Dairy Democracy

Dairy Democracy

FPJ BureauUpdated: Friday, May 31, 2019, 07:59 PM IST
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Acharya Bhave was a little laboured the other day when he compared our democracy with dairy milk. According to the Acharya, the milk of many cows and buffaloes is mixed in the dairy to produce, like democracy, a concoction that is neither too good nor too bad. The trouble with this comparison is that it can be applied to almost anything — from our mixed economy which makes a hotchpotch of a multitude of ideas to our sarvodaya which collects a motley crowd under one umbrella. Perhaps the Acharya was unaware of the fact that dairy milk can occasionally contain a dead mouse in it- a situation familiar in democracy. But despite the mice, nobody would dare prefer Bhayya’s milk though it may be more ubiquitous in villages, bhoodanned or otherwise. The plain fact is that we cannot always carry our aversion for modernity too far. Even the black-market in milk cars will not blunt the popularity of dairy milk. And after all, is not black-market another essential ingredient of democracy?

22nd December, 1960.

Another Indian spectacle has vanished into the mist of memory with the last khedda operation concluded in Mysore. Elephant-catching had been developed into a fine art (or is it a finer science?) in princely Mysore, but no longer will we be able to see it in operation. It is significant that the khedda has been given up because the Mysore forests are going to be submerged under water when the Kabini river project is launched next year. In other words, the khedda has been sacrificed at the modern altar of economic progress. This very fact, incidentally, should reassure us that even though the khedda may not be seen again, the art of elephant-catching will not be forgotten by Bharat. Economic progress demands a highly skilled army of elephant catchers at the beck and call of the Government. Already Smt. Tarakeswari Sinha has announced special efforts to catch film stars walking away with ‘black money’ and we may rest assured that more two-legged elephants, besides film stars, will be captured in the days ahead. With its prize tourist attraction gone, Mysore may now take to fishing in the Kabini lake in addition to the troubled waters of Bangalore. But we hope that at no time will a multipurpose project threaten to submerge the Gir forests. We like our lions loose.

23rd December, 1960.

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