen countdowns celebrating the “heroes and heroines” of the passing year. And even though we’re only midway through January, we’ve found ourselves at a couple of gigs dedicated to the “rising stars” of 2018. 

Everyone loves an award, whether it’s based on arguable merit or, these days, the number of Twitter followers you can tweet it to. The ability to pull audiences is a huge criterion for choosing the awardees, so it’s no surprise so many of them go to the good looking for being able to, well, look good, or those of the fashion industry with huge Instagram followings. We’ve found ourselves clapping for designers and for bartenders, glamorous grannies and child whizzes. If uniformity is so highly rated in a chef’s kitchen, doesn’t a hairstylist deserve equal kudos for “consistency of styling”? Think of the respect a masseur earns when he’s recognised for the “most massages in a week without a break”. From media companies to kitchen garden associations, there are prizes to be picked up everywhere one looks — from “most tomatoes grown in a pot” to “trendiest dresser over 70 years of age”, from activist to housewife, from sand artist to con artist.

So, all right I’m being facetious, because some honours do alert our insular lives to the work doctors are doing in interior regions, to scientists and educationists benefitting society. These are men and women worthy of recognition as role models in a nation that blindly follows only film stars and cricketers. These awards open our eyes and minds to those whose contribution is seminal. But every so often, it is politicians or bureaucrats or policemen who makes it to these lists – for the simple reason of doing their job. It’s come to a pass where a government official is worthy of recognition because they turn up for work instead of shirking it, the toiling karamchari being the exception rather than the rule. 

In today’s Delhi, of course, you don’t merely receive awards, you also return them. I don’t know if there is a formal ceremony for what is colloquially described as awards wapsi. At least we haven’t been invited to any. Insiders tell me that returning government awards is as politically motivated as getting them. And sometimes the award is not really “returned” at all, merely denounced. Still, it’s time someone thought of a party for those returning their awards.

My wife estimated the other day that we must have clapped for 958 award winners in the past year, and for 7,354 awardees over the last decade. And yet, this is probably just the tip of the accolades iceberg. “With so many awards being given away,” my wife complained to me the other day, “why is it that you or I have never won any?” “Because they need people like us to cheer for them in the audience,” I tried to console her. “Maybe,” she mused, “somebody should give us an award for attending the most number of awards ceremonies.”

More From This Section

Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
Next Story