Nov 20:

Day 1 of my fast (yesterday), day 998 of our chain.

I apologize for breaking the rules of our fasting chain and not posting on time yesterday – Sunday midnight was an important grant proposal deadline at work, and with just three more days to go, I wanted to give this post a little more undivided time for contemplation.

This fast has been a journey of love, empathy and inclusive community building, as one can clearly see from the diverse names of our fasters, but is also true for their age, gender, caste, class, and religious backgrounds. We have come together in this arduous journey as clear proof that our diversity is an asset, and not a liability. Our togetherness makes us better, stronger, and more interesting!! There is always something new to learn, and what one can’t contribute, another can.

Our togetherness has given us the strength of purpose to fast in solidarity with the deprived for so many days – and we have seen constant attempts to deprive people of dignity, freedom, and their basic rights over the past 1000 days by those in power.

When I listen to PM Modi’s election rallies, I see a man who will do anything to cling to power: misinform, misguide, and threaten with mistreatment if one does not toe his line. It is all about him and his moneyed supporters, never about the 1.4 billion souls he deigns to represent. Listening to Modi ten thousands miles away in California makes me feel threatened and powerless unless I become a fawning supporter who only sings his praises. I can only imagine the effect he has on people in his immediate vicinity.

Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, asks why we think it is strong to be mean, and hateful, and nasty. He speaks about the strength of love and respect for basic human rights and tolerance for differing perspectives, and he walks the talk.

We have become used to travesties in Indian public life, but last week managed to sink even lower:

It has been a pleasure watching Rahul Gandhi and Tushar Gandhi marching together in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, grandsons willing to battle extreme adversity to lead India on a path of truth, love and non-violence that their grandparents gave their lives to.

And then, we have V. D. Savarkar’s grandson, Ranjit Savarkar, slapping a court case on Rahul Gandhi for “insulting” his ancestor. All Rahul had done was share the letter Savarkar had written himself. Without any embellishments. You know the progeny of the RSS does not have a capacity for empathy, when they do not see the irony in pressing a charge like this on a man like Rahul Gandhi, whose illustrious family of leaders (who have given their lives to the nation) is being lied about by our RSS prime minister on a daily basis in the filthiest manner imaginable.

What future do we want for India? Savarkar’s cowardly compromises or Nehru-Gandhi’s bold and pathbreaking pursuit of truth? The choice is ours to make.

#ChainFastingForPeace

#FastingAgainstFascism

#ResignAmitShah

#ReleaseSanjivBhatt

#ResignModi

Nov 21: Day 2 of my fast, day 999 of our chain.

Growing up in Mumbai, I was a sensitive introverted child, a misfit among peers, and felt happiest surrounded by books in my private world of ideas. I lived very close to Dharavi, my walk to primary school passed through the slums, and there was abject, gut-wrenching poverty surrounding King’s Circle station that I always crossed on my way to my grandparents’. I remember always being a hesitant participant in my middle class social life, the only deep and indelible connection I think I had to society was through a visceral empathy for the poor, especially poor children, who I couldn’t turn a blind eye to as easily as everyone else.

It made me impatient to grow up, and learn to think, to solve problems, to gain as much wisdom as I could, and earn my own money to be able to finally do something to help. Never have I been able to detach my scholastic/professional aspirations from fighting poverty and helplessness in India, for better or for worse.

When the NE Delhi pogrom happened, all these old memories and sentiments came flooding back to me, and I sat at work that day, unable to take my mind off the open victimization of the impoverished, the weak and the voiceless, a shameless repeat of the 2002 Gujarat pogrom in the capital of the nation. I knew I had to communicate the unease I felt in a way that would touch Indians 10000 miles away, and fasting in protest felt like the best way to do that.

