Something quietly happened in India in past week without much pomp and show (read media's undivided passionate attention). To demand the lowering of the dam level, peasants and small town activists and villagers did a protest by submerging themselves neck deep in the dam vicinity water. The Madhya Pradesh state Govt. agreed to their demand after 4-5 days for this protest. It didn't receive the fanfare from media as did the likes of "IAF denied flying Rahul" or "Akhilesh's decisions marred by his Dad & Uncles".
My attention caught something entirely different. I remembered the few hour long live telecast of the Candle Marches in protest of Mumbai massacre, Anna Hazare's protest against corruption and many more in past 20 years of economic liberalization. What???? What does liberalization has to do with this???...and westernization...what does that has to do it protests in India?
...and this precisely caught my mind. Candles could be used for marches were never thought nor conceptualized in India prior to 90's. Thanks to the idiot box's global reach and the Harvard returnees who showed us the something
Well the ultimate thing is showing solidarity and support for a movement....candle march is very much equivalent to mass signature campaigns and more recently the "Likes" campaign on FB....but why are we shying away from a little more action which can be more impactful? Why are we embracing the easiest way out which other than getting media coverage doesn't yield any result?
My attention caught something entirely different. I remembered the few hour long live telecast of the Candle Marches in protest of Mumbai massacre, Anna Hazare's protest against corruption and many more in past 20 years of economic liberalization. What???? What does liberalization has to do with this???...and westernization...what does that has to do it protests in India?
...and this precisely caught my mind. Candles could be used for marches were never thought nor conceptualized in India prior to 90's. Thanks to the idiot box's global reach and the Harvard returnees who showed us the something
Well the ultimate thing is showing solidarity and support for a movement....candle march is very much equivalent to mass signature campaigns and more recently the "Likes" campaign on FB....but why are we shying away from a little more action which can be more impactful? Why are we embracing the easiest way out which other than getting media coverage doesn't yield any result?
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