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...He got up to his feet. He had to be held by Velan and another on each side. In the profoundest silence the crowd followed him down. Everyone followed at a solemn, silent pace. The eastern sky was red. Many in the camp were still sleeping. Raju could not walk, but he insisted upon pulling himself along all the same. He panted with the effort. He went down the steps of the river, halting for breath on each step, and finally reached his basin of water. He stepped into it, shut his eyes, and turned towards the mountain, his lips muttering the prayer. Velan and another held him each by an arm. The morning sun was out by now; a great shaft of light illuminated the surroundings. It was difficult to hold Raju on his feet, as he had a tendency to flop down. They held him as if he were a baby. Raju opened his eyes, looked about, and said, "Velan, it's raining in the hills. I can feel it coming up under my feet, up my legs --" He sagged down.
We now come to fasts undertaken by our ladies.
Medhaji undertook several fasts. The one that almost took her life lasted for 22 days. It was against the Sardar Sarovar Dam across Narmada. She was of course joined by many film personae and authoresses and socialites in what could be called 'sympathetic' protests. She also traveled all the way to Singur to fast against the Tatas' Nano Project.
Apparently these two fasts met with Pyrrhic victories. The Center has recently decided to raise the height of the dam and the matter is back in the law courts. And her bete noir whom she referred to as the biggest liar ('not seen a bigger liar', to be precise) is now the Ruler of the Destiny of not only Gujerat but India itself (Bharata Bhagya Vidhata).
And the Nano has been grabbed by the same gent. Although, as a matter of consolation, I didn't see many Nanos on the roads of my Muthukur when I revisited the place after more than half a century...the peoples' car is not altogether the rage it was designed to be, it looks.
I thought our fiery Didi didn't believe in fasts. And I thought when I Googled for Didi's fasts I would merely end up with Duronto.
But I was wrong. It was she who initiated the Singur fasts and Medhaji was a winger along with other famous men and women. Her fast lasted for all of 25 days.
And she achieved all her aims...she drove Tata away from Bengal, the Reds into hiding, and herself into the Writers Buildings.
Wow! Gandhiji would be green with envy, were he not a Mahatma.
And then there are what came to be called Token Hunger Strikes.
The one that elicited one of a hundred limericks from me happened more than 5 years ago during the last but one general elections. This rather opulent lady went on a 'day-long fast'...from breakfast to dinner at a public place.
Here is the limerick:
I had blogged it along with my other limericks and light verses. My B-i-L who was residing in the concerned province warned me that I would have been thrashed black and blue had I too been its resident. But nothing happened. And then, 4 years later, strict laws were enacted against political limericks and cartoons and jibes, and a couple of girls were jailed and a professor in Cal assaulted before he was arrested.
I then got scared and deleted about 50 of my famous limericks. For,
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I was talking of the social and political hunger strikes of my generation.
No fast can be more real for RKN fans (and Dev Anand) than the fast undertaken willy-nilly by our Railway Raju to please the rain gods. It lasted for all of 12 hungry days and nights. At the end of it all, it did rain on the hills; and Raju sagged down:
...He got up to his feet. He had to be held by Velan and another on each side. In the profoundest silence the crowd followed him down. Everyone followed at a solemn, silent pace. The eastern sky was red. Many in the camp were still sleeping. Raju could not walk, but he insisted upon pulling himself along all the same. He panted with the effort. He went down the steps of the river, halting for breath on each step, and finally reached his basin of water. He stepped into it, shut his eyes, and turned towards the mountain, his lips muttering the prayer. Velan and another held him each by an arm. The morning sun was out by now; a great shaft of light illuminated the surroundings. It was difficult to hold Raju on his feet, as he had a tendency to flop down. They held him as if he were a baby. Raju opened his eyes, looked about, and said, "Velan, it's raining in the hills. I can feel it coming up under my feet, up my legs --" He sagged down.
We now come to fasts undertaken by our ladies.
Medhaji undertook several fasts. The one that almost took her life lasted for 22 days. It was against the Sardar Sarovar Dam across Narmada. She was of course joined by many film personae and authoresses and socialites in what could be called 'sympathetic' protests. She also traveled all the way to Singur to fast against the Tatas' Nano Project.
Apparently these two fasts met with Pyrrhic victories. The Center has recently decided to raise the height of the dam and the matter is back in the law courts. And her bete noir whom she referred to as the biggest liar ('not seen a bigger liar', to be precise) is now the Ruler of the Destiny of not only Gujerat but India itself (Bharata Bhagya Vidhata).
And the Nano has been grabbed by the same gent. Although, as a matter of consolation, I didn't see many Nanos on the roads of my Muthukur when I revisited the place after more than half a century...the peoples' car is not altogether the rage it was designed to be, it looks.
I thought our fiery Didi didn't believe in fasts. And I thought when I Googled for Didi's fasts I would merely end up with Duronto.
But I was wrong. It was she who initiated the Singur fasts and Medhaji was a winger along with other famous men and women. Her fast lasted for all of 25 days.
And she achieved all her aims...she drove Tata away from Bengal, the Reds into hiding, and herself into the Writers Buildings.
Wow! Gandhiji would be green with envy, were he not a Mahatma.
And then there are what came to be called Token Hunger Strikes.
The one that elicited one of a hundred limericks from me happened more than 5 years ago during the last but one general elections. This rather opulent lady went on a 'day-long fast'...from breakfast to dinner at a public place.
Here is the limerick:
Mummy's instincts are always right;
To fight for her voters' basic rights;
What's a days' fast?
It can't last;
She can more than make it up at night!
I had blogged it along with my other limericks and light verses. My B-i-L who was residing in the concerned province warned me that I would have been thrashed black and blue had I too been its resident. But nothing happened. And then, 4 years later, strict laws were enacted against political limericks and cartoons and jibes, and a couple of girls were jailed and a professor in Cal assaulted before he was arrested.
I then got scared and deleted about 50 of my famous limericks. For,
Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd.
...William Congreve
...Posted by Ishani
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