To fast or to feast

 “To fast or to feast” asked the modern day Hamlet, the Prince of Nomark. He waited for a while and staring at the hollow, sunken eyes of the old man lying on the pavement he repeated his question. The old man opened his eyes a wee bit and through parched lips said ‘son, fast if you are feasting and feast if you are fasting which alone will be good for your kingdom’. As Hamlet turned to walk away, the old man continued ‘and son if and when you fast please send me you feast’.

There is very little difference between fasting and feasting. So it is that in the east it is a feast to fast, as that is what is done to attain Nirvana.  Though there is no repast in a fast it is as enjoyable for those who revel in a fast. And those who fast do it of their free will. Others ho hungry because they do  not get anything to eat. Recently Bipasha Basu was on a partial fast so that she could don a bikini and lay out a feast for the eyes in an upcoming movie while her once acquaintance Christiano Ronaldo laid out a feast on the soccer field last Tuesday and took Real Madrid into the knockout stage of the Champions’ league. You do not have to fast to attend a talk fest for a feast to the ears will be laid out there – and high tea in the foyer? Fast, feast or fest are all the same when chosen by free will. 

The hungry in India are in the villages. States like Kerala, TN, Punjab, Delhi, Goa are almost completely sort of urbanized. It is beyond me to imagine that an Indian state (Manipur) has been under siege for more than forty days in this the twenty first century. Can somebody tell me if Manipur is an Indian state. If so, please also tell me if the year is 2011 or 1911 or the days of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark.