Anna Hazare took the nation by storm. For a while, nothing else mattered. Arnab Goswami aka The Great Bong debated about it every night on News Hour and His Majesty and I argued along with the panel. Soon, 'The Great Indian Corrupt but Scared Government' had to give in to Anna's demands (and why wouldn't they? Main, Tu and the entire Desh had turned into Anna) and his fast ended. The nation rejoiced and everyone went back to discussing and debating other stuff. But those 10 odd days were so much fun! Don't get me wrong, people. I know a few citizens who actually fasted for as long as Anna did and they weren't at the 'official fasting venue' at Delhi either. It must have been quite painful for them. But the rest of the Junta really enjoyed the whole thing and that includes Yours Truly and her better half. His Majesty and I went to join a rally on Day One and actually marched at the forefront, shouting slogans all along. That evening, His Majesty borrowed two Indian flags from his workplace (No. He does not work for a political party. Those flags were part of the Independence day celebrations) and we rode down to the place where all the protestors were partying protesting. They had something called a 'rotation fast' going on and you could enroll to fast with a batch of 50 people for 12 hours. Two slots were open: 8 am to 8 pm and 8pm to 8am. Some management genius was overlooking all this, no doubt. Well, we were mighty impressed and since we had already eaten an early dinner, we decided to 'fast' during the 8pm to 8am slot.
So I stayed up with His Majesty, swapped jokes, sang patriotic songs and lectured strangers about the concept of Ombudsman. Its amazing how so few of them knew about the Jan Lokpal bill, its history, its effects and other related concepts. Everyone just knew this was against corruption and well, nobody likes corruption. So they were all there, staying up all night, watching news, waving flags and generally having a good time. It was like a 'Mela' with a cause. Some sweet little street kids had actually mistaken it for one and were trying to peddle balloons and other little toys. They seemed intrigued by all the slogans and they joined in rather enthusiastically after a while. I had fun. I got to spend some much needed time with His Majesty and we chatted a lot. (His Majesty is not the chatterbox kind so it was nice to have him talking so much) The next day I was exhausted at work due to lack of sleep but it was totally worth it. I got to support a cause I believe in AND I had fun while at it. Anna Hazare broke his fast a week later and all was well. Now I'm waiting for another 'Andolan' to start. All these crazy price hikes are bound to spark off something...
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