Starting on Feb 25, 2020, I posted on Facebook: “I fasted today. And it won’t end tonight. I could not bring myself to eat given what is going on in Delhi. Normality cannot be restored until you resign, Amit Shah!” This post saw a flood of responses, mostly messages of concern and gratitude, some of discouragement, and a few toxic comments from trolls (after which I locked my profile). Day after day, I fasted, until Indian friends here in California stepped in, and the idea of a global online fasting chain protest was spawned. Tomorrow, I will dedicate my final post (and the final post of this chain) to all the people who made it what it has now become. Today, though, I will conclude with a few words on the act of fasting:

Fasting, to me, has been an act of self-imposed discomfort, because I think the comforts of privilege blind us to other people’s pain. Privilege puts us in a position of power over those who don’t share in that privilege, and for all one’s good intentions, one always runs the risk of inadvertently adding to another’s pain by underestimating it. An act of solidarity itself is a privilege, and fasting was a means of keeping myself in check.

Fasting also surprised me with the realization of how much brain space we devote to thinking about food, and how refreshing it is to give both our brains and our bodies a break once in a while. I remember feeling clean as a newborn at the end of my 5-day fasts, and the simplest morsel of food tasted divine and felt life-giving. Plus, I was almost never ill for the entire run of this chain!

There have, however, also been spells during which I was saddled with an intense workload, but was scheduled to fast. Those were decidedly less enjoyable and probably more accurate simulations of what it means to be deprived. When I finished those fasts, I often scarfed down more food than I could digest. And continued to for several days. I first felt disgusted by myself, but am increasingly seeing it as a trauma response to real deprivation. I hope this experience helps me recognize it in others, and respect their struggle instead of judging them.

#ChainFastingForPeace

#FastingAgainstFascism

#ResignAmitShah

#ReleaseSanjivBhatt

#ResignModi

Nov 22: Day 3 of my fast, day 1000 of our chain.

The legendary, awe-inspiring Shaheen Bagh sit-ins were were seeing strong participation from people belonging to all walks of life when our chain started on February 25, 2020. It was heartbreaking and terrifying in equal measure when the Shaheen Bagh protest was forced off the streets of Delhi following the imposition of a COVID lockdown in the city on March 23. It was heartbreaking because the true intention behind snuffing out this fount of interfaith harmony, this unique assertion of civic values and creativity became clear when their beautiful murals were whitewashed, and their protesters were maligned as public health endangerers, while public congregations went on unabated in places like Tirupati (the Hindu pilgrimage site), and MP election rallies. It was terrifying because after having witnessed the systematic weakening of all the four pillars of our democracy, COVID was being used to target the people‘s fundamental right to express dissent against the Government through protest.

It was at this time, that we started seeing our fasting chain – given its global and online nature – as an important avenue for keeping the voice of the people alive. It was also a potent vehicle for creating awareness in the the rest of the world that India was no longer what they hoped the largest democracy in the world would be. We were on the brink of genocide (as declared by Genocide Watch) and living under the tyranny of a megalomaniac populist who was imposing a brutal Hindu supremacy in India while using India’s secular past to maintain a facade of democracy outside.

My friends in California – Rajashik Tarafder, Meraj Rizvi, and Rahila Athanikar – took on the baton after me, fasting for 5 days each. During the full duration of our fast, water and honey (or a different source of glucose), were our only subsistence. Automatically with fasting came contemplation, and each of us shared our thoughts every day that we fasted as messages embedded in a common template, shared daily on Facebook on the fasters wall, on my wall, and on the Humanism Project page.

