Anna-na Republic

Anna-na Republic and the three fruit salad

The ubiquitous Banana has been a favourite fruit punch for a lot of us. It is a much maligned, much beaten, much eaten and much poetically – or politically – described fruit. A simple definition normally relates to it being a sweet fruit and in certain instances, the starchy plantains. And, as one may have noticed, they can also come in a variety of sizes and colours when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red. It probably has its own national colour! Because, one can easily see the green in plantains with the white inner sides. And we just spoke of a red Banana. Is there a saffron one? One wonders! Notwithstanding the hues that it can take, it most important contribution is to add fibre to the fabric of our constitution – and I mean our physical one and not necessarily the one that was written when we were delivered as a Republic in 1950. Other than that it has such an important role to play in the social fabric of many nations. For the South Indians auspicious functions will definitely see the Banana getting prominence. For many others, it can range from a source of slap stick comedy to the poetic going bananas. Along with the Mangoes and Jackfruit, it can surely be the Holy Trinity and indeed an ingredient to a cynical view to what they can do to us!

Coming back to the recent role the Banana has begun playing in our society. These fruits have not been spared when they apply to certain cerebral capacity of individuals. In fact the Mango, I presume is far more maligned when it is applied to the intellectual prowess of certain people, than the Banana. Do I hear my Tamil friends getting ready to dismiss a lot in our political spectrum as Manga madayans? I shall leave the Jackfruit to its mercy! Now, we are indeed a Republic of certain repute with a constitution delivering certain fundamental rights on to us. Earlier I did mention the Bananas as a source of fibre to the fabric of our bodily constitution. So was the intent of the Constitution of our Republic to the fabric of our nation. We are certainly known as the Republic of India.

Why am I now rambling on about the Banana and the Republic we are? Because, we looked up to the upholders of our constitution to do just that – uphold the values and sacred rights there in. Have they done that? So many our institutions representing the three pillars have abdicated most if not all of those responsibilities that they were bestowed with. The only silver lining in the recent times is the Judiciary ­– in spite of a spate of scandals of a corrupt hue. What does a Republic do in such situations? Other than going Bananas! The Judiciary, Legislative and the Executive arms – which can be likened to a three-fruit salad much like the Holy Trinity of the Banana, Mango and Jackfruit I mentioned earlier – needs some garnishing up. Two of the three fruits have reached a state of rapid atrophy and the third just managing to stay afloat. A now-normal daily wrestling witnessed in Legislative fruit, near inert response from the Executive fruit, and potentially overpowering taste of the Judiciary fruit, needs overhaul. Add to that the garnishing like Civil society and the Elected Representatives clash. Or the Electable versus the Unelectable soup. What do we get? A scene where we have the clash of titanic proportions. Between the Civil and not-so-civil Society. And in between the crevice you see Anna Hazare who propounds fasting as the remedy for cleansing this messy three-fruit salad. Fasting is indeed good for health, good for a systemic cleansing and bodes well for purging the toxin – but for a body that understands the benefits of such fasting. Fruits like the Banana, the Mango and the Jackfruit – when in sublime symphony – can deliver that cleansing – without losing the fibre that binds the fabric of our constitution.

Now here we are at a crucial time for our three fruit salad Republic – which should ideally be a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch (or Anarchy in our present condition). You and I need to make the decision – to choose between a putrefying banana republic – which is a regressive politically unstable country propped up by a small, self-selected, wealthy, corrupt mafia - and Anna Hazare and his ilk in the civil society. Otherwise we will be left with transitioning from a banana republic to a Anna-na Republic with nothing noteworthy in between. Choose your fruits intelligently!

Mine Your Business

B S Yeddiyurappa finally resigned. Resigned to his fate? Resigned from fate? Resigned for fate? We will not know which one. The BJP – the party with a difference can heave a sigh of relief. Or can they? I think they will be heaving more than a sigh of relief. Their party sail boat desperately needs a ton of fixing at the helm and sail positions if their boat needs to transform from the tattered raft that it is now, to a sleek yacht. It has become a party in deference to Yeddy Bear – unfortunately a deference that does not comes not out of respect or esteem. That is because Justice Hegde has delivered a punch in the solar plexus that has blown the steam out of the esteem. And Justice Hegde has delivered this punch in total deference to his self-esteem, courage, conscience.

