No hang ups

Here?s something that newly-crowned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should chew on.

Here’s something that newly-crowned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should chew on. In the state that headquartered India’s first empire and where the Buddha walked, things have reached such a pass that people — literate, educated, unemployed — are voluntarily heading for the gallows. No, they are not pursuing a new cult, but trying desperately to lasso the vacant hangman’s job at Bhagalpur Central Jail. Obviously, it can’t be the exotic nature of the job that is attracting a sudden spurt of interest in this business of death. What lures them is the Rs 15,000-20,000 that is paid for each execution — considering that Bhagalpur hasn’t seen an execution since 1995 — can seem so attractive says a lot about the desperation of a people for whom job opportunities in their state have, by and large, dried up.

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But the thing to reflect on is, does a bachelor’s or even a master’s degree — which many applicants have claimed — qualify them to execute this unique job to perfection? Movies may have made it seem simple enough — tie a knot, slip it around the neck, and the trapdoor flings open to swaying legs. But in actuality, behind the perfect — that is, the quick and least painful — death by hanging, there is a science of precision, one that comes only with experience.

But since people are apparently getting over their queasiness over the hangman’s job, perhaps the time is right to bring in the lethal injections for the job. At least, the training would be simpler.