Fudge was my favourite sweet for a long time. Filled with chocolate, sugar, cream, and
nuts, its taste was simply irresistible. One day, quite unexpectedly, Fudge introduced
me to an unsavoury flavour.
It happened in 2001. There was a huge political controversy following
the release of a video tape in a sting operation. The tape showed a politician accepting cash as
'illegal gratification' purportedly to render a service of questionable nature.
Cornered, he tried desperately to wriggle
out, first blaming his political rivals, and tater pleading with an innocence that
would put even a child to shame, that the tape was edited, dubbed, doctored,
interpolated, and ... then came the word that rudely shook me out of my sweet slumber
– ‘fudged!’ For the first time I realised
(after referring to the dictionary of course) that 'Fudge’ was more than a mere
sweet! It meant to falsify, fabricate, manipulate or cook (as in cooking up
facts and figures).
Almost ten years have passed. Fudge does not fascinate me any more. 'But it
continues to be an all time favourite with the politicians, for it helps them
to disown their words and deeds! Fudge enables
them to blame it on wrong reportage and fictitious conspiracies. When challenged with evidence, they could go
on an 'excavation spree' digging digressive parallels from the history. Finally, when everything fails, they can
resort to rhetoric beyond our common sense and comprehension.
With general elections round the corner, how many
more ‘fudges’ would we have to chew?
- April 2009
I don't completely agree that politicians are corrupt and we citizens who voted them the first place are innocent lambs.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting analogy though comparing food to corruption.
I too write about social issues, so give my posts a read if you will.