We have recently been subject to cacophonous debates on the TV and potentially other media forms too. The debates and discussions spun more around the whats, whens, hows, whys and ifs of the Yeddy Bear story. Can any of the points made in the debate – or shall we say counterproductive points – bear any result? Ideally a result that calls for probity, accountability and administrative optimization, in our public and not so public life. During the past 2 – 3 years while this epic was being generated, I wonder what we needed to do. Mind our own business or let them continue to the Mine their Business? During this time the Fresh Princes of Bellary have shown Mining their own business with impunity, has its equity. Have the princes lived up to what their names stand for? That of, one who protects and the one who shows mercy. Neither have! They have mercilessly carved out the guts of Mother Earth and have protected nothing but their own corrosive egos. In fact I can hear Mother Nature screaming her epiglottis out, for mercy!

Coming back to Yeddy Bear. How much of the cacophony in the electronic media help in creating a public wave of opinion and demand for greater accountability and cleanliness in public life? Your guess is as good as mine. But that will rest entirely on whether we mind our business or let the Reddy’s mine their business without any care in the world. They have even defied the Supreme Court ruling banning mining in the Bellary area. Have any of these debates even attempted to generate a conversation on the contents of Justice Hegde’s report? True, we don’t know the contents of the report. But I am sure it contains a sincere if not desperate, appeal to the good senses of the citizenry of our country. It is an appeal for us to wake up from the Rip Van Winkle-esque slumber and pay attention to Mother Natures’ call for Karuna. I am sure the report also has references to the money lost / made /stashed away by the ever-Reddy brothers and the other corporate and political cohorts. Does it matter to us? May be, maybe not. Because, we mind our business while they mine theirs! Looks like we have had a real long slumber – with our eyes open and for some, their mouths open. But then, what about our minds? Should they now be opened?

Of course, yes. Justice Hegde has given the reason. He has asked us to stop gawping as the plunder happens right under our nostrils. He has shown that one can mind one’s own business. After all he has! With integrity, fearlessness and by being true to his conscience. We the people –sorry Barkha Dutt for borrowing your tag line – need not just answers and the etceteras that go with it, but to stand up and be decisive and true to our conscience. In fact, the answers are within each one of us.

It is time for us to mine deep into our minds and conscience and come out with all the courage and fearlessness at out command to stand up to the Yeddy Circus and their ilk. We have to turn ourselves to the Janata Janardhans in the true sense and protect ourselves.

Let us mind our business - which is to stand up and be counted fearlessly, honestly and by being true to our conscience. If we want corruption to end we have to end corruption in our minds. Otherwise they will continue to MINE THEIR BUSINESS as they have shameless been doing all this while.

All the din and a magic lamp

If there was Aladdin, if there was a magic lamp, if there was the Djin. What will they look like? I can only visualize a deeply frustrated Djin cooped up in a dingy lamp. The lamp itself would be a worn out one, having been rubbed to its bare bones. And Aladdin would be looking out a better tenant at a higher rent, perhaps. What has that got to do with the happenings of the 15^th Aug 2011? The day that we turned into a 65 year old Djin trapped in what is by now, a lamp creaking and croaking under its own weight. And we have our very own Aladdin, who seems to have lost his magic rub. He perhaps has vigorously used a sand paper in place of a fine satin. Did he take this lamp to the ramparts of the Red Fort for his historic ramble? He did. While at the august ramparts, I can only imagine the Djin, squirming inside this lamp. Pleading and imploring Aladdin to either rub the lamp properly and let him out, or stop scrubbing and spare him of the corrosive properties of the sand paper. But rub, our Aladdin did. And rubbed and rubbed. Sadly not the lamp he could or should have. And he did, with a drone that went on and on about the long path to salvation, the challenges facing the hand that rubs and the fight for supremacy that parliamentary decorum should be.

Cut to the later part of the day. We saw the din escalating from an earlier puerile rant from the motely, disrespectful and cacophonous crowd of clowns like Manish Tiwari, Kapil Sibbal and Ambika Soni. Little did they understand that there is something called an echo? Their noise came right back them and the others of their ilk. Only more amplified without Dolby noise reduction. It was Anna Hazare’s calling - to the plethora of Djins residing in various lamps. Jail Bharo, he thundered in the event that he himself gets bottled in a lamp. And it will most likely happen. For all that din that our folks of a now-obviously petrified tribe of politicians have created, there seems to be a larger retaliatory reverberation – one that is emanating for hordes of djins locked up in lamps waiting for an honest-to-goodness scrub. A scrub that will deliver unto them, a life free from a cramped, overbearing and stifling existence in a corrupt lamp. We seem to have got our Aladdin to do that, or Anna-ddin shall we say? Anna ka haath, aam djin kay saath looks to be the order of the day. So, happy rubbing!