village-city in an uproar

Wow! What a feeling. It is very humbling and somewhat exciting to see a mass movement unfurl before your eyes. I am sure a lot of us are touched by this mass movement against corruption and amendment of the Lokpal Bill as it stand. I share the experience of just being there and feeling the power of the people.

On a general every week day situation, the India Gate circle is a mix of traffic flowing from the North block into the city or from the nearer vicinity of Connaught place, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Barakhamba, High Court etc etc to the various parts of the city and the suburb. But on the 17th Aug 5:00pm, the scene was different. India gate had traffic true...but the traffic was that of humans...barring status, age, region, language. It was milling with people and the Tri-colour. Overcast sky and the setting sun gave it the backdrop of a picturisque movement. There was patriotic songs sung by groups, slogans shouted out by young people, posters and banners held up to symbolise the struggle.

There were no leaders, no followers, no one to make a mass appeal. They were just citizens of the country, nameless, faceless, but with a passion- wanting to put a wrong to right.  No one was rich or poor, famous or infamous. Every one stood there as people of the country asking for accountability, asking for justice, asking for a right to question the government in peaceful ways.

No one rode a bike, or drove a car. They all came by public transport. All walked, with flags in their hands and hope in their hearts, that India was truly the greatest democracy of the world and they will do it right for the people of the country. These people who gathered were not gathered for a political intent, but with a emotional and social intent.

That I think was the greatest achievement by the citizens of India, to rise above politics and demand for the greater good.

the village-city

I smile every time I think of my country, about India. Not just a particular city or a particular state or locality, but the feel i get when i say India. It has so many things that you wish were different, so many habits, so much socialization, so much infrastructure that you wish was better or more, but I sometimes wonder, if India was not not the way it is today would we have had the same vibrancy, the same fiber that gives us the Indian-ness.

I work in a space that falls between the two sides of India - the one side that has all the amenities namely, a house to stay, a steady income, clean water, clean toilets, food to eat and friends and family to talk to. On the other side i work and interact with people and groups who have a broken roof, a mud wall for home, one meal a day, children not going to schools, women giving birth to a malnourished infant in a no facilities health center.

When i work for them or with them, I feel angry at the government and helpless at the situation, no matter how much we try, tomorrow there is going to be someone else, who is going to be in the same place. The problems are huge, the infrastructures small.

Not that we the government is not trying to make a difference, but the problems are like huge rapidly growing fire and the government efforts are like little pitter patter of rain.

Every evening when I get back home, I wonder, have I done enough. Have I made a small difference? And every night the village-city  send me signs that tell me nope dear heart! your work has just begun.

So as my first post to the world wide web and my dearest village-city, I just think I should say...play on!

Look forward to my intricacies and journeys through the village-city. Give me some more positive energy to go on