•  •  Dark Mode

Your Interests & Preferences

I am a...

law firm lawyer
in-house company lawyer
litigation lawyer
law student
aspiring student
other

Website Look & Feel

 •  •  Dark Mode
Blog Layout

Save preferences
An estimated 2-minute read
 Email  Facebook  Tweet  Linked-in

Once every few days, depending on their moods, some government officials raid Biju Da, a soft-spoken shack-wala who serves Maagi, Chai and Lunch to college students.

 

During the raid, Biju Da, his wife and his children run. They also have to hide their goods. In the mayhem that follows some bottles break. A string of packets is flung on the road. A carton drops with a thud. They run. From predators of their life and their livelihood.

 

Some students help them. Some watch from the sideline. Some are in the library working on their research papers.

 

The fear in the eyes of Biju da is one that you see courtesy of the Discovery Channel: in the eyes of an antelope when chased by a big cat.

 

This is anarchy.

 

*

 

You want a political revolution. Then why are you afraid of anarchy? You want a political revolution. Then why are you afraid of being inconvenienced?

 

I’ll tell you the reason. Because you and I have never sat on a dharna. We’ve never protested. We’ve never sacrificed our comforts. We fear the unknown. We fear physical discomfort.

 

But we’ve been to seminars. And submitted a research paper. The labour of a sated mind, not the struggle of an under-fed body.

 

And we’ve been patient. For 65 years. With research papers, laws and policies on weightless paper.

 

We haven’t been ‘men and women in a hurry’. Because if we were, we’d have burnt the paper, stuffed them into our mashaals (torches) and sat on a dharna.

 

*

 

We poop in bath-rooms.

 

When we are caught by the police, rightly or wrongly, we either reach out for our wallets or for our mobile phones.

 

We have food, 3 times a day to complete the tradition, and twice more to satisfy our habit. Add a dessert for the glutton. Dessert, 3 times a day!

 

What if you have to poop in the open?

 

What if you are beaten up by the police, rightly, wrongly, as a tradition and as a practice? Three times a day.

 

What if you have nothing to eat and can’t reach out for your wallet because there is no money.

 

You are beaten. Bodily. And you don’t have money to nurse your wounds. And you cannot submit research papers.

 

You go on a dharna. But then you are beaten again. And you are defeated. Killed by the big Cat. Till the Chief Minister joins the protest. Then you are hopeful of winning.

 

Even the researchers get their due!

 

*

 

For us dharna is bad anarchy. It’s disruption of our normal lives, of law and order. That is why we fear it.

 

This is because our normal lives are where bodily integrity is ensured.

 

*

 

Friction or good anarchy is important for change to take place.

 

Things don’t get delivered on a platter.

 

“Oh, we are impressed by your research. From today Delhi is granted a Statehood.”

 

*

 

The word anarchy comes from the Greek word anarchia: an meaning "not, without" and arkhos, meaning "ruler".

 

Anarchy means: "absence of a ruler", "without rulers".

 

That’s what AAP wants. Good Anarchy. Swaraj.

 

Where there are no rulers.

 

***

Click to show 3 comments
at your own risk
(alt+c)
By reading the comments you agree that they are the (often anonymous) personal views and opinions of readers, which may be biased and unreliable, and for which Legally India therefore has no liability. If you believe a comment is inappropriate, please click 'Report to LI' below the comment and we will review it as soon as practicable.