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Lage Rahon Anna Bhai: The science behind what makes a wave?
As we have been witnessing over the last few days, there is an ‘Anna wave’ in the country. People of all ages, from all walks of life have come out on the streets in large numbers in support of Anna. Till about few months back, Anna was a relatively unknown name to most people. Since then, he has become the biggest name in the country. A new term has been coined. Just like Gandhigiri, Annagiri is the talk of the town.
What is the reason for this wave of support? Why has there been such an upsurge of people?
The success of a wave depends on the subject and on the principle of critical mass being achieved.
If the chosen issue is based on the principles of truthfulness, non violence and sarvodaya (welfare for all) it can turn into a wave.
Now for a wave to spread across the entire nation, it must cover one percent of the population. This can be explained by the 100th-monkey phenomenon, as explained by Deepak Chopra.
“Long time back there was a monkey called Emo in a far off village in Japan. Monkeys at that time used to eat apples lying in the gardens full of dust. One day Emo by mistake washed the apple in the pond before eating. From then onwards he washed every apple he ate. The message went from one monkey to the second monkey and then to the third and so on. Many monkeys started washing apples before eating. After sometime, some neighboring monkeys from other villages also started washing their apples before eating. The day the 100th monkey washed the apple and ate it, a strange phenomenon was observed all over the country. Monkeys all over started washing apples before eating. The critical mass in that area therefore was 100. Once the critical mass was achieved, the information spread like wildfire to each and every monkey and everybody started washing apples before eating.”
In campaigning also the politicians make use of this principle and make sure that the critical mass is achieved to start with. In local political meetings also, the same principle of 1% critical mass is used. For a gathering of 1000 people, politicians make sure that they have minimum 10 of their own people are sitting in the audience to initiate clapping. When 10 people clap, the rest 990 will also follow and clap. Similarly, for a gathering of 2000 they will need 20 people and for 10,000 they will need 100 people.............more
About the author: Dr K K Aggarwal is Padmashri and Dr B C Roy National Awardee, President Heart Care Foundation of India, Dean Board of Medical Education Moolchand Medcity, Sr. Physician & Cardiologist, Chairman Ethics Committee Delhi Medical Council, Visiting professor Clinical Research DIPSAR, Past President Delhi Medical Association and Past Academic and Research Wing Heads IMA.
