Aniket was watching Rang de Basanti on TV, he was amazed by India’s world cup victory few days back and was missing all the delight; movie ended on high note where a generation “awakened” and committed to revolt and carry forward the “mashaal” ignited by their heroes in the radio centre at midnight. Even Aniket felt ignited, excited and decided to do ‘something for his country’, he felt an intense fire within him which wanted to revolt against the politicians and the ‘system’. He changed the channel.
“ANNA HAZARE BEGAN HIS FAST AT JANTAR MANTAR TODAY; NEARLY 600 PEOPLE JOINED HIM THERE ON DAY ONE OF HIS ‘ANSHAN ’, AROUND 150 HAVE JOINED HIM IN THE FAST UNTO DEATH” anchor of a news channel shouted with an ‘orgasmic’ excitement; showing the LIVE visuals form the site. Mass hysteria of people was chanting slogans; an old man wearing a Gandhi cap was sitting on the stage, his face towards the crowd that had gathered.
Anchor continued shouting, “LET US TALK TO ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THIS TEAM ON WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY. SIR WHAT ARE YOUR DEMANDS?
Person: “we demand the formation of a joint drafting committee of representatives of government and our civil society on the jan lokpal bill; which will work to remove the corruption from its roots”Anchor: HOW LONG WILL ANNA’S FAST LAST?
Person: “fast will continue until all our demands are met. And we urge people all over the country to join us in this movement.”
Aniket got up; THIS was the moment for him. This was the time, he thought, when he could do ‘something for his country.’
Rang de Basanti fever worked well on him. He called and informed his boss that he would be on leave for a week.
…
At station he bought a “general” ticket for Delhi. Buses were all booked and so were the reserved compartments of the train. It was supposed to be a night journey; those who travel by Indian trains frequently; know very well how horrible these journeys can be in the “General Dabba”; especially at nights. He entered in the SLEEPER coach and looked for an empty berth; luckily, he found one; and occupied it. Train started moving towards its destination.
Few minutes later the TC (ticket collector) came to him and asked for his ticket, Aniket held TC’s hand and pulled him to one side, “sirji, please come with me.” He said.
TC was a newly appointed sincere boy, and had no experience of bribery yet.
Aniket told him, “sir, I don’t have a confirmed ticket please take some amount and “confirm” this berth for me”
TC said, “You are not entitled to ‘board’ the train without a confirmed ticket; please leave the train on next station, you can take full refund for your unconfirmed ticket from the counter.”
Aniket: “ sirji, you don’t understand, this seat is empty anyway, please take this and let me have this berth.” He quickly placed a hundred-rupees-note in TC’s hand and blinked one eye as a signal.
The young TC looked at the currency note for a while, In Indian trains, TC is no-less-than-God for people without proper tickets. And with our kind of population, it’s not difficult to find such people. In that hundred-rupees-note he could see how much ‘scope’ his ‘career’ as a Ticket Collector had. He kept it in his pocket and left with a smile.
Aniket got his berth and had a nice, comfortable journey. He was all set to do ‘something for his country’ once he reached Jantar Mantar.
…
6th April 2011
Jantar Mantar was full of people from all over the country, and there were slogans, full of youthful energy and excitement of a lifetime; hundreds of ‘Anikets’ including ours; were shouting these slogans. One of them said:
“Anna tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare sath hain!”
…
