The power of mobilization
By: Parini Mehta
I am writing this sitting in an airport terminal, awaiting a flight that just doesn’t seem to be coming and for the first time in two months, I am all alone. Travelling to India, I was with my mom. I arrived and was immediately greeted by my grandparents. My first time walking through the doors of my internship, I met with my boss who I had previously engaged in conversation with. Now, not one soul at this gate knows my name.
As I navigate my environment with no one to talk to, I began to think about all of the people I will dearly miss. I built such a strong community during my time here and now I am just going to leave? But I know that it is not all in vain – the friendships I made here will transcend the limitations of distance and will bring us all closer to a global perspective. I started to think about the purpose of my being here, and the purpose of togetherness. I began to reflect on how people band together.
Recently, there have been mass protests in the nation. The protests emerged after the annual NEET exam – an incredibly difficult medical entrance test – was leaked. The high stress environment surrounding the exam is a product of limited spots in top ranking universities. Approximately 20 million students took the exam, and only around 100,000 seats are available in medical colleges. Furthermore, for many people in India, a chance at an education is hope for a better future – it is an opportunity to raise one’s family out of poverty, to provide a better life to their children, and to pursue their passions. Because the exam is so incredibly influential to student’s lives, they spend years preparing for the test. And then the day comes. Students walk into the testing room, with what seems like the weight of the world on their shoulders. And then the exam gets leaked, and all the scores are cancelled. Consequently, 20 students took their lives.
The nation became furious, demanding systematic reform from the government. People mobilized and protested for 49 days. People took to the streets and faced extreme police brutality – one man, Sonam Wangchuk, went on a 26 day long hunger strike in hopes that the government would simply converse with the people and talk about reform. And finally, the government listened.
One of my coworkers and dear friends wrote an incredible blog about the situation after the resignation of the home minister titled “So it ends?” which is linked below. In her writing, she calls on democracy for the good of all people. She details how the circumstances of the protest are gruesome and discouraging, but people showed up. She pleads for this show of community to not be the last, for people to continue to show up for one another.
Within India, there is immense diversity, which reflected in the protests as well. People from all kinds of backgrounds stood together, faced lathis and law enforcement together. When they ran from police, no one asked about economic background, language, or religion– they simply took their neighbor and ran. The issue they faced was larger than cultural nuances and societal pressures – it concerned the nation’s youth. It called on the government to fix the system so that the current children do not need to face the same challenges, so that people will no longer have to suffer at the hands of a system that was never built in their interest.
My flight boards in 10 minutes, and I find myself sitting in a state of wonder. No one knows my name, my voice, or my background. They do not know that I have spent two months in India to study the very thing that floods news outlets and newspapers. They do not know that my grandfather fought the educational system for the life that I live now. However, they know that my generation holds the future. They know that people like me demand change, not out of anger, but out of hope. They know my community will work endlessly and against all odds to achieve reform.
It is easy to become lost in the population of this great nation – I mean it houses roughly 1.5 billion people in a country three times smaller than the US. But within the millions of people, there is community. Indians have truly captured what it means to live in harmony with their neighbor rather than beside to them. The youth has begun to understand what I think is the main message behind my friend’s post: What is community without purpose?
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