Fasting Fixation

OK so from where I see it i would like to believe that I am part of the much talked about "civil society"and although this somehow entails me to umpteen number of fasts especially if I am  talking about social changes i would like to be honest and tell you all that i love my food and nothing in this world is gonna make me give  up whats on my plate. So after  a sumptuous meal while i digest my food there are  other matters that I would like to chew upon. But before I give you reasons as to why I would not like to accessorize my life with "fasts" it has to be said.

I am totally unique and independent in my thinking.Any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.The views expressed in this blog however do not make me insensitive to problems of corruption,high handedness of politicians and Machiavellian political tactics.
Now coming to reasons why i an not ready to support Anna,Baba or any other "deshbhakt"in  their gourmet abstinence.

1. Why should i fast?.I mean its a fact well supported my restaurant chains,street food vendors and my mother that we think better when we eat.And in this case we are looking at a long drawn battle against corruption and our chalta hai attitude which certainly is not going to end by tomorrow evening.I need to be well fed to have a general feeling of well being.

2. I have a problem with the Baba's  and Anna's of the world being called representatives of civil society because  they make fasting out to be our sole preoccupation. And if I call them my leaders what face do i have to show to Irom Chanu Sharmila -the lady from Manipur fasting for 10 years against Indian Army's brutalities in her state. Is she not civil society? Isn't it incumbent for us to support her.?So while Anna sipped  neembu pani after 10 days and Baba skittered out masquerading as a woman in salwar kameez in 3 days(if all he wanted to do was dress up like a woman wish he had slipped on a strapless dress or low wait jeans:P),our Iron Lady of Manipur has continued her fight with dignity and resilience.

3. I have a huge allergy to Gandhi's  very effective satyagrah being completely misused and misinterpreted in the present day context. Violence, Gandhi did not believe in and Satyagrah was his tool to oust the British,who had absolutely no right to rule us as slaves. How can we plant that idea on a soil just not fit for it to grow?These people strolling in the corridors of power may be politicians( and we all agree that word is worse than cancer ) but they are our democratically elected representatives whom we voted for. If they are rotten we have ourselves to blame and if they are not improving we are still in the dock. Our power is our right to "vote"them out,to say "no"next time someone offers us a bribe or asks us for it.Our power is not to hold the government to ransom.

4.My other problem is that I do not like the fact that Baba suffers from hallucinations and Anna failed his paper on "India's parliamentary from of democracy"in school.How else do I explain their complete lack of understanding about government functioning. Baba flew down from his private jet and genuinely believed he could be Prime Minister by the time his jet was ready for re-fuelling .Anna on the other hand thinks that by pretending to be the Sun and making cabinet ministers abandon all their tasks to revolve around him like planets our Milky way would be a better place to live in.

5.Come August and our Lok Sabha will shift to either a News channel studio, Jatar mantar or Ram Lila grounds and with that my friends I have a huge problem.First he makes a fool of himself by taking both father and son in a single committee (Sr and Jr Bhushans on the Lok pal bill drafting committee)and now when the ball has been set rolling he wants to arm twist the government again.I am civil society and my representative is this government which is  accountable to me not some orange or khadi clad fasting- eager gentleman.

So I don't want the important issue of corruption to take a back seat and for all of us to again be cynical about the system because of 2 funny people fighting for their face on the poster depicting "civil-society"that none of us right thinking individuals would care to hang!!

 Our resolve to not pay a bribe shall continue  but while our very own  upma is winning international awards ,if not the exotic ‘Wild Mushroom Upma Polenta with Kokum & Coconut Milk’that proved to be the jackpot winner we can atleast continue digging into our dal rotis and fighting on!!!