My First Dissent

The first I had been to. Alone.

26.01.2020. It didn’t feel like a usual Republic day morning. Every year I make it a point to see the flypast at-least if not the full event. This time, my heart sank seeing the flypast in the air.

With the new CDS in place, steps being taken to introduce privatisation in Defence, my mind would question.. Will maintenance of these fighter aircrafts be done by Reliance one day? (which officers like my Dad would be responsible for) God forbid no! I was hallucinating an imaginary Reliance logo along with the Indian Air Force logo on the MiGs, I have been brought up around. Each year, in-fact each day. My heights of my pesimissm! This flypast was far too upsetting. Watching the pictures of Kashmir tableau, comrades saluting the Brazilian PM. Nothing seemed okay. This was not normal. Otherwise each year I would watch all of it with so much enthusiasm. It felt so dark this time. I should have been there in ‘Save the Constitution’ gatherings.

After a few days I saw a poster of Gandhi ji’s death anniversary event. Since I had missed expressing myself on the 26th, now I had another chance to show up. (Yep, let’s not wait for any special day to express ourselves.)

It said ‘Join hands for a Human Chain’ all across Bangalore. Very politically correct words. No mention of controversial words on the poster. Hmm.. Sounds safe. With moral support of a few close friends, I decided to visit the epicentre of the all protests in Bangalore, the Townhall. Finished work early and came there.

The event

People showed up in large numbers. People were pouring in all through the event.

We sang the anthem. I don’t understand why do some people we shy away for singing it. You are already standing for that purpose, you might as well sing aloud!

We read the preamble in Kannada and English, sang Gandhi ji’s bhajans, people recited poems expressing their concerns. Beautiful Kannada songs, hindi songs were sung.

I met some awesome people in the crowd — a law student, psychology students with their faculty, journalism students , a local theatre group, few writers, families with their children, toddlers. A lot of folks had come on their own like me. An aunty sitting next to me and taking only selfies and posting to her community whatsapp groups. Lots of selfies and groupies. Majority was a lower middle class turn out. WHY? Dont those laws affect others?

Forgot to mention, the blanket police cover on every step we made. They were well equipped with possibly everything. And local press covered it too.

Things to carry — for a newbie protestor

• umbrella
• water bottle
• shades
• snacks — biscuits, nuts
• posters— if any
• Emergency contact numbers on SOS

Aftermath

After narrating this above incident, my uncle calls me “anti national”!

Now I have even more questions in my head. How are people going to prove that they came from x country in y year and still possess a Ration card, Aadhar card. Why can’t they strengthen existing Aadhar/other national document procuring process instead? How do I prove my religion and my Indianness? If having immigrants information was so important, why no steps are taken near the border areas itself? Why is it so easy to get Aadhar and other documents made for immigrants? With mind sulking day by day, I have stopped watching news updates. If the leaders think, these steps will be so good for the nation, but are creating misunderstandings, why can’t they come out and speak (two way communication) openly? Why no action taken against the voilence on young students? Why are they harrased no matter where they come from?Why can’t there be another way to deal with immigrants?

What does protesting mean for me personally

It means having utmost freedom to disagree and express without fear.

It was a way for me to express my solidarity, show that I am not okay with the current state of affairs..it matters to me, bigtime.

Till date, I could never muster courage to take part in any dissent of any form. Because taking part in a protest today, standing up with a playcard against any government action, has become like commiting suicide!

Differences I come across daily

• “Protests are of no use”. Oh really? Had our ancestors believed this, we would have never seen the light of Independence in that case.
• “You are an anti- national”. Safest way to express disaggrement these days.
• “I prefer to keep out of politics. Already too much on my plate.”
• “It doesn’t affect me or my family directly. So we should be minding our own business.”
• “They go to college to study or do politics?”
• “Just too busy at work. No time for all this.”

How far is this ok? In general, most of us are so concentrated to take care of our selves and our families ONLY. Can this be called being self-centred? We dont realise our own children growing up around hatred. As long as the “present is well”, we dont need to bother. As a growing kid, I vividly remember my dad being adamant on watching political news everyday. Though I could not interpret much, but political views and happenings around would matter. I could percieve what news resonates with dad.

So, work, get the money home, run for your families, go out for vacations, celebrate birthdays, marriages, anniversaries, new years eve, post on instagram (most important). How are people able to mind their own business when our fudamentals are at stake?

I wonder, what makes us all so different in our attitudes when after all, we live in the same nation, with same constitution and leadership.

“What happens in Kashmir doesn’t bother me. What happens in Assam is not my business. What happens in my city inside universities is also not my business. Now the capital burning.”

Learnings

There is another section of people, who have been living their usual lives, but are atleast vocal about the unrest we see around these days. It is not about who is anti or with — CAA, NRC, NPR. Atleast speak up exhubirating some tolerance, at the same time lets listen to the other person no matter how different/indifferent the opinion might be and if you think you dont know enough, atleast ask questions!

Can we turn a blind eye to things happening around us? If you think we are still doing all good, then please doubt your source of information.

I am actually waiting for the time when we will fill these forms. I want to witness the struggle we all will have to prove our “religion”, DOB and place of birth of ours, our parents, grand parents, .. prove that we are Indians. If there is no escape from this, then lets just do it. Waiting for this time to come. Atleast then this indifference will disappear.

Last few months state of current affairs in our country has been a true eye opener for me. My eyes are opening up to the harsh realities and radicle perspectives. Before all of this, I had a very shallow picture of the people around me and the community I grew up in. With whom I work, live, grown up with. It has polarised relationships on personal levels. After all, we radiate our own inner values.

I have begun understanding a lot of people much better than before. I use empathy everywhere possible. Their

- Indifference vs. Sensitivity

- Threshold of tolerance

- Individual values on community, secularism, brotherhood, democracy, patriotism, racism, empathy, authority, communalism.

- Impact of education, family background, upbringing

- Can they stand for their own individual values? Can they hold values that are different than their near n dear ones?

Lately, I have also been unfollowing a lot of folks on social media. Thanks to the never ending strong negativity promoting— communalism, hate speech, mockery. I would not want my feed to be so polluted. Some have been close childhood friends, an ex-collegue, a cool yoga teacher .. all seemed genuinely nice, educated, extremely well to do in their sphere of life. I am not saying I dont respect them anymore. But now, I know them a lot better for sure.

Why are political views avoided as drawing room conversations?

I would want to talk about it, to understand the other person’s perspective. To know where he /she is coming from. If he or she has one. We might not agree and its okay. This way I would understand their core values of survival, community, brotherhood, tolerance — you imbibe and spread in your circle of influence.

“Fake news. We dont know what to believe in”

Well, there are still a few credible sources of information despite the media crisis. Please look up. Plus there are ways to verify news too.

These days, I feel reading Delhi news seems like reading Kashmir news.

Women leading dissent from the forefront. Well, a lot can be said here.

I have immensely begun valuing other professions a lot lot more than before. Importance of people who are lawers, journalists, pyschologists, artists, poets, singers, teachers, sociologists, in a society apart from becoming “engineers” and working for tech. They create our balance.

I confess, the current state of affairs in the country has affected my mental health. And I know, I am not alone, there are a few others like me. People already suffering from anxiety disorders, insomnia, depression.. for them it has got even worse.

PS: The above expressed views are completely personal to the author. It does not mean to instigate communalism and dissent in any way. It is completely fine if you disagree. Please refrain from debating over the newly passed laws here. Any other comments are welcome.

Thanks for reading!