Michhil....contd..

First of all allow me to thank all of you who have taken the pain to read my blog and have posted their comments. It has been really heart warming to hear the appreciation and the kudos.

Now referring to my last blog, there were comments which were not supportive of michhils and bandhs. Joyeeta mentioned that a day lost is lost and also when somebody is in emergency such disruptions are nemeses he can hardly afford. Shailendra has also asked a question of why we can’t have a humane path which is more reasonable. Jigyasu too has the same questions. Well thanks again for your comments and point of views.

I completely agree with all of you with the points you all have raised. Disrupting public life and taking the city to hostage can never be a reasonable way to protest. Who will take the responsibility of the lives lost and the other ordeals faced by we common man?

But I have a different point to make. Knowing completely well all the pitfalls of such a menace if you say so, I have supported them. And I have done them for a reason.

I have always felt that for a holistic development of an individual and a society one has to be aware, the society has to be aware of all the happenings in and around it. I always have a feeling of contempt for those who are unaware and feel “ignorance is bliss” (this proverb is so contemptuous, and just seconds the argument that proverbs are just for making oneself feel better howsoever unreasonable they may be). So as I was saying being ignorant doesn’t help. I used the words “antipathy” and “apathy” strongly. A society submerged in sweeping indifference can never justify their conscience.

Now the reason michhils take place is that people are not unaware or indifferent. I agree that michhils and bandhs can be organised by indifferent people when the motive is political. I also agree that it is always not the right cause for which there is such show of anger and neither do I support disrupting rail and road transport in the name of protest. But one thing that I am pretty convinced of is the constant urge of the people there to know what is happening around and the possession of a heart that cares and that does not turn a blind eye to one’s suffering. These are the reasons I hailed the people from my homeland. (This feeling of mine got bolstered after I saw people here caring nothing and misguiding an old lady standing in the bus shelter under the hot sun……………utterly pathetic!!)

A society which does not have a heart is as good as dead.

I have a question to ask too. Given the political set up and the rot in the system how one can possibly protest against a particular decision or anything for that matter? Throwing shoes at each other is not a solution which I guess any sane person will agree with. Also anybody knowing a thing or two about the RTI Act understands what it takes to ask questions. So how can we possibly raise a question? Voting out the government to get a new one sometimes is as much an effective alternative as jumping from a frying pan into the fire. So there we are……..how can we make people hear our voices?

In my opinion michhils can be a potent weapon. It does make the government feel the heat. With the rising role of media, michhils do create a pressure on the system. But again restraint has to be exercised. When the High Court gave a ruling of not organising them in weekdays the ruling should be respected. The effectiveness of this mode of protest cannot be compromised with by organising them every now and then. And also the common man for whom the michhil is supposedly taking place has to be kept in mind too. I may sound unripe with this cliché but can’t stop myself from saying that the collective power of people if used correctly can bring about a change.