Anna Hazare is like an Old Lady

Okay, before you go all hyper on me, read the entire post.

This is a story someone told me yesterday. It's relevant to the current fast-ing trend. I hope you find it interesting.

Once upon a time in a small village there was a wealthy merchant. His son. his only child, was to be married. He started looking for a bride. An old lady in the village heard about this. She devised a(n) (evil?) plan.

Next day she sat in front of the merchant's house and declared that she will not eat anything until and unless the merchant marries his young son to her. Everyone in the village was surprised. All of them knew she was being unreasonable. Most of them laughed her off. Almost no one took her seriously.

A few days passed but the old lady was adamant. She had become very weak. The people in the village started getting anxious. Now they were asking the merchant to marry his young son to the old lady just so that she would end her fast.

The merchant obviously did not want it to happen so he was very worried. He offered the old lady money but she refused it. He offered the old lady a house to live and a lot of luxuries but she refused. He tried everything but the old lady refused to budge. The villagers started supporting her just on humanitarian grounds. The merchant was under tremendous pressure.

One day, a man came to the merchant and said that he could make the old lady go away if the merchant wanted. The merchant was surprised. He told the man that he did not to force the old lady into anything neither did he want to beat her up or kidnap her or something. The man said that he had a plan and through it, the old lady would voluntarily go away. The merchant agreed.

Next morning, the old lady was gone. Everyone including the merchant was surprised. The merchant went to the man who had made this possible. He asked him how he managed to convince the old lady to leave. The man smiled.

He said he found a person who had leprosy. He asked that person to go to the old lady and tell her that if she did not marry him then he would not eat anything and hence go on a fast himself. The old lady understood that her plan had been foiled and so she left.

Moral of the story: [It depends on individual perception of the story. Find your own learnings.] :)

P.S. - If you can't relate this story to the fast done by Anna Hazare then you can take the heading of the post as an independent statement and blast your comments based on that.

Cheers

A