ANNA HAZARE

On wednesday evening I attended my first protest in the name of the social activist Anna Hazare and the passing of the anti corruption bill, the Jan LokPal Bill.

After hailing 2 tut tuts 8 of us went to the protests together, 4 boys and 4 girls. After a brief scene between Alice and the tut tut driver who started crying because he thought it was too dangerous for us to go and Alice crying because he thought he was so nice, and a quick embrace between them both... (it was a rather surreal situation).. we headed off into the protests. I have never had more photos taken of me in my life. It was like Britney Spears had turned up! But, it was not particularly intimidating or uncomfortable. There were children asleep on the street who had come to show their support, women selling hats and flags, and men, who if anything only wanted to shake our hands and say thankyou for coming. Two Indian men had taken it upon themselves to become our body guards, and I think they enjoyed the job, seeing themselves as protectors of the westeners. They stayed with us the entire way, told us what to chant, navigated us trough the crowds and gave us flags and banners and took us to Anna. If anyone got too pushy they would simply push them out of the way and say something in Hindi.

We came to a clearing which was already building up with thousands of people around a stage where Anna was speaking. What was so brilliant was that everytime Anna spoke the crowds hailed, applauded and clapped him, yet it didn't get out of hand, noone was pushing, and I managed to keep my personal space. Although I later found out that Georgia had not been quite as lucky as I was, having had the odd grope now and then from members of the crowd.

It is possible, as with all things, that protests such as these could get dangerous, with even more of a chance of violence if anything were to happen to Anna, or if the government continues to refuse to negotiate. But, from where I was standing, these people were good people. Although we were a novelty, almost an attraction, at the end of the day the people were not there to see us. They did not want to harass us, or to sell us over priced goods. If we needed help they would help us, or if we needed a translation they would tell us.

On our way back through the crowds one man was hading out small packets of glucose biscuits and he offered me one. I though he may be looking for money so I refused, however he bowed his head almost to the ground and offered it to me and our group again, stating in broken English that he did not want any money, and wanted to shake our hands to say thankyou for coming. I may be niave to say such a thing, but for me, how anyone can say that these protests go against a democracy baffles me!

One thing is for sure, and that is I will be attending more of these protests throughout my stay.