Jockeying around…

Not long time ago we knew a jockey was a person who rides a horse in horse races which were meant for the rich and enjoyed gambling.  The dictionary meaning is that he is a boy or a man who rides in a horse race, a horse dealer, one who takes undue advantage in a business. As a verb it means to jostle by riding against, to manoeuvre, to trick by maneuvering.

Now jockeys have entered your life in a big way and no, we are not talking about the undergarments brand only.  Tune in to any FM radio station and the one who engages in endless chatter and in between plays some songs is called a Radio Jockeys or RJ. A radio jockey is a person who whose job is to introduce different sections of a programme or play recorded popular music on radio. With multiple radio channels competing to grab your ears today’s RJ also jostles, as the dictionary meaning says, against other RJs. There is maneuvering and the art involves tricking the listener into staying put on the same radio station.

Then you have the Disk Jockeys. Come any public function involving celebration  of birth days or wedding or engagement. A good DJ is the one who makes the people- young and old, bold and bald, fat or thin- to hit the dance floor and shake a leg. These guys stand behind the mysterious looking instruments with multiple buttons and the DJ is quick to shift from one song to another in quick succession to keep the rhythm or the party and keep people on the dance floor.

If the RJs and the DJs are the jockeys who are known for their profession, there are jockeys in your everyday life who play the role of Radio or Disk jockeys. They chatter endlessly giving others little time to talk. They manoeuvre, trick and are generally harmless but for their ability to keep people engaged and stay tuned to their ‘radio stations’.  In today’s fast moving world, the number of jockeys in your life will only increase. Take for instance the mushrooming WhatsApp groups who are controlled by WJs- we can call them WhaatsApp Jockeys.