The Brinjal unpeels India

change has the habit of giving rude shocks and surprises especially if it is done to something not so sophisticated as the cute and clumsy brinjal in the kitchen. Now that I am aware that the brinjal has been born again and christened all so scientifically as 'B.T.Brinjal', the genesis being described as 'transgenic brinjal ' created by inserting a gene (CRY 1 Ac) from the soil bacterium 'Bacillus Thuringiensus' into brinjal, my eyebrows are more than raised... they say a perfect 'NO!'. Maybe that is why they say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. However all rationality in me says that the nation should probably opt for her own team of scientists to probe into the potential for disaster of the 'new brinjal'and more importantly, reveal the true results to the public. Of course it is easy to assume the worst at a time when many developed nations like Germany have imposed a cordon on the produce of genetically modified crops. If the rsults are positive for toxin... well.. I would not care to list down the silent killers like the fumes on the road,the smoker nearby,the DDT in the grapes I just had and so on and say , 'Why not the brinjal? I am being killed slowly and steadily anyway!' Rather I would forget brinjal in my menu and say , ' Bacillus something' should not kill me... this is war.' The irony is in the question whether I would ever know the exact truth about the mystery brinjal even if I were part of the 'creme de la creme' research team.
Someone who caught my attention more than the brinjal in the brinjal controversy is Mahatma Gandhi . Permit me to explain. A photograph taken on Martyr's Day of 2010 and cruising through the web shows a lady holding a candle and a placard which reads ,' ...then the Mahatma led us to freedom through his salt satyagraha ,boycott foreign clothes, Quit India Movement . Today we have to lead ourselves to freedom... let's all take the one day fast... the Seed Satyagraha...to protect our traditional seeds...to stop BT Brinjal... Join us at Martyr's Square. I wonder what Gandhiji would have commented to the placard's call. I wonder whether India is free in the truest of all senses. Are we slave to the U.S or to 'us' collectively? Are we being complacent by hoping for a Gandhi miracle at the wave of a placard in all that we do or is this how a nation talks? Do the candles, fasts and slogans really speak? Thank goodness we are a democracy. Unbiased acknowledgment to Lincoln to that terrific one liner on the same. I wonder for how many more years will similar placards be held up high for every brinjal and brinjal- like issue. And I really wonder for how long all roads in India would lead to Martyr's Square.