Mad, we are.

Once upon a time a powerful wizard lived in the perimeter of a prosperous empire. He was intellectually crisp and his magical spells were as captivating as the eyes of an enchantress. A few months ago, the wizard had lost the love of his life to a merciless command of this ethically unblemished empire and in despair he vowed to take revenge. His resentment was so strong that he hated every living soul of the kingdom and in order to put his aching heart to rest he placed a magic potion in the well of the region from which all the residents drank. The effect of the potion was believed to be thrilling and whosoever drank from the well would lose his mind. A bruised lover can be a sadist of an unbelievable level!

Anyway, the poisoned well was the communal well and the only source of water for the masses and the next morning the entire population drank from it. As expected the first toss down was enough and every face transformed into a canvas of insanity. Mad men and women started screaming like no one was watching them and they all laughed as if they were never going to laugh again! The entire population was in trance. They could do whatever they wanted to and say whatever they felt like saying. There was no fear of being judged, no fear of being laughed at. The moon, the stars and all the other heavenly bodies were in sync with their lunacy and it could not be more normal than this! Insanity is an overt form of courage and this pensiveness of the population unnerved the King. The royal family, of course had a ‘royal’ well set aside for them, and the magician had failed to poison it. The eccentric behaviour displayed by people was threatening and the King and his associates started exercising some control. Edicts were issued but the emotions of the populace were heightened and being rebellious was the new obsession. None of the diktats of the emperor worked and his one-time docile citizens were up in the arms against him and his commandments. Their madness was their ultimate wisdom and they were confident that the King was out of his mind and was therefore imposing his authority. They could no longer establish the rapport with their ruler and demanded his abdication. The King, however, was aware of the reason of their unruly behaviour and since he couldn’t control it, he decided to step down from the throne. The queen, a tad bit wiser than the king, however came up with a superior suggestion. The lady recommended that they should all drink from the communal well and be equivalent to their people as this was the only viable option left. The King, the queen and their associates all drank from the communal well, the water of insanity performed its magic and the royals started speaking the language of the commoners. The rapport was re-established and the real magic of this madness was that now they were all a new form of normal. The whole empire no doubt behaved differently from its neighbours but because of the similitude of conduct, the empire kept prospering and everyone lived happily ever after!

Yes, it is just a story and like every other story this one too has a moral and the moral is: - The King must drink from the communal well and be as mad as the laypeople of his empire. If he isn’t then he cannot be the King. Period.

Talking about us, our madness is at a totally different altitude and our leaders will never gather the courage of drinking from our well. But the lok sabha elections must have taught each one of them a lesson or two. I truly hope that the ‘much needed soul searching’[sic] of our CM is fruitful but at the same point of time I also hope that in order to re-establish rapport with a common man, he doesn't forget to tell his associates to refrain from addressing us as ‘goons and murderers’[sic]. We are not but mad we are!