This I promise is going to be a very short blog. I have said what I wanted to say about Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev in earlier blogs (Lokpal I: Corruption in the Fast track; and Lokpal II: Fastin patterns).
The country is now facing the pestilence of a disease of being honester than thou spread by the cronies and followers of two men of very deservingly simple intelligence. These men have considerable ability to believe in their greatness as thrust upon them by those who would benefit from it. These are people like Kiran Bedi a failed police officer and Kejriwal a failed IIT engineer who wasted national wealth by not becoming an engineer and instead sought and got a revenue officer's post for god knows what reason except the obvious.
When we look at ourselves we should not require any convincing of our own intrinsic corruption.
It seems that those who are angry are so, not because others are corrupt, but because they do not themselves have the opportunity to be as corrupt as they would like to be.
Some of us are proud of our yoga tradition as brought down, say, by Krishnamacharya, BKS Iyengar, Pattabhi jois, and so many other learned scholars. Where are they in our eyes now? Do we have to suffer the very common Ramdev?
Where is the refined culture of our singers and dancers and philosophers?
Why are we so mired by the instance gobblers of virtual space?
The antics of Baba Ramdev send a shudder down my spine when I have to proclaim him as a wise yoga guru. By tradition yoga gurus live in sack-cloth and ashes. Baba Ramdev has taken this tradition literally wearing only the gamcha of a poor man but otherwise travelling by chartered planes and making mediterranean cruises, having private islands, all the while pandering to the needs of the wealthy and vulgar. It is incredible that somebody like him would have the gumption to fight against black money and claim that he has cured 10 crore (hundred million people) people!!!
Anna Hazare has little to throw light on except that he lives as a Gandhian for those who know little about Gandhi.
Egged on by TRP seeking TV channels that are anchored by those who revel in slander and gossip, the country is going through a very messy and completely undignified politically messy situation.
Is there no anchorman who would say that the baba is a hoax? Do we know so little about yoga? Do we only marvel about Baba's yoga tricks like any intelligent Texan such as George Bush?
Finally, it wont make any difference to the way we live. We are like that only. Still ...
The way these things are being handled I would even agree with the very weak Advani that Manmohan Singh is a weak prime minister indeed. Unless...
Unless Sonia Gandhi has a weak spot and Ramdev has found it so that we have four cabinet ministers running to the airport ...
Unless it serves Mrs Manmohan Singh's vanity that she finally found a way to get at Sonia Gandhi.
Unless America is out to detabilize India (of course always) so as to get its economy and Walmart going.
Who knows?
Where are we going?!!
What is this madness when a yoga fakir naked in everything except his material gains, should preach a morality to the vocally screeching part of the Indian nation fed by a limelight seeking multimedia firefly?
Bliss will it be in this dusk to be dead?
Or shall we, as heirs of glory, rise out of our slumber against this tyranny of very very common men?
