Oct 2: Day 1 of my fast, day 221 of our chain.
Today, I fast in solidarity with Manisha Valmiki and her family. A beautiful child of just 19 years, full of life, joy, and hope, was attacked, abused, mutilated, and then left by the wayside to perish without consequence. But there were consequences, though diluted because of our inescapable caste-calculations. Not what the upper-caste perpetrators had reckoned with. Not in the state of Uttar Pradesh. And so her recently dead body, probably still warm with life, was burned by the UP Police with all the evidence she still held alive. While her family members were locked away so that they couldn’t interfere. Turned overnight into involuntary mascots of the multi-layered chain of caste violence in 21st century India that Dalits are supposed to call life.
There has not been a word of commiseration from the generally loquacious Modi, over two weeks into this unfolding tragedy. As I was recently informed by one of his supporters, they want to destroy modern India to build a new one on the principles of Dharma and Karma, as written in the Bhagvad Gita. What Dharma? And Karma?? Do they even know what that means?!
Modi and his supporters are shallow like a fungal growth, completely lacking in roots. They have conflated the worst chapter of Hindu history, Manu and his crude, juvenile and cruel casteist philosophy, as immortalized in the Manusmriti, with the rich symbolism, metaphorical depth, and universal philosophical twists, turns and insights contained in the Bhagvad Gita. The true essence of the Bhagvad Gita would allow for limitless evolution, and not a regression to a fixed, rigid, manmade description of an ideal Hindu, mired in externalities.
Stop highjacking what is univerally true and timeless in Hindu philosophy in the name of your cheap and tacky Hindutva! Down with Manuvaad!
#ChainFastingForPeace #FastingAgainstFascism #ResignAmitShah
Oct 3: Day 2 of my fast, day 222 of our chain.
As a participant in the web-conference held by the Reclaiming India Coalition today, I was privileged to witness the breadth, depth and richness of Indian society that I had often dismissed as cliché in my younger years. I was so often moved to tears that I was glad I didn’t have to share my video all the time…
My head is still swirling with the profound impressions of the day, and I’m going to be busy assimilating its richness for quite some time to come. But there was one moment of dread and trepidation for me today – when I saw one of the panelists seated in front of shiny brass figurines of Ram and Sita. I have been ambivalent about God for as long as I can remember, but in recent years the sight of such figurines has only elicited an internal gag reflex in me.
Then this man, Prof. Anantanand Rambachchan, spoke. I felt the need to pinch myself, as he said: “Too many Hindus still define their identity in relation to those they can diminish”. He went on to say: “Caste is a betrayal of the Hindu religious tradition”. Is the present-day Hindu still sentient enough to heed such messages? Or have they already bargained their soul for the hype and bluster Modi offers?
The true heroes of the day for me were the Dalit activists. I cannot escape feeling that Dalit activists have a special purity and sense of purpose that the more privileged amongst us can never match – their every thought, word, and act in the service of the truth is a shining act of liberation in the face of tremendous odds. Ours, in contrast, is an easy freedom tarnished by disuse.
Prof. Roja Singh coached the audience on the permanence of the dehumanization of Dalits as a product of their demonization in scriptural and oral Hindu narratives. She exhorted us all to recognize the danger of how our religious stories have been written, and to work towards undoing their damage by changing the songs, the language, the children’s stories to reflect an equal pluralism.
Martin Macvan, a truly awe-inspiring Dalit activist working in Gujarat, mentioned 6000 castes and subcastes that dictate social interactions in India. This, he said, cannot be be dealt with by an upper caste interpretation of “dharma” but only through the legal framework of the constitution. India cannot reclaim itself unless it reclaims itself from the clutches of the caste system.
#ChainFastingForPeace #FastingAgainstFascism #ResignAmitShah
Oct 4: Day 3 of my fast, day 223 of our chain.
Today my thoughts might best be captured by this poem (I admit it has a very strange meter) I wrote over a year ago:
As I walked down my path well-trodden,
The trees were laden with a murder of ravens;
A bunny below they prepared to strike,
Petrified in the bushes without fight or flight.
The air nearly crackled from the tension of the snare,
But I was bigger and stronger and walked on without a care.
As I kept walking down my path well-trodden,
The ravens turned into angry, armed men;
Another cowered below them as they prepared to strike,
Pleading in the bushes without fight or flight.
The men looked the same, but the hunters bore sashes,
The one who wore none bore the crack of their lashes.
The air crackled again from the tension of the snare,
But I just put on a sash and walked on without a care.
Walking on further down my path well-trodden,
The saffron-sashed men grew more and more craven,
‘Til it was me they surrounded and prepared to strike,
Trapped in their midst without fight or flight.
My sash wasn’t enough, I’d been marked for my heart,
Which still throbbed with life and did things that stood apart
From the crowd with hearts traded for cold uniform hate,
Who spoke in coded chants I was learning too late.
The air nearly crackled from the tension of the snare,
My ghost had no pesky heart, and walked on without a care.
#ChainFastingForPeace #FastingAgainstFascism #ResignAmitShah
Oct 5: Day 4 of my fast, day 224 of our chain.
I spoke about the splendor of the Universe. You thought I was calling you insignificant.
I reveled in the beauty of Mathematics. You thought I was calling you ugly.
I marveled at the richness of Language. You thought I was saying you didn’t speak well.
I relished the magic of Music. You thought I was calling you uncultured.
I felt we could live as one with the World. You thought I was disloyal.
I apologized. I said I used the wrong words. You said my words wouldn’t change my attitude.
I changed my words, and admitted my attitude could be better. You said it didn’t matter, you only wanted revenge.
I went away. You had your freedom, unfettered influence and power.
I had gone away. You wanted glory. You wanted what you thought I had.
I was long gone. You wanted to see your name. In the Universe. In Mathematics. In Language. In Music. In the World.
I was long gone. You said I took your name away.
I was long gone. You put your name on everything you thought was mine.
But the Universe was never mine. I only borrowed its splendor by noticing it.
You work hard to own the Universe. But your eyes stay shut to its splendor.
#ChainFastingForPeace #FastingAgainstFascism #ResignAmitShah
Oct 6: Day 5 of my fast, day 225 of our chain.
So much of “my” life is spent defending what is “mine” from “you”.
So much time and energy is spent working to make sure “I” have more than “you” do.
But then I realize, “you” are mine. And “I” am yours.
We are united by love, which has always been present in abundance. Like the air we breathe. But tricked by fear, we hold our noses and fight for air.
#ChainFastingForPeace #FastingAgainstFascism #ResignAmitShah
Chain Fasting For Peace 