More than a month has passed since i updated my blog with a new post. It’s not that i did not have time to write or did not have an issue to share my thoughts on. Sheer laziness in addition to my addiction to treks and trips made me a bit busy from the mundane things of life, ruled by some people in our near and far circles. Right after coming down from a semi-high-altitude trek to Hemkund Sahib, i was greeted by an otherwise cool guy at an Old Delhi bar a few minutes before i was about to take the Rajdhani back home: “Hey dude! You are looking cool man”! I was pretty sure it was not intended at me, as i’d never come across such a cat-call (or compliment?) in my innumerable tipsy trips to bars in several towns in the country. But it is a different bar tucked in a corner of Paharganj. Christened ‘My Bar’, this one is a bit different from most of the Delhi bars in terms of ambience and patrons. Characteristically, it has more proximity to Kolkata’s Olypub, where we used to frequent even a few years ago as on any weekend afternoon, My Bar is teemed with college-goers, backpacking foreigners, mid-level corporate executives et al. Olypub, with its decades-old reputation of offering beef-steaks as well as booze at a much cheaper rate than its more affluent neighbours on Park Street, is not a mere popular joint for youngsters only but also a place that would stir debates on Anna and ranna (recipe)!
To talk of Anna (as i just mentioned his name), in a democratic country where we elect representatives to the legislature, a person has made it clear that he can hold the nation to ransom even as he hardly believes in parliamentary democracy. The self-proclaimed Gandhian — at least he is adept in going on fast for days like the Father of the Nation although he disdains degrees from foreign university even as the latter had studied abroad — has not allowed its fellow law-abiding citizens in taking part in panchayat elections in the last two decades! If people ask him questions why this had happened in one of the most progressive villages in not only Maharashtra but also in the country, he would hardly give an answer. An autocratic philanthropist in his heart, Anna probably thinks he is India, as some of his supporters took the famous D K Baruah’s phrase to compliment the septuagenarian who has made a vow to defy the Constitution and particularly Parliament to fight for a cause that seems unrealistic. He has been on a dramatic run, quite literally after the Raj Ghat episode, for the past fortnight. Being in the limelight for quite some time now, his attitude towards people at large, except his close comrades, is like a guardian angel of India. His disciples are growing fast with every hour as he is steadfast on his indefinite fast. Thousands of people in colourful attire with sumptuous khichdi on one hand and the Tricolour on the other, march for the Gandhian with a simple promise that they would cleanse the system of corruption; they would no longer pay Rs 1000 bribe to the DIB officer before verification for passport, or grease the palms of TTEs on trains for an upper class berth, or pay just Rs 5000 to the UDC for waiver of civic tax at hundreds of municipalities, or transfer some cool bucks under a heap of papers for releasing the pension file at the same office that he had served just months back!
To talk of Anna (as i just mentioned his name), in a democratic country where we elect representatives to the legislature, a person has made it clear that he can hold the nation to ransom even as he hardly believes in parliamentary democracy. The self-proclaimed Gandhian — at least he is adept in going on fast for days like the Father of the Nation although he disdains degrees from foreign university even as the latter had studied abroad — has not allowed its fellow law-abiding citizens in taking part in panchayat elections in the last two decades! If people ask him questions why this had happened in one of the most progressive villages in not only Maharashtra but also in the country, he would hardly give an answer. An autocratic philanthropist in his heart, Anna probably thinks he is India, as some of his supporters took the famous D K Baruah’s phrase to compliment the septuagenarian who has made a vow to defy the Constitution and particularly Parliament to fight for a cause that seems unrealistic. He has been on a dramatic run, quite literally after the Raj Ghat episode, for the past fortnight. Being in the limelight for quite some time now, his attitude towards people at large, except his close comrades, is like a guardian angel of India. His disciples are growing fast with every hour as he is steadfast on his indefinite fast. Thousands of people in colourful attire with sumptuous khichdi on one hand and the Tricolour on the other, march for the Gandhian with a simple promise that they would cleanse the system of corruption; they would no longer pay Rs 1000 bribe to the DIB officer before verification for passport, or grease the palms of TTEs on trains for an upper class berth, or pay just Rs 5000 to the UDC for waiver of civic tax at hundreds of municipalities, or transfer some cool bucks under a heap of papers for releasing the pension file at the same office that he had served just months back!
