So then what should we pack as a present for Ram? A ballot box someone suggests. World’s largest democracy (WLD) which can conduct regular elections can not grudge him that. Even though he wants Muslims to jettison their burqas and skull caps, Naxals their revolutionary anthem, Ambedkar his followers, Sardar Sarovar its Sardar, Kashmiris their whatever, North East its fascination with KPop, Ram as the nightwatchman of contemporary Indian Liberalism deserves this thick vanity birthday card. You can’t escape Ram (that’s what they call him) for he has been one of the most visible of the breed called ‘public’ intellectuals. In mostly collegial banter and luvvies, you can discover that he is from Doon School, St Stephens, a Dylan fan, a cricket enthusiast, failed UPSC aspirant, historian, prose stylist, liberal without his brahmin pony tail(okay nowhere is his caste mentioned, but with such pedigree he can only be a Brahmin). In the dusty magazine shop in Laitumkhrah, a magazine unleashes his 60th Birthday. Bloody Hell, even in Shillong one can’t escape Ramchandra Guha.
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