PDF 11th Feb 2017
Daily English Vocab
The temptation to go viral
The Good Samaritan law has not sufficed to create the confidence it takes to act in an accident
scene likethe one witnessed in Koppal. The reluctance (अनिच्छा) to do something is habitually
guided by apprehension (भय/शंका)
Newspapers recently published a story about a young man who lay bleeding on a road while
onlookers took pictures of him and made a video. The incident happened in Koppal in Karnataka.
The bicycle this 18-year-old was riding was caught under the rear wheel of a State transport bus.
Though he emerged alive, he was badly injured and crying for help. Apparently, bystanders
couldn’t figure out how to help him, but they used their mobile phones to take pictures. A video
of his suffering soon went viral, as they say, suggesting that it became visual material worth
watching. An ambulance was summoned and took the young man to a hospital, but the doctors
could not save him. Had he been brought sooner, they said, he might have survived.
A familiar story
Instantaneous gathering of curious onlookers is common in our part of the world. Anything new
or unusual spotted on a street makes people stop and stare. When an accident occurs, a traffic jam
follows, not always because the vehicles passing by have less space, but mostly because drivers
slow down to take a good look at the accident. Cyclists place one foot down on the ground and
pedestrians gather. Curiosity alone can’t explain this behaviour, for no one seems satisfied with
one good look. People keep staring as if they are waiting for something to happen. They realise
that the police should turn up in a short while and then something will happen, so there will be
more to see. The scene finds resonance (something that evokes an association) in our mythology
and history; it suggests a deep reluctance to take the initiative or to get involved. Once a crowd
gathers, the lone individual who might be inclined to take the initiative also loses the instinct to do
so, simply because a crowd — any crowd — discourages individuality. The pressure to behave
like everybody else greatly increases when you stand in a mass. So it is natural for people standing
in a crowd to simply stare rather than to do something.
The cellphone’s capacity to serve as a handy camera has added a new dimension to this familiar
story. If a crowd has accumulated for no particular reason or cause but merely to stare, and the
people assembled have a common reluctance to do something or get involved, the camera function
of the cellphone provides a fine outlet for everyone’s somewhat confused energy. The idea of
taking a picture creates the option of having something to do. It presents an attractive opportunity
of sending the picture across to your friends and anyone else interested. The desire to share a
picture instantly by placing it on social media is a new kind of behaviour in the history of crowds.
Having witnessed it among students during excursions (घूमिा/भ्रमण), I think it creates the satisfaction
of doing something, apart from in itself being somewhat exciting. A screen picture in colour looks
sharp and bright: taking and transmitting it offers the contentment (सतं ुष्टता) of capturing something
one has come across. It channelises and disperses (निखरािा) the sense of personal responsibility one
might feel as a witness to something awful. The fact that I have sent the picture to others spread
across my country and even across other countries liberates (मुक्त करिा/अलग करिा) me from the
gnawing (न ंताजिक) thought that I did nothing because I was paralysed or scared. At the very least,
it offers some relief from the feeling that I just stood there and watched a person bleed. It provides
the satisfaction of doing something while maintaining the relief that I am not getting involved in
something that might cause serious inconvenience later. The cellphone camera serves as a
mediator. By creating a distance between the viewer and the object, it neutralises the horror of
seeing someone in pain and screaming for help. Thereby, it also mitigates the guilt one might feel
being a mere onlooker.
The law and change
Karnataka now has a Good Samaritan law that protects the kind-hearted citizen helping an accident
victim from police harassment (परेशािी/कष्ट). The enactment of such a law undoubtedly marks a step
towards change in onlooker behaviour as it acknowledges an old source of fear. Apparently, the
Good Samaritan law has not sufficed to create the confidence it takes to act in a scene like the one
witnessed in Koppal. Apart from confidence, one must also feel like taking the initiative.
