Hey you ! What's with the poppies?

Not many people could have forgotten the scene in Mangal Pandey where Toby Stevens tells the British lady, in presence of all the officers about the opium wars and the about the British coercing the Indian farmers into growing poppies. The Englishman's fascination with poppies indeed goes a long way.

When Aussie journalist Edward George Honey suggested the 'moment of silence concept' as we know it to mark Armistice day, another interesting tradition sprung up - Wearing a poppy on your sleeve. So every year as it nears the 11th of November all the Englishman (Aussie and Canadians too) turn out in their best Sunday coats with a bright red poppy planted to it.So everybody, from Alex Ferguson to Tony Blair and from the creme de la creme to the hoi polloi, is parading their bright, red poppy. I also remember the poppy making an appearance in many a classical British Detective Series. In Sherlock Holmes too methinks?

Shouldn't we guys in India do something too. What about all wearing Gandhi topis on Oct.2 ? That would be fun!