I must say, this juicy piece of news was missed by dozens of newspapers and TV channels -- as they buried themselves busy and screamed their lungs out over war against corruption, (I didn’t know graft is a new malady. I wonder where was everyone when Bofors, hawala, fodder and a number of unearthed scams were sucking the economy dry), tainted organisations and individuals besides the new-found love for the IPL matches, especially after the miraculous Cricket World Cup victory.
It was a debate session, sometime back, under the amorous night sky of April at the glamorous Lalbagh Botanical Garden in the heart of Bangalore.
The two feisty contenders (debaters) were none other than Mr Love and Mr Lust. And, of course, I don’t have to mention the topic of discussion. Yes, you have guessed right, its —“What is more moral in the 21st century -- love or lust”?
The guests in attendance were a bunch of intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals (like me), who took upon the lawn at Lalbagh to provide an apt and patient listening to the debaters for the evening.
And Mr Love, with his usual good looks, clean-shaven face, wearing a designer suit, first took upon to an imagined stage, standing almost 6 feet tall.
Mr Love started the debate with a conventional slogan: “Love makes the world go round”.
Mr Lust, with his belly protruding from his ill-fitting T-shirt, did not let Mr Love continue even for a second and interrupted.
“Lust produces babies, babies grow up into men (women), and they further produce more babies. This is how mankind is surviving and ruling the planet, with its sheer numbers. Lust is in nature and you, my dear friend, cannot ignore nature,” said Mr Lust, flashing his crooked smile.
Recovering from this jolt, Mr Love, regained his composure and said, “Lust leads to corruption and further corruption.”
“And, corruption is the order of the day. Even your Mr PM is no more a clean man (notwithstanding the fact that he agreed to form a panel to draft some jan lokpal bill). His hands, too, are tainted with the muck of Indian dynastic politics. Then, why blame lust only?” Lust exhorted.
The gentleman inside Mr Love could not bear it anymore.
“Babies who are produced without love in its ultimate conclusion, that is marriage, are called “illegitimate” or “bastards,” said Mr Love, with his nostrils flaring.
“Why do you want to go into the legality of the matter? That way we all will have to undergo DNA test, including the stray dogs in your neighbourhood. Anyway, they are already under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) scanner,” smiled Mr Lust.
“So, so …what are you trying to say?” fumbles Mr Love.
“Nothing is immoral? All is fair? Because of people like you, there is so much of paternity tests and subsequent confusion in the world. Why don’t you accept you are bad, dark and immoral?” asked Mr Love.
Hahaha! Mr Lust laughed out loud. I love your pretensions, your dubious proclamations, your I know-all attitude, everything sucks…. cried out Mr Lust.
Suddenly, few khaki-clad men came in rushing, trying to decipher the reason behind loud noise coming out at an ungodly hour from the garden. But all they could find were bottles of beer, cigarette butts and used condoms strewn all over. The stars were shining bright, the cries from the dog were audible too, but no human presence.
“This is a ghostly affair…,” one guard said, confused as they saw two apparitions walking past the garden, singing “yeh dosti hum nahi chorengey…”
Hope Mr Love and Mr Lust have learnt to co-exist together. Anyway, one without the other will be another subject of debate….
Note: This piece of news is written in a humble (read desperate) attempt to save the dying art of blogging (where there is no fear of editors with their ever-sharpened knives ready to chop off ‘important” extracts of your stories or sometimes the entire story.) Hope, the “sexy” topic chosen will grab a few eyeballs, the writer too will get few ‘upmarket’ readers.
