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Intoxication of Power

This week 2 people are in the news for all the wrong reasons - Kapil Sharma and Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad.

Kapil Sharma got mad at his team as they started to have their meals even before he had finished his drinks on a flight. In a fit of rage, he hit his own team members with a shoe. Ravindra Gaikwad went a setup further and slapped an Air India official 25 times with his sandal.

One often wonders why these people who are public figures indulge in such behaviour. Why would any one who has accomplished so much throw it all away in a petty fight?

Tony Blair also encountered this. He lost many of his talented cabinet members in the first year of office to some sex scandal. Tony too wondered what had gone wrong. In his memoir, Tony explains that power is intoxicating. The initial 'kicks' from his intoxication makes one do good ... it feels amazing to help ordinary people around you. 

As with all intoxicants , soon the kick fades away and urge sets in to up the dose..... and in case of power this urge can only be satisfied by testing the limits of what you can get away with because of your power. The kick that someone gets by knowing that ordinary social and legal norms do not apply to you is unmatched. 

Powerful people then develop the urge to do something anti-social or illegal to experiment the limits of what they can get away with due to their power status..... Kapil Sharma must of got a bigger kick after mis-behaving on a flight .... after all who can mess with him - the God of comedy. Gaikwad enjoyed the fun of bashing up a government servant but as the kick was not strong enough took it step further by mocking our nation ....

So what is the anti-dote to this powerful intoxication ? Shame them to make them feel vulnerable. It up to us citizens punish them with bad TRPs and NOTA votes ...

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