Front Row Activists - FRATs

Front Row Activists - FRATs..............................Shrikant Soman

I have observed some activists who are skillful to always get the FRONT ROW of any meeting or function. I call them Front Row Activists – FRATs. They manage to get this in a very skillful way in any or combination of following tactics :
1 They make it very specific to the host, in private, that unless they are treated with respect (read FRONT ROW seating, among others + announcing their names on the mike), they will not come. The host knows this in a ‘give and take’ system or learns his way by ‘hard way’ from past experiences.
2 They manage to make their crony come well in time and occupy the front seat. When these FRATs arrive, the crony make a big show and in a theatrical manner get up and offer them a seat.
3 If the front row is occupied, they have the audacity to ask any ‘weakling’ on the front row to actually get up. This they do not do themselves, but manage to get it done through their cronies.
4 If the front row is occupied and strategy no 3 is not workable, they actually squeeze themselves in between two people. This may seem improbable to you. But I have witnessed it happening.
5 They manage to get an extra chair at side of the front row and get themselves accommodated, as a last resort, if all the above 4 strategies do not work.

I have no issues with these tactics. Earlier I used to HATE them. Over a period of time I have started to admire their skill. I am a dumb boy in their company – making myself comfortable in whatever place that is available. However, there is a serious negative fallout of these tactics. I have invariably found that these FRATs considerably restrict their activities and sphere of influence due this attitude. What is a source of strength becomes a source of limitation. This is how it works :
Whenever these FRATs have an opportunity to attend a meeting, they make their own intelligent private assessment for the possibility of occupying the front seats. They feel considerably INSECURE in having to accept the back seats. If they feel that there is little possibility or there is a high risk of being ‘blocked out’ of the front row, they cleverly AVOID the function. As a result of this limitation, they move in a ‘close circuit’. I have seen people who for years are the FRATs but being restricted to a very limited area. They do not grow. When I say front seat, it also means ‘being in the focus of attention or limelight’. On many occasions, the example of Front Seat is a metaphor.

I am trying to get over my limitation of being comfortable as a back bencher. I do not take it as a sign of modesty or humbleness or simplicity. Frankly, I do not have IT and it IS a limitation - particularly if I want to make any dent in this tough terrain. I do not want to make a MERIT out of my WEAKNESS. My weakness in this area probably stems from my attitude getting moulded in Corporate Management Culture over the past 4 decades. There we do not have to try hard in these matters. There the respect is COMMANDED and not snatched. There is a hierarchy of positions and a clear cut definition of authority, responsibility and protocol. This is 70 % true in corporate culture. The balance 30 % is still being influenced by FRAT syndrome. In the case of military, the protocol is nearly 95 % applicable and only a miniscule 5 % is for FRAT system. In the case of bureaucracy and the elected representatives particularly at the high positions of the Govt, the protocol is nearly 85 % implemented and the balance 15 % is for FRAT system. There are microscopic rules of protocol covering conduct which appears to be very much petty to a common man. There is also a ‘protocol officer’ in the case of high dignitaries like President, Prime Minister etc. In the field of social activism, the picture is completely opposite. Here the ‘empty balloon of STYLE’ is very much the hot commodity. It is also a matter of SURVIVAL for these FRATs. If the sheep (read gullible common man) do not see them at front positions, then they risk to lose their assumed ‘Power’. They do not believe in anything such as an ‘intrinsic value’. Everything is a ‘style value’. The most amusing part of this drama is that these FRATs will invariably proclaim that they do NOT care for the front seat. It is only because the other people are insisting that they have to accept the front seat in all humbleness. These are Super FRATs. They go to the extent of informing to the host that they are arriving within few minutes and somebody should receive them and arrange for their seating at the front row.

However, having said this, there is a considerable ADVANTAGE in being FLEXIBLE (read NON–FRAT). I do not feel threatened like these FRATs when I have to occupy the back seat. This opens a vast area of activity for me. I get myself involved in a diverse and wide area. Being new and unknown entity at the initial stages, I occupy the back seat. I use this opportunity to observe and to learn. As it always happens, very soon and in a quite natural way, without having to make any extra effort, I get noticed and get involved with the core group. In a short span of time, I was able to have made a very wide ranging inroads in various field of social activism – and the field is widening. After having studied the activity of the group and its members, I then FILTER out the people and groups and activities based on my VALUE SYSTEM. This is a very long and tedious process. I have to build up ‘brick by brick’. But that is the only way. There is no shortcut if I have to be in this field on a strong foundation.

Coming back to these FRATs, honestly, I aspire to become one – but not exactly in their manner and tactics. I have to learn to make (push ?) my way forward and not be shy of the limelight. It is difficult as it is going against my moral genes. This is essential if one has to ‘command’ the ‘sheep’ who only recognize the FRATs. Most of the people are brought up (through our social and religious system) sub-consciously in respecting and obeying these FRATs. All our politicians are born FRATs. It is in their genes. It is the entrance barrier for entering into the political field. But here we are talking of the Social Activists who are supposed to bust the ghost of the politicians. If these Social Activists themselves succumb to the sins of the politicians, how are we to fight this corrupt system ?

Even if I manage to become FRAT in my own way and manner, my goal will be NOT to get IMPRISONED in my IMAGE of the FRAT. Having become a FRAT, I will continue to have the flexibility of a back bencher for having a wider canvas of my action.

As a part of ‘self diagnosis’ of the IMAGE IMPROSONMENT of FRAT, I make it a point to purposely take a back seat, particularly when I am in my own POWER group and is normally expected to take a front seat. I then make a self observation of my ‘Dis-Comfort level’ for sitting in back bench. If I can be self composed and comfortable as a back bencher, then I can safely say that I am not imprisoned in my image. This is absolutely essential. I have written separate note about ‘IMAGE BUSTING’ exercises. There is great source of inspiration and strength when one is not getting type cast and getting imprisoned in a particular image of oneself. This is a topic of separate discussion and outside the scope of this diary.

When one understands the game and the players by rising ABOVE it, raising one’s consciousness to a higher spiritual level, then instead of hating and getting irritated with these FRATs, we start to get AMUSED with circus of this MAD World.