Laksiri Warnakula

The sumptuous buffet wasn’t ready till the late seventies. Even though the preparations got underway from 1956 or thereabouts, they were still insignificant and even inconspicuous as far as the public were concerned. Yet it anyhow kept growing though perceptibly slowly, yet surely, both in size and variety.

Then in late seventies, when the powers of the skipper at the helm of the nation changed, the tide took a vicious turn, never to flow as it did before. It became clear soon that the morals of our society were beginning to take a nosedive buttressed by a predatory open-market–economy that was going into full swing.

Henceforth, were born the so-called beginning of an era of enhanced material wealth of our society (mostly exaggerated and often limited to certain social classes only) and the moral rot (very real swallowing the whole society) and they began to grow together and walk together, hand in hand, giving company to each other!

And not to be outdone, our buffet followed suit and it expanded in leaps and bounds before you and I knew what was happening. And when we became aware of it, it was already too late. It caught almost all of us by surprise. Now we couldn’t do much, but sit or stand and lament in protest, whenever we could.

To make the whole affair even worse, the nature of the guests changed too, when the quantity began to matter more than the quality. Most of them turn out to be opportunists bent on following the old adage to the letter; make hay, while the sun shines.

The very early guests were somewhat cautious with the servings. There were self-discipline, self-restraint, manners and politeness in them and around them. Many still opted for a quantity that was just enough for them alone. They never carried backpacks or haversacks to fill in for the rest of their family members sitting back at home.

But the newer generation of guests that now keeps appearing every five or so years has other things in mind. They are more preoccupied with what they can have and how much to serve themselves, whilst sitting at the buffet table and certainly much less with asking themselves as to why they are there for, in the first place. And they don’t forget their siblings, offspring of those siblings and even the distant relatives, while the going is good. They know very well that good things of this magnificence and scale don’t last long.

So the self-help now turned to sheer gluttony has been continuing, with buffets getting larger accompanied by the appearance of even more exotic and tastier dishes. And our ever-grateful guests with gleeful smiles have been coming in and some of them going out with equally sorrowful scowls (obviously and how ungrateful you and me are).

Now when the going gets really good and the taste of the buffet become so delicious rendering the guests cum gluttons an intoxicating satiety and stupor, some of them suddenly realize, ‘why not make this wholesome party even bigger’?

We very recently witnessed a couple of such things; doctors and train drivers  going on strike. Any person with even a modicum of decency and love for his/her country knows; it’s one thing that you can do. Yet another whether you should.

Sadly, it’s always never enough for the gluttons.

Yet are we ready to act and end this gluttony?

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me” (quote).

And fool me for the umpteenth time, shame, shame……..shame on me!

Laksiri Warnakula