FANS OR FANATICS?
Pic.: Shankar Ramachndran “From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.” ― Denis Diderot M y dad was a massive fan of Indira Gandhi. Rather, he was a fanatic – an Indira Gandhi fanatic! I remember those eerie days of Emergency (1975-77)… I was a college boy. The only source of information - national or international news – was the daily newspaper and, perhaps, the radio. My dad got it from the local Kannada daily and his friends, who huddled up, late every evening near our local naka . The whole village, most of our relatives and all my dad’s friends had begun to hate Indira Gandhi for the Emergency excesses… But, my dad – hundreds of miles away from Delhi, in this remote village called ‘Derebail’ – would defend fiercely his idol, whom Atalji once hailed as ‘Durga’… and my own dad as Mother Mary! He was such a blind devotee of Indira Gandhi! I would witness scores of bitter arguments, rather fights… yes over someone who my dad or ...