Reluctance to do something is habitually guided by the apprehension that the consequences of
involvement can’t be predicted or controlled. This feeling runs deeper in district towns where the
institutions of the state, such as the police, don’t always convey a sense of security to the common
citizen who is not a local notable—a term colonial district officers were fond of. Anyone who has
faced questioning by the police in a provincial town or village knows what it takes to breathe
without fear in the presence of a police officer. Let us imagine that someone who saw the accident
in Koppal took the initiative to stop a car and rode in it with the injured youth to a hospital. This
would surely leave bloodstains in the car and one of the bystanders would have captured its number
plate on the mobile camera. It takes mature sensibility and respect for ordinary people to avoid
probing them unnecessarily before declaring them to be Good Samaritans. Distinguishing good
involvement from bad at a scene of crime demands significant levels of training and perspicacity
(समझदारी/कुशाग्रता). Long, very long and circuitous questioning by the police has been the norm since
colonial days. During such sessions, the person who is not the perpetrator (अपराधी/दोषी) of a crime
but merely a helper of the victim is subjected to the same routine ruthlessness (निददयता/निष्ठुरता) that
the perpetrator might deserve. If you think your role is over once you have transported the victim
to a nearby hospital, you are likely to be proved mistaken.
These are still early days in the history of the Good Samaritan law. It will take a long time for
people to feel secure under its provisions. Any law that attempts to change people’s perception of
a state agency demands a parallel change in the behaviour of the agency itself. In this case, it is
the police. Reforms in the system of investigation, articulated and recommended decades ago, have
been waiting to be implemented. Both the will and the resources required to implement them are
in short supply. It is anybody’s guess whether the police in Karnataka understand and accept the
Good Samaritan (मुसीित में मदद करिे वाला) law. If they do and if, in a few cases, they act according to
it, they will have to publicise the names of many Good Samaritans over the coming years and
decades to make an impact on the public, on its insecurity and apprehensions.
But what about picture taking? This behaviour has risen remarkably rapidly over the last two
decades. The cellphone has transformed the meaning of photography. You can now take countless
pictures without worrying about exhausting a reel. You are equipped to take pictures all the time
and everywhere. No matter where you may take young students on an excursion, as soon as they
get there they start taking pictures. Neither the solemnity of a place nor its rarity makes any
difference. Their urge to capture everything using their mobile has turned into a compulsion. The
object does not matter: it can be a flower, a poster or a person who is bleeding, as in the case in
Koppal.
Flat notion of education
In their commentary on the Koppal story, readers have berated (फटकारिा) the loss of sensitivity and
values. Quite a few have blamed education. It is difficult to agree with them, although one can
understand why education serves so readily as a whipping horse whenever social values are
discussed. Administrators and political leaders share with ordinary people a flat notion of
education. They don’t appreciate what it takes to make education an experience that has the
potential to create self-awareness and sensibility. A key resource often underestimated is the
teacher. It is fashionable to express frustration with teachers and to recommend technology to
control and replace them. As for teachers themselves, they are being pushed hard to cope with the
active presence of cellphones in the classroom. You are supposed to find ways to use students’
passion for cellphones rather than criticise it. The ideal teacher these days is one who pretends to
be unaware that students are busy with their cellphones, sending and receiving messages and
pictures.
Courtesy: The Hindu (National Concern).
1. Reluctance (noun): Unwillingness or disinclination to do something (अरुन /अनिच्छा)
Synonyms: Disinclination, Unwillingness, Indisposition.
Antonyms: Excited, Willingness, Penchant.
Example: In the past, many companies were reluctant to hire women professionals because they
feared the women would quit when they got married.
Related words:
Reluctantly (adverb) – अनिच्छापर्ू वक
Reluctant(adjective) – अनिच्छुक
2. Apprehension (noun): Anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen. (भय/शंका)
Synonyms: Worry, Anxiety, Consternation, Trepidation.
Antonyms: Calmness, Faith, Confidence.
Example: With recent job cuts, Kate is apprehensive about losing her job.
Verb forms: Apprehend, Apprehended, Apprehended.
Related words:
Apprehend (verb) - आशंका करिा
Apprehensive (adjective) - आशंकार्ाि
Apprehensively (adverb) - आशंनकत होकर
3. Excursion (noun): A short journey or trip, especially one taken as a leisure activity. (घमू िा/भ्रमण)
Synonyms: Trip, Outing, Jaunt, Expedition, Journey, Tour.
Example: Six of us are going on an excursion to the beach this weekend.
Related words:
Excursionist (noun) - पर्वटक/ a tourist who is visiting sights of interest.
4. Contentment (noun): A state of happiness and satisfaction. (सतं ुष्टता)
Synonyms: Satisfaction, Fulfillment, Complacency, Repletion.
