A to Z of fasting in John Oakes’ ‘The Fast’

Undertaking a fast is an unspectacular achievement, author John Oakes says at the outset. There are no trophies to be had; no Olympic medal celebrates self-deprivation. “Fasting doesn’t transform the world... All that happens is that your perspective on what comprises daily life and what is necessary to sustain it is shaken up.” This introduction forms the leitmotif of his book ‘The Fast’.

Fasting has become increasingly popular for a variety of reasons — from weight loss to detoxing, to the faithful who fast in prayer, to seekers pursuing mindfulness. Activists have been using hunger strikes as a form of protest all over the world — from Russia to Palestine and from America to Manipur in India, where human rights activist Irom Sharmila was force-fed for 16 years. Why, India gave the world one of its most famous strikers in Mahatma Gandhi as well. Time and again, he has been invoked during hunger strikes all over the world, famously by United Farm Workers cofounder Cesar Chavez, who would often turn to Gandhiji’s writings as well, as noted by Oakes.

In this book rich in anecdotes, the author traces the history of the practice that dates back millenniums and the complex science behind the jaw-dropping biological changes that occur inside the body when we fast. Metabolic switching can prompt repair and renewal down to the molecular level, providing benefits for those suffering from obesity and diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, and more. Beyond the physical experience, fasting can be a great collective unifier, and it has been adopted by religions and political movements all over the world.

He turns to India and the many religions that flourish here very often and highlights how these look at fasting. If Guru Granth Sahib denounces the practice, Hinduism advocates it with the first day of every month — Ekadashi — dedicated to fasting, and Jainism emphasises the importance of regular fasting and doesn’t consider the act of sallekhana — wilfully starving to death — as suicide.

Based on extensive historical, scientific and cultural research and reporting, this books illuminates the numerous facets of fasting. Oakes interviews doctors, spiritual leaders, activists, and others, who guide him through this act of self-deprivation. He also embarks on fasts of his own, aiming to deliver a book that supplies anyone curious about the subject with a profound new understanding, appreciation, and inspiration. He first kept a week-long fast when he crossed over to the other side of sixties. He hopes to turn to it for the rest of his life. For him, it is an experiment, perhaps not so much in anti-materialism as in anti-consumption.

Oakes calls King Lear the “ultimate faster”, who cast off everything: his power, his riches, his sanity. He pursued nothingness with addict-like intensity, until his kingdom was gone and his dead daughter lay in his arms. As he leaves the readers with this example, Oakes nudges them to reconsider what they consume, and if we should consume.