Everybody was looking at us. Somebody gave us a surprise look while somebody gave an innocent smile. Somebody was so motivated that they just joined us at the moment while somebody made us realized their support by saying ‘Vande Matram’ with us. Wow! A common man is in support of a common man when it is matter of our Nation!
Sharp at 9:00 am, I got a call from my sister yesterday. ‘Be careful while going office, Anna Hazarre has been arrested early in the morning. Spontaneous protests have been broken out in different parts of Delhi in against of it. So it’s better to opt metro route as you may face heavy traffic jam’ she said. I immediately said ‘hmmm you are right, I’ll do that.'' And, I just hung up the phone as I was getting late’.
‘What am I doing here?’ ‘What can I do now?’ ‘Can’t I go there to support him?’ I was so occupied with these kinds of questions while moving from hostel to bus stop. I was also thinking to go by metro...but why should I take metro route???...just to avoid traffic jam... there is a 74 years old man who is on indefinite fast for us only and we are thinking like this :(
Anyways, now I was in the bus and soon all my questions were converted into one question ‘How can I participate in this movement?’ Because I wanted to be a part of the Change.
In office I was not so much busy. Just routine work so the thought was in my mind the whole day ‘how can I participate?’ Suddenly in the evening I got a message from my Art of Living teacher ‘Come and join us. Today we all shall assemble in white dress at…for peaceful candle march to support Annaji” Aah! I got the way :)
I didn’t wait for my chartered bus even and caught a DTC bus to reach there on time.
At 6:30 pm we were around ten people there holding banners and posters quoting ‘Art of living supports India against corruption’. As I held the banner I saw my chartered bus on the road. At first I tried to ignore as everybody was there who knew me very well but all of sudden my heart says ‘why to ignore?’ And, within one second I looked at them and smiled with a new confidence because I was doing for what I was craving for long. Wow! what a great feeling it was...
Now we all were raising slogans like ‘Anna tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare sath hai’ , ‘Vande Matram’, ‘paas karo, paas karo, Jan Lokpal bill paas karo’.
I surprised to see public reactions. People literally stopped their vehicles and supported us with their gestures. Whatever we were sloganeering, the words automatically were coming out from their mouths also.
We were accompanied by 4-5 police officers and some traffic police. They were very kind to us. They politely told us ‘Do what you want to do but it must be peaceful. No traffic jam. No misleading slogans. No violence etc’. They were right in their point of view because now we were around 150 people on the road carrying candles in hands.
This time the experience was different for me. I observed others' reactions also. Last time in April when Annaji intiated the movement against corruption and raised his voice for demanding Jan Lokpal, then also I participated in silent candle march from India Gate to Jantar-Mantar. But that was my first ever experience of doing something for me and my country. Then I felt my reactions only but yesterday I felt the common man's anger and passion too...
