A carnival called India: From Gandhigiri to Annagiri, it’s dhak-dhak go
Political peccadilloes, fasting and feasting, lokpal and jokepal - India`s effervescent, tropical spirit makes a carnival of it all. Look at our record.
By TNN | Updated:
Wah India. Your myriad avatars, your million mutinies never cease to amaze. We try hard to hijack you. Some cry, "India is Indira". Others sing, "You are my Sonia". Still others chant, "Saffron Shining". Then comes civil society`s counter: "Anna is India". Yet you defy all labels. You`re that band baaja and political baraat marrying all tunes - Anna`s Ramlila marching song, Rahul`s rejoinders from Lok Sabha, aam admi`s halla bol. For you remain that battlefield where everything from roving mantris to reigning myths are challenged. And how deftly you go from Gandhigiri to Annagiri when power-wielders stumble from hera-pheri to hara-kiri!
Rewind to Gandhi. Who thought colonial India would turn into Free India thanks to the "half-naked fakir" Churchill once derided? Yet that civil disobeyer went to Buckingham Palace to meet the king in the freezing English winter dressed in a loincloth and sandals, remarking "the king had on enough for both of us". It turned out to be the sartorial equivalent of fasting. Ever since he punctured martial machismo, that man from Sabarmati hasn`t lacked fans. Ask Obama. He thinks Bapu`s the ideal dinner date.
And what of Incredible India`s incredible women? Who thought Nehru`s quiet daughter would not only become the only `man` in her kitchen cabinet but also be electorally chastened on an `Emergency` basis? Certainly not the Congress`s all-male Syndicate which believed a "gungi gudiya" PM would make politics a doll`s house. The `dumb doll` went on to put the fear of Indira into everyone from privy purse-holders to Pakistan`s macho Yahya Khan. Equally, who`d have wagered Indira`s quiet daughter-in-law would trump those who dubbed her Congress`s phoren Hand? Or betted Maya and Mamata would turn political He-Men Mulayam and Marxists into Ex-Men?
If gender bromides go bust, so do class- and age-related clichA©s. Many Anna supporters are middle class. So eat crow, those who said the middle class is such an apolitical navel-gazer that it won`t go vote let alone champion popular causes. And, no, our youngsters don`t just chase dollar dreams abroad when not swinging between Marx and Mammon at home. Haven`t they wedded Gandhian idealism with crusading consumerism, lapping up all that Anna merchandise? Who says New India is no country for old men? Septuagenarian Anna`s now a youth icon, cheered by protesters and picnickers, Bollywood-wallahs and dabbawallahs. Think: despite Singh-Isn`t-King and other netas avoiding the hippest headgear in town, the cost of "Main Anna Hazare Hoon" caps have zoomed like aloo-pyaaz prices in these inflation-hit times. What does that make India in these inquilaab-hit times? Priceless.
Political peccadilloes, fasting and feasting, lokpal and jokepal - India`s effervescent, tropical spirit makes a carnival of it all. Look at our record. Salt marches or independence days, spiritual yatras or national elections, cricket matches or hunger strikes, we midnight`s children laugh even as we cry (for) the beloved country. India meri jaan, here`s doffing a topi to you.
Rewind to Gandhi. Who thought colonial India would turn into Free India thanks to the "half-naked fakir" Churchill once derided? Yet that civil disobeyer went to Buckingham Palace to meet the king in the freezing English winter dressed in a loincloth and sandals, remarking "the king had on enough for both of us". It turned out to be the sartorial equivalent of fasting. Ever since he punctured martial machismo, that man from Sabarmati hasn`t lacked fans. Ask Obama. He thinks Bapu`s the ideal dinner date.
And what of Incredible India`s incredible women? Who thought Nehru`s quiet daughter would not only become the only `man` in her kitchen cabinet but also be electorally chastened on an `Emergency` basis? Certainly not the Congress`s all-male Syndicate which believed a "gungi gudiya" PM would make politics a doll`s house. The `dumb doll` went on to put the fear of Indira into everyone from privy purse-holders to Pakistan`s macho Yahya Khan. Equally, who`d have wagered Indira`s quiet daughter-in-law would trump those who dubbed her Congress`s phoren Hand? Or betted Maya and Mamata would turn political He-Men Mulayam and Marxists into Ex-Men?
If gender bromides go bust, so do class- and age-related clichA©s. Many Anna supporters are middle class. So eat crow, those who said the middle class is such an apolitical navel-gazer that it won`t go vote let alone champion popular causes. And, no, our youngsters don`t just chase dollar dreams abroad when not swinging between Marx and Mammon at home. Haven`t they wedded Gandhian idealism with crusading consumerism, lapping up all that Anna merchandise? Who says New India is no country for old men? Septuagenarian Anna`s now a youth icon, cheered by protesters and picnickers, Bollywood-wallahs and dabbawallahs. Think: despite Singh-Isn`t-King and other netas avoiding the hippest headgear in town, the cost of "Main Anna Hazare Hoon" caps have zoomed like aloo-pyaaz prices in these inflation-hit times. What does that make India in these inquilaab-hit times? Priceless.
Political peccadilloes, fasting and feasting, lokpal and jokepal - India`s effervescent, tropical spirit makes a carnival of it all. Look at our record. Salt marches or independence days, spiritual yatras or national elections, cricket matches or hunger strikes, we midnight`s children laugh even as we cry (for) the beloved country. India meri jaan, here`s doffing a topi to you.
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