Gandhigiri fast draws class and mass

There's a festive air around Delhi's historic Jantar Mantar, the site of Mr Anna Hazare's fast-unto-death against rising corruption.

Through the day and night, people from all walks of life keep pouring in and registering themselves, some for the relay fast alongside Mr Hazare.

But even as support swells for the Gandhian, there is growing concern about the 72-year-old's health as also of others on fast. On Friday, Omkar Nath Razdan, a 70-year-old retired Director-General of Air Force (Works), fainted and had to be hospitalised.

Not everyone is impressed, though. The vintage Delhi reaction, peppered with four-letter words, came from a group of babus whose post-lunch stroll got disrupted: “Some Hazare… is fasting and the TV cameras are going crazy. Arrey , it's Navratra, we are also fasting for nine days, bhai .”

There are lighter moments too. A man dressed exactly like Mahatma Gandhi was seen giving an interview to TV channels and posing for photographs. Another one landed up looking like the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and almost got booed away by the emotionally charged crowd. But the next minute he was giving sound bytes and posing for pictures.

Meanwhile, it is like a scene from Peepli Live — the streets lined with hundreds of television cameras and anchors running to and fro with mikes in case they miss out on valuable sound bytes. Foreign crew is also present in full force.

And some make hay while the sun shines, with ice-cream vans, papad sellers, idli - dosa , jal - zeera and nimbu - pani vendors doing brisk business as the stream of people never seems to end. They grin and serve. For, this is no ordinary fast. It has become the nerve-centre of a movement that touches their lives. Plays, songs and poetry recitations by volunteers are occasionally interrupted by a roar of slogans, which tend to rise as and when a celebrity drops in and the cameras get into action. Among those who visited the site were Aamir Khan, Pritish Nandy, Anupam Kher, Farah Khan, Ram Jethmalani, Medha Patkar and Baba Ramdev.

COMMENT NOW