In what could be a new instalment of “Histories Mysteries”, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has chosen to take a “sabbatical”. In years to come, this may be remembered as one of the great political enigmas — like where did Hitler spend his last days, what did Marilyn Monroe know, who was behind the Purulia arms drop, really? There is plenty of speculation. But if you’re picturing sabbaticals as one long Sunday, spent sunning on a deck chair, back the truck up.
Yes, it is reported that god created the world in six days and took to his metaphorical deck chair on the seventh, giving rise to the sabbath, or the day of rest. The word “sabbatical” probably draws its roots from the Hebrew “shabbat (release)” and the Latin “sabbaticus (to cease)”. And in Mosaic law, a “sabbatical year” was the seventh year, when the land was not to be tilled, and debtors and slaves were to be released. All of this might suggest pina coladas and feudalism.
So will the pina coladas versus governance mystery ever be solved? Time or subsequent events will tell. In the meantime, Indian politics might have found its new favourite euphemism — the sabbatical.
