"Who Irom Sharmila?"

The newspapers and TV channels has been bustling with Anna Hazare and Jan Lokpall bills past few months. It took me sometime to understand what the ruckus was about. And when I did, I did not support the bill entirely. The reasons are purely personal. So I did not walk around with a "I am Anna" tag around me nor did increase Mark Zuckerberg's revenue by "Liking" any page. 


And that's when I saw a Facebook status message by a friend which read just "Irom Sharmila". "Who?" was my first reaction.


I wonder how many of us know about this "Iron Lady of Manipur" - Irom Sharmila. I googled her up. Sharmila has been on fast for a decade, since the age of 28, without a morsel of food or water. She's being force fed through her nose a concoction of vitamins and nutrients by the Manipur state government. She weighs 37 kgs, most of her organs are wasted, her menstrual cycle has stopped and her skin pale. And her reason for the fast? To repeal the Indian Paramilitary Forces from the North-East after the "Malom Massacre". The incident where 10 civilians were shot dead by the Assam Rifles on 2nd November, 2000.


I was sad rather than being shocked after reading her story. If she had got half the media attention as Anna Hazare, maybe, there would have been some result of her fast. Hopefully, Sharmila's fast would end soon!