Tahrir of India

As I walk back home, I see children selling flowers, books, toys and other articles, getting wet while people relax in their chauffeur driven SUVs after a day’s work. I wonder what stops them from breaking the glass and screaming “This is not fair”. As the scent of the jasmine continues to flourish in North Africa and Middle East we deal with our own demons. For centuries the belief in karma and caste has kept the masses content blaming past deeds for their suffering. In a culture where caste determines profession Nehru-Indira-Rajiv-Sonia-Rahul is hardly surprising; “hereditary democracy” for us is merely the circle of life. In a land where the gap between the haves and the have-nots was always vast the climate is changing.

Has the time for our rose revolution come? Even though the Arab spring has not come to India, it is time. It takes a spark to light a fire; if that is true I see sparks all around. The Naxalite insurgency simmering in the country is more of a economic movement than a political/militant one as our masters have us believe. It is supported by the poor that the government has let down. Can Anna transform his movement into the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back? Even though I am unsure of how to support him because I neither agree with is demands nor his actions. What I will give him credit for is the ability to rouse the masses; unseen since the time of Gandhi. His ability to generate interest in what we had discarded as the dominion of scoundrels. This year Anna may be victorious and the rain washes away all our problems. “Every country has the government it deserves”. Maybe we have decided that we deserve something better. Or the rains may calm our mood until another winter of our discontent. Will have to wait and watch if Tihar turns into Tahrir or Tiananmen.