Does life imitate art or, is the latter inspired by life? It might be another chicken and egg conundrum, but when the twain meet, the coincidences do make us sit up.
It has been a week since the horrific Karur stampede caused the death of 41 people in the TVK’s political rally in the district. Several events have unfolded since then, and none of them have managed to displace the visuals of the night of September 27 — men and women running to the hospital bearing the lifeless bodies of children and ambulances bringing people beyond help to the hospital, or the crowd swaying as one amoeboid whole, the crush merely waiting to happen.
If you were to look at literature, what unfolds in the Tamil novella Vazhga Vazhga by Sahitya Akademi award winner Imayam (translated into English by Prabha Sridevan), is a work of fiction, but eerily similar to what happened at Velusamypuram. The novella is replete with thinly-veiled references to Tamil Nadu political leaders before 2016; the story itself is about a crowd that gathers at the election rally of a female politician. There are many divergences from what happened in Karur as well, of course, but the story provides a keen insight into the workings of the traditional political machinery in Tamil Nadu.
In Vazhga Vazhga, Venkatesa Perumal is an organiser for a political party, his job includes mobilising people for the rallies of his party. He’s neither the protagonist nor the villain in the story, just a cog in the machine. He brings women from the villages to a rally, paying each of them ₹500 and giving them a polyester party saree, lunch, and a few water packets. He’s not really important, what happens at the rally is why we are discussing this story.
The women who go with Venkatesa Perumal do so reluctantly, because they know the money he is paying them will come in handy. The similarities to Karur begin when the van the women are being ferried to the venue in, is only able to move inch by inch as a crowd has already gathered for the meeting in the morning. Neighbours who have come with Venkatesa Perumal — Gomathi and Andaal — gape at the crowd and the decorated dais. As they wait for the rally to begin, some of the women say they cannot wait to catch a glimpse of the leader.
But this awe soon gives way to discomfort, unhappiness, and death. As a writer, Mr. Imayam has established his unique skill at fathoming the female psyche. The humour in the text is slowly edged out as an Agni Nakshatiram sun soars in the sky, it becomes unbearably hot, the crowds have increased immeasurably, there are not enough chairs, the women have no bathrooms to use, they cannot step out of their enclosure, and the water is insufficient. They feel faint, some collapse. They have been waiting hours, but there is no sign of the leader yet, as the crowds in Karur too were left waiting.
Crisis and death
But the bigger crisis is triggered by the men. The leader finally arrives in a helicopter, and the scenes are being shown to the crowd on LED screens. However, as though that was not enough, some men climbed up the casuarina barricades that separated the men and the women.
As more men clambered up, the poles cracked and gave way, and the men fell on the women, crushing them. Mr. Imayam writes that many people’s limbs were broken, a woman was impaled by the sharp end of the party flag, and as people tried to run, there was a stampede, people fell, and others clambered over them, eager to get out of there. However, the police beat them back, the story goes.
The denouement drips with irony. He writes that the leader continued to address the cadre, seeking votes, oblivious to what was happening amid the crowd. She continued to read from the paper in her hands, completely unaware, he ends.
Published – October 05, 2025 01:08 am IST
