Today I joined a group of youngsters at a 24-hour protest that had started at 6 pm yesterday. The protestors I met were young and so earnest. One young girl was sitting with a lot of scrap and stitching cloth pieces together to make a map of India. A few people joined her for a few minutes and then moved on. People around her were shouting out slogans for different things - the protest by the Trade Unions, one group was talking about JNU, AMU and the Delhi Police, and some about CAA and NCR/NPR, but she was going about her work.
I sat and stitched a few pieces with her. She was so calm and peaceful while surrounded by protestors and the police who stood around.
It made me think of what I was like at 21. There were so many issues even then, dowry-deaths being one of the most horrifying. I made a couple of attempts to go join an activist group - Saheli was set up in Delhi when I was 20 - but I am ashamed now to say that I was scared of by the thought of having to travel to meetings by public transport in Delhi in the early 80s. Facing all kinds of eve-teasing on my journeys to and from my college, I really did not then have the guts to brave it all again. Why did I not have even half this young girl's courage? How is this youngster sitting so bravely, knowing that the situation could turn violent at any moment?
One of my sons has joined the protestors, my other son and daughter-in-law are protesting vociferously online, and my nieces are sitting in similar protests in the cities they live in. I respect them so much for being able to stand up for their beliefs. And I am so glad that, just for a few minutes, I was also able to join them as a protestor. So many of the maladies that affect our country now are because the earlier generations did not protest enough. This is a good time for us Generation Xers to stand up and be counted, and join the youngsters in saying 'Enough is enough'.
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