The Charge of the Youth Brigade- Candle March 30th November 2008

On a lazy Sunday Afternoon, I got a sms from a friend which said, “Hey there is a candle march from Shaniwarwada to Sambhaji Park today evening in memory of those innocent lives who had to suffer at the hands of the ruthless terrorists”. I told to myself, this may not be that significant an action to yield anything successful, but let’s give it a shot nevertheless.
A few calls, a little bit of co ordination and we were at the spot by 6 pm. But that’s when reality struck me and I saw hoards of young, dynamic, energetic youths walking out from the gargantuan gates of the Shaniwarwada each with a candle in their hands. There were a few among them who had placards which read “300 injured, India hurt”, “Join hands against Terrorism” amongst many others which clearly reflected that the angst and the fury of the Mumbai attacks had sank into the hearts of most of the youth participating in this candle march.
After having absorbed the enormity of the situation and the enthusiastic response for this candle march, we went in and got our candles lit and made out way into the march along with many others. Although we did have our initial hiccups in ensuring that the candles say lit and we keep up pace with the rest of the crowd battling against the traffic in the wee hours of the evening, we were into the groove within some time. As we marched along the roads of Pune, a few startling revelations slowly become more and more clear to me.
This march was the mastermind (in Terrorist parlance) of a few individuals who spread the word through SMS. Along the march, a volunteer who was manning the traffic told one of the commuters, “Sir, can you please move your vehicle to the other side. We have 3000 people in this rally”.3000!!!!!An event without any official information in any of the leading newspapers/media could generate such a tremendous response amongst so many individuals just demonstrates how small the world is and secondly it also showcases that the strength of Pune and our country lies in the hands of the youth. Most of us in the rally would be aged 18-27 and if we can join hands for an event like this, there’s a lot that can be done by this youth brigade!
Moving on, another encouraging sign was not one person in the rally was treating this as a picnic or a place to have fun and make merry. There were hardly anybody taking photographs and posing for what we term as “Orkut Snaps “wherein you would have had a situation wherein youths would ben posing with candles only to put it up on their profiles later to trigger ga-gas from their friends about their love for the country. Hardly anyone was doing that. I was in a dilemma whether or not to take pictures but the magnanimity of the occasion got the better of me and I decided against it. Secondly, there wasn’t any media coverage which was another encouraging sign. Media doesn’t need much to convert an ordinary event into a Breaking News and keep playing it on their channel day in and day out. Although, incidentally, one reporter apparently from the Marathi Channel Saam did approach one of our friends asking her for her pratikriya (reactions) about the whole sequence of events that had taken place in Mumbai. She just gave a shrug as if to say isn’t a candle march being participated by 3000 people a testimony of the reactions that you are looking for. The media guy, I guess might have got his answer but that would not be enough to earn him his daily bread and butter and he went ahead dutifully asking other people about their reactions.
Towards the end of the march, most of our candles were nearing their end. A few on lookers had also joined in and wanted a candle to be lit from them. Simple things like lighting a candle for someone unknown or helping someone relight the candle used to get a smile on the face of two people. I never imagined lighting up a candle for someone would send out such a strong message of peace and harmony. The smile and the reassuring Thanks from the uncle for whom I lit up a candle somehow is still fresh in my memory. Maybe, it’s a small thing I did, but somehow it gave me the feeling that peace transcends all boundaries of religion, casteism, inequality and how much being together can make the difference!
The last leg of our journey ended at Sambhaji Park, where we all assembled there, observed a two minute silence and then sang the national anthem followed by the customary Bharat Mata Ki jay slogans. The volunteers, who I must say, did a splendid job of organizing the whole event, ensuring that traffic is not disrupted, helping each one of the participants with candles and above all ensuring that the city remains clean by collecting the waste materials in separate plastic bags .Theirs was indeed a splendid effort.
As I trudged my way back home after taking part in this rally, a lot of emotions overtook me. As every other individual in that rally, the events in Mumbai have deeply moved me. Most of us always have that inner urge to do something for the country to make it a better place. A candle march like this is probably just that kind of trigger we need where we can feel connected to what happens around us. Metaphorically, like how the candle once lit burns constantly giving light to the surroundings, my guess is this candle march was just the right kind of match stick to light up the candle in our hearts to contribute in whatever way we can and give light to everyone around.Bharat Mata ki Jay!!!