Defenestrate negativity

Kirti Azad, former cricketer and BJP MP, was in the news recently as he was suspended from the party for alleged anti-party activity of exposing Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s role as head of the corruption-riddled DDCA. So, what is common between his suspension, Bollywood movies and the Castle of Prague?

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Defenestration.

Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. The word comes from the Latin de- (out of or away from) and fenestra (window).

While Kirti’s expulsion from the BJP represents defenestration figuratively, Bollywood movies commonly resort to defenestration to impress how the evil man is justly evicted by the enraged good hero. In the biggest blockbuster of 2015, “Bajrangi Bhaijaan”, the character of Salman Khan gets the audience’s thumbs-up when he defenestrates the pimp who tries to sell off to a brothel the little deaf and dumb lost girl from Pakistan.

That’s because physical ouster strikes a chord in everybody’s heart. I doubt if there is anyone who can claim to have been immune to the feeling at some time in one’s life. It reminds me of my little niece, whose natural reaction to the new Barbie doll since it was not clad in her favourite pink colour dress was to fling it away in anger. She knew no other way to put her point across. As an elder, I tried to inculcate in her the value of curbing her annoyance, staying calm and accepting the gift with grace. This is what most of us are taught as children. And, unless driven up the wall, most normal people do tend to exhibit poise in challenging situations. We rarely succumb to the natural urge to eject things.

But history is replete with incidents of defenestration. Prague takes the cake in this matter. In fact, the term was coined around the time of an incident in Prague Castle in 1618. 

Quoting John Sandford, Goodreads.com illustrates this point aptly:

“I once defenestrated a guy. The cops got all pissed off at me. I was drunk, but they said that was no excuse."

"Ah well," Virgil said. Then, "The guy 

hurt bad?"

"Cracked his hip. Landed on a Prius (a Toyota car). "I can tell you, just now is the only time in my life I ever heard 'defenestration' used in a sentence," Virgil said.

"It's a word you learn after you done it," Morton said. "Yup. The New Prague AmericInn, 2009." Virgil was amazed. "Really? The defenstration of New Prague?” 

So, what is the Prague story?

The first defenestration of Prague occurred in 1419.  A priest was leading his congregation on a protest through the streets of Prague when someone from a high window of the town hall threw a rock at him. This enraged the people and they stormed the town hall and defenestrated the mayor, judge and some members of the town council, sending them to their deaths. 

Then in 1618, some Protestants threw Catholics out of a window and it became to be known as the “Defenestration of Prague.” The Catholics were, however, mostly unharmed. It is said that they survived due to landing on manure, but Catholics attributed it to a divine miracle. The revolt was the spark that started the Thirty Years’ War. As wit says: “When you defenestrate somebody, make sure you are on the first floor!”

Incidentally, literature is replete with acts of a window as a prop. Shakespeare famously used the window for a lover serenading his beloved or surreptitiously entering her room. Architects speak of a building’s fenestration, by which they mean the style and placement of its windows and other openings. Doctors too resort to fenestration when they make an opening in the surface of a structure. For example, the surgical creation of an artificial opening in the bony part of the inner ear to improve or restore hearing.

And, as 2016 dawns, what we need to toss out of our windows is negativity, envy, hatred and stress. Purge yourself by defenestrating these demons. Let 2016 be a year of positivity, goodwill and cheer. Then it is bound to be happy and fulfilling!

hkhetal@gmail.com