Christian Frankenberg, who always supported me wholeheartedly, wanted to have a turn too, and while we were still debating whether it would be appropriate to put such a heavy burden on a non-Indian, Arshiya Qureshi contacted me privately on FB, asking to be allowed to join our chain. That was the beginning of the truly online nature of our chain, as she was followed by a wave of fasters who each volunteered to fast for five days each! A hat tip to our pioneers – Arshiya, Sandhya Suri, Ved Amrita, Majeed Ahmed, Elvin Baruah, Amit Dhawan, Srishtaa Aparna Pallavi, Amer Syed, Manshi Asher, and Afsar Jahan – I am so glad we found each other through this endeavor! Around this time, I felt confident enough to ask my Facebook friends personally to join this fasting protest, and the first of many who responded was Ira Ghosh, who initially felt her “red roots” would be incompatible with fasting, but was somehow convinced – to my infinite delight and gratitude – she wanted to take part in this one. The most remarkable people I had ever known kept joining us – Tithiya Sharma, Verghese George, Reshma Pritam Singh, Muskan Verma, Anju Samya Amu, Priyadarshini Ohol, Adv Asif Ali Khan, Loretta Pinto (Sarita Menezes), Mubeen Asrari, Sarah JB, Pallabi Ghosh, Hala Noman, Dhi Vi Ya, Karen Yuen, Shama Shareef, Manpreet Kaur, Dr-Rashmi Menon, Manpreet Singh, Nitin Vohra, Soban Thomas, Savy, Archana Iemanjá Tomar, Kavita Kumble – each of whom fasted for 5 days at a stretch, many several times, bringing our chain to its 500th day.

As we reached this milestone, we were getting more and more requests to allow shorter fasts as well so that more people could join us. Kiran Tandon led this effort, followed by my parents, Vinod and Bharati Sanghavi, our longtime supporter Nag Jayaraman, and Kiran’s friend Showkat Zargar. Para Ioane, Mrunal Mathuria, Deepa Khadar, and Kowsar Jahan Shaik joined us, each fasting for five days, and many more participating for fasts of shorter durations: Palanivelu Rangasamy, Goldy Dhesi, Motika Anand, Shyamala Sanyal, Shivam Yadav, Shaswati Sarbagna, Gladys Mudarth, Jon Jerstad, and Shakir Shaik.

As we crossed our 700-day mark, we reduced the length of our long fasts to 3 days instead of 5, both to make the chain more accessible to newcomers and to ease it for repeat fasters. New fasters kept on joining us, and our voices kept on piercing through government propaganda, thanks to Ankita Ghosh, Michelle Baptista, Pratyay Ghosh, Sayanti Das, Raza Haider, Arun Roy, Amitava Banerjee, Sean Crowell, Sai Shrivastav, Swati Garg, Sheela Sheela, Natasha RN, Kabir Gandhi, Vijayendra Kadalabal, George Eapen, Mahesh Nagaraj, Miftah Rahman, Mustafa Avikkal, and Ameena Shaffi.

A special shout-out to our international fasters – Christian Frankenberg, Sarah Jane Baskin, Karen Yuen, Para Ioane, Jon Jerstad, and Sean Crowell – for giving so selflessly to our cause. Just as a child fears becoming an adult, I think our world of superficial differences fears evolving into one where our differences simply add color and flavor and variety to our brief time on this planet.

I also want to express my gratitude to Arshiya Qureshi, Christian Frankenberg, Ved Amrita, Elvin Baruah, Srishtaa Aparna Pallavi, Afsar Jahan, Ira Ghosh, Priyadarshini Ohol, Loretta Pinto, Sarah Jane Baskin, Pallabi Ghosh, Karen Yuen, Manpreet Kaur, Reshma Pritam Singh, Kiran Tandon, Bharati Sanghavi, Motika Anand, Shyamala Sanyal, Kowsar Jahan Shaik, Ankita Ghosh, Pratyay Ghosh and Sayanti Das for really going above and beyond to keep this chain running without a hiccup!

My deepest gratitude is owed to Amit Dhawan, without whom this chain would not have remained unbroken for the past 1000 days. Amit bhai was with us like a rock – no fuss and always ready to step in to fast!

A thousand days later, we are a close-knit community of 76 fasters and many well-wishers who, like generations of Indians before us, transcend our differences in religion, caste, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, and ability to create a space of love, compassion and mutual respect, even while we are surrounded by manufactured fear and hate, even though practically each of us knows we could face violence from the state or its blind supporters for daring to speak our minds. But speak up we must, for the alternative is a never-ending darkness that seeks to turn us into puppets in the hands of those with power.

United we stand in defiance! Nafrat chhodo, Bharat Jodo!!

#ChainFastingForPeace

#FastingAgainstFascism

#ResignAmitShah

#ReleaseSanjivBhatt

#ResignModi