Saisuresh Sivaswamy

For all of us who lived through the horrendous months that were December 1992 and January 1993, help is afoot, and in keeping with the times, is online.

For those of us tuning in late, the two months referred to were when some citizens of this splendid city, normally busy in the rush to make money, decided to, well, make war with each other. Often 'each other' meant neighbours and sometimes friends with whom a relationship had been built over the years. But all it took for years of goodwill and bonhomie to come tumbling was for one dilapidated place of worship to come tumbling down a 1000-odd kilometres away.

Shows up how fickle concepts of brotherhood and peace are? Well, as I said, help is afoot, and online. Just go to www.chachoo.net/home/game6.htm, download the Hindu Muslim Dhain Dhain, and hey once you start playing the game there will be no need to actually go out and shed blood.

Now if you had been a denizen of Mumbai those two hysterical months, you would see through the futility in the hope that online violence will have reduced the offline carnage, but hey, each to his or her viewpoint.

Talking of which, let us see how exactly the site managers of chachoo.net try to justify, no, rationalise their game.

Heaven, Year 2001: A very serious meeting was held in heaven among the gods, regarding the decreasing majority of mankind coming to heaven. They made a survey as to what marketing strategy the management of hell are using to increase their population. Out of many other factors one important fact which came to their surprise was that they (the gods) were used by the hell management for getting more and more human beings into hell. It was a very well planned strategy by the corporates of hell to use the names of gods in order to encourage, hatred and violence and killing each other among the human being thereby inviting them to hell. To justify this statement there were facts from the last millennium where lots of violence and killings happened in the name of religion.

There has been a lot of violence in the Indian subcontinent on the name of religion mainly the Hindu Muslim riots.

The meeting continued with long debates on finding a solution to put an end to all this. There were arguments like things have gone too far and it's not possible to break the influences of hell's marketing. And if it is possible, then how?

The meeting was concluded with a strong support to use the new technology and some methods to be deviced where the hatred can be reduced and directed to something else. Something like virtual reality where the man remains under the influence of hell hypnotism yet he does not commit sin -- 'Hindu Muslim Dhain Dhain' was designed so that you kill people online and remain safe and increase majority in Heaven later...

As for the few people who may be objecting to this... the site manager can only say that they are under the influence of hell hypnotism.

The lengthy explanation is laughable not only for its bad language but also for its naivete. Kill people online so that you won't kill offline is rather like saying rape online, so you won't do it offline... get it? Commit your sins online so you will be pure in the offline world may have struck some self-styled marketing whiz as a work of pure genius, but the reality, one is afraid, is more than a little different.

What chachoo.net is dealing with is hatred, just like any thousands of others that peddle hate. Now whether this hate is being peddled, provoked and passed off in all seriousness or in levity is not relevant. What is, is that such hate is being given such a blatant outlet - never mind trivialising what to those of us living in India is a very very serious topic.

The other thing that is laughable about the Hindu Muslim Dhain Dhain is the game itself. Since it deals in stereotypes, the images are of two typical fellows, one twirling his tuft while the other is stroking his beard, both looking positively inimical.

The choice is yours, either you kill the Muslim or the Hindu by clicking on the gun. The Hindu dies in a haze of blood, as the bullet decapitates him, while the Muslim is almost blown to smithereens.

Was it fun, pressing the trigger and watching the consequences? No. It was neither fun, as games are meant to be, nor was it therapeutic, as the site managers say it could be. Could it be possible that there is something wrong with me then? Am I taking the whole thing too seriously?

I don't know. Perhaps the fault lies with me. Maybe, unlike those who have devised this game, I happened to be a Mumbai-ite and recall those horrendous days when terror was so palpable in the air that you could slice it with a knife. When you didn't know if the knock on your door was the postman's or the baddies come to get you. If one had lived through that nightmare, it sure won't seem like fun for the rest of one's life.

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