Joining Anna Hazare’s Rally: a personal account
(Shared by Rohit Malik with our school alumni group)
I had the privilege of being there at Jantar Mantar, and to witness a real revolution unfolding in front of me.
It was a chapter straight from our History books. The satyagrah movement, revolutionaries lining the streets, chants of Vande Matarm, Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Hum Honge Kamyab, Anna tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hain …… !
For those 20 valuable minutes, which I managed to take out from my daily worthless routine, I lived a life of greatness, united in the sea of humanity surrounding a puny little man on a stage, who lifted all of us above our selfish little lives to unite for a grand cause.
It was impromptu …. nobody was urging anybody to join the cause ….. but since the morning, from my office, I was witnessing a human chain just flowing non-stop into Jantar Mantar.
Demonstrations keep happening at Jantar Mantar, and this was not the first time so many people had gathered there. But even at 9 pm when I was stepping out of my office, the crowds just did not seem to ebb. In fact there was a near traffic jam at Jantar Mantar. Hordes of people were still just trooping into the site, banners in hand, and chants of Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai ….. this was something special ….. this was historical !
The atmosphere was simply electric, I just parked my car along a kerb and started walking towards the site. In front of me was a lady who had just parked her car and was walking out, a man with his little kid atop his shoulder, a family with kids, college boys and girls chanting Vande Mataram, muslims with flowing white beards, rustic men, urbane office goers …. this was no normal gathering, it was a mini- India all gathered together united by a single cause !
I was dazed looking around, and just kept walking closer and closer to where Anna was …. and there I could see that new age Gandhi in his white kurta pyjama and topi, just sitting on the stage and clapping his hands. There was a guitarist and singer on the stage … the entire crowd was clapping to Hum Honge Kamyab, ek din …. there was an electrical charge in that gathering …. I was simply choking with emotion, unable to speak, just clapping with my hands held high ….. this was history unfolding !!
The seed has been sown, our next generation will condemn us if we fail to take the baton from this septugenarian and take it forward ….. the least we can do is to join such causes. I urge our Group of 100 to pls. introspect and come out with a concrete action plan ….. we can keep having our parties and what not ….. but remember we can and we must make a difference for the sake of our future generations. Let us come together, the next time history beckons us …… Jai Hind !