In the ongoing debate and discussion of what free things constitute revdi and what can pass off as welfare, Arun K, gentleman wealth distributor and event manager, spoke his mind on Tuesday by throwing currency notes by the fistful off a Bengaluru flyover down to the busy street below. To be fair, throwing ₹10 notes from a bag after getting off a scooter – and wearing a rap star-style wall clock around one’s neck – doth not a welfare scheme make. But poor Arun also didn’t deserve to be towed away by the police under Section 283 (obstruction to public way of navigation) and Section 290 (public nuisance) of the Indian Penal Code. What is he to do if people cause a melee to grab the notes falling from a nearby sky with our man doling out (rather cheap) manna? Like people wishing more followers on social media, Arun’s objective was to simply videograph the event and put it ‘out there’.
In more imaginative parts of the world, our off-season Santa on KR Market flyover sharing joy worth cumulatively ₹3,000 – so, 300 ₹10 notes – down at the City Market junction below would have been hailed as a performance artist. Videos taken by others would have gone viral, and he may have been soon seen at the Tate or MoMA for his ‘radical depiction of the meaningless runaway capitalism’. But Bengaluru, India, isn’t quite ready yet.
