[Reader-list] Fwd: Pranaayaam Was Never So Painful article by Shuddhabrata Sengupta

[Venugopalan K M]

"...Crowds are running helter-skelter. I can see an atmosphere of total
chaos unfold before my eyes. I can hear the NDTV correspondent/commentator
say, *“the police have not as yet hit anyone with sticks, but some
supporters of the Baba have started pelting stones and bricks.”*.

There is still no sign of Baba Ramdev. The NDTV voice says, it seems *“he
has been whisked away”*. He asks someone who is referred to as a ‘senior
aide’ – *“kya baba ko leke gaye” (“has Baba been taken away”)* – the man
answers saying he does not know. The Baba has left the Shivir (camp).

Ramdev came into our consciousness from nowhere, like Narad-Muni descending
on hapless and puzzled mortals in the epics. He made his way into our TV
screens, urged us to rub our fingernails and suck in our abdomens and
steadily occupied the void, the lack of imagination, the absence of vision
that tears right through our collective social, cultural and political
space. He built his empire, pushed his dope, made his deals and caught us in
the vice-like grip of an *‘asana’* (posture) that refuses to let go our
minds..."

http://kafila.org/2011/06/05/pranayam-was-never-so-painful/