Last Saturday, Shankar sir came out of imprisonment from Cuddalore prison after over 60 days, just a day after his birthday. Those 60+ days included 30 days of complete isolation when he wasn’t allowed to meet anyone except his lawyer. During this period, he was also fired from his job without having a chance to appeal. He seemed to have gone through some mental torture as well as the Cuddalore prison seems to be the oldest and toughest. Just after the release, he wrote a lengthy article on how the prisoners were physically torturned in it.
This is the second time he got arrested. First time, it was in 2008. That time, he had a simple name. Shankar or Achimuthu Shankar or A.Shankar. During the course of that first imprisonment, he had two choices. To kneel down to the corrupt people (and the system) or fight back. He chose to fight back in the name of savukku (means whip). Thus born Savukku (1.0).
Even though he chose to fight back, he became more active (in social media) only after acquittal in 2017. Mainly he was active on Twitter initially. After started appearing in YouTube, his fan base just exploded. Since then, specifically in the last 14 years (or 5 years since acquittal), he seems to have grown a lot. He also exposed a lot more things during this period.
While he continued to gain a lot of followers and inspired more and more people, he also became one of the most hated persons on social media due to his comments on some controversial issues. Even though his comments were proven true (years) later, the opinion of the public were against his views and comments initially. Here, I want to remind everyone about a quote from George Soros that “all human beings are fallible”.
Anyway, I am writing about two things that I believe Shankarji should concentrate while he continues fighting the system…
- The health.
- The public perception.
Health:
Savukku Shankar seems to be diabetic. He even tried to fast indefinitely in the prison. Fortunately, somehow it was taken back after some internal dialogues. Diabetic (particularly type 2) is not a life-time decease. It can be cured. For example, fasting helps in curing diabetes. Having a perfect health isn’t magic. Simple lifestyle changes can help us become normal (without deceases). I hope some of you may know what happened to Father Stan Swamy. I wish it never happens again to anyone else.
Public Perception
While Shankar doesn’t care about the public perception, it is what he is in the court of law too. There are two things in public perception. One is commenting on everything under the earth. He could have avoided some controversial subjects. And, the other point is that he could have been more polite on Twitter! His main plus point is not just the sources, but the effective use of language (both Tamil and English). I wish he uses the his language skills effectively to target the people he speaks about.
We may have never become human, if we haven’t improved ourselves from being monkeys. As someone who has only completed school, his growth is extraordinary. While he grows further, I wish he leaves behind his minus points!
#ISupportSavukkuShankar