Antonyms: Dissatisfaction, Discontent.
Example: I wanted to enjoy my life, so contentment was something that I continually sought out.
Verb forms: Content, Contented, Contented.
Related words:
Content (verb) – सतं ुष्ट होिा या करिा
5. Disperse (verb): Distribute or spread over a wide area. /to spread out. (निखरािा)
Synonyms: Scatter, Disseminate, Spread, Diffuse.
Antonyms: Accumulate, Gather, Assemble, Garner.
Example: During the riot, the police tried to disperse the large crowd.
Verb forms: Disperse, Dispersed, Dispersed.
Related words:
Dispersal (noun) - The action or process of distributing or spreading things or people over a wide
area.
6. Liberate (verb): Free from confinement/ grant freedom to. (मुक्त करिा/अलग करिा)
Synonyms: Free, Detach, Unbind, Unchain, Unhook.
Antonyms: Incarcerate, Limit, Restrain, Constrain.
Example: Because the dogs were experiencing maltreatment, the compassionate man decided to
liberate his neighbor’s animals.
Verb forms: Liberate, Liberated, Liberated.
7. Gnawing (adjective): Persistently worrying or distressing. (न ंताजिक)
Synonyms: Worrying, Agonizing, Concerning.
Antonyms: Unworried, Cheerful, Calming, Soothing.
Example: It is very gnawing for the society that whenever an accident happens, on lookers start
taking pictures and making videos rather than helping the victim.
Verb forms: Gnaw, Gnawed, Gnawed.
Related words:
Gnaw (verb) - cause persistent distress or anxiety.
8. Harassment (noun): Aggressive pressure or intimidation. (परेशािी/कष्ट)
Synonyms: Bothering, persecution, Oppression.
Antonyms: Aid, Pleasure, Facilitation, Delight.
Example: As a teacher, Ann spends a small part of her day making sure her students do not bully
or harass each other.
Verb forms: Harass, Harassed, Harassed.
Related words:
Harass (verb) – परे शाि करिा
9. Perspicacity (noun): The quality of having a ready insight into things; shrewdness.
(समझदारी/कुशाग्रता)
Synonyms: Acumen, Discernment, Perception, Shrewdness, Judgment.
Antonyms: Ignorance, Stupidity.
Example: The detective’s perspicacity allowed him to easily recognize the criminal in the crowd.
Related words:
Perspicaciously (adverb) - बुनिकौशल के साथ
Perspicaciousness (noun) – कुशाग्रता
Perspicacious (adjective) – कुशाग्र
10. Perpetrator (noun): A person who carries out a harmful, illegal, or immoral act. (अपराधी/दोषी)
Synonyms: culprit, executioner, felon, Criminal, wrongdoer.
Antonyms: Innocent, Lawful, Upright.
Example: Once the perpetrator who killed the little girl is located, he may be sentenced to death.
Verb forms: Perpetrate, Perpetrated, Perpetrated.
Related words:
Perpetrate (verb) – दोष करिा
Perpetration (noun) – अपराध
11. Ruthless (adjective): Who lacks the quality of lacking pity or compassion for others./ having
or showing no pity or compassion for others. (निददय/निष्ठुर)
Synonyms: Merciless, Pitiless, Cruel, Heartless Stony-Hearted, Inhuman.
Antonyms: Compassionate, Merciful, Humane, Sympathetic.
Example: The ruthless gang leader killed the new recruit for showing up late for a meeting.
Related words:
Ruthlessly (adverb) – निदवर्तापर्ू वक
Ruthlessness (noun) – निदवर्ता
12. Samaritan (noun): A charitable or helpful person. (मुसीित में मदद करिे वाला)
Synonyms: Helpful, Helping Hand, Humanitarian,
Antonyms: On Looker, Sightseer.
Example: The beggar was lying shivering on the road when a Good Samaritan came along and
gave him a blanket and some warm clothes.
13. Berate (verb): Scold or criticize (someone) angrily. (फटकारिा)
Synonyms: Rebuke, Reprimand, Reproach, Reprove, Admonish, Chastise, Chide.
Antonyms: Compliment, Flatter, Laud, Praise.
Example: As the director started to berate the cast for the hundredth time, several of the lead
actors walked out.
Verb forms: Berate, Berated, Berated.
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