Firstly,
yes. This title is actually inspired from the famous novel “Love in the time of
cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Why? Probably because this entry will also
describe stories of love and unity in extremely trying times.
When a
student enters med school with eyes full of dreams of sitting in a doctor’s
revolving chair one day one probably cannot even imagine that a day will come
when one will have to sit down on the ground and demand justice and protection
for themselves and their community. As protest marches continue, slogans change,
vandalism shows its dirty face and crime scenes are tampered with, fear creeps
in all our hearts. Whatever we are fighting for, is it achievable at all? We
have so much at stake, can we really risk it all? As political colors pollute
the purpose of the movement, and people with colored flags hit the road to
protest, “We want justice” becomes more of a propaganda than a cry for justice.
When ideals are wounded, mind starts losing hope and the heart suffers seeing
the atrocities all around, love is the only thing that holds the protest
together.
Love comes
in various forms- the courageous Love which allows friends to console and take
care of each other on dark nights when the threat of an approaching mob sends everyone
into a state of panic; the caring love which allows brothers to offer to take
their grown-up sisters home from a protest meeting on a day where there are
chances of violence on the road; the concerned love which causes old friends,
teachers and relatives to call multiple times to find out whether med students
and doctors are okay in these trying times; the respectful Love which one feels
towards their strict professors who come to stand by and support the students
during the movement; the cringe Love which causes crazy lovers to hold hands
during protest meetings; the fearful Love which at times causes parents to
forbid their children from going into protest marches for the fear of violence;
the loyal Love which binds us to our colleges and our fraternity and fuels us
to continue fighting everyday; and lastly the empathetic and sorrowful love
that everyone in feels in their hearts for the victim and her family.
On the days
when the future seems bleak, slogans seem pointless it is the light of friendship and humor which
rescues us from darkness. Light comes in the form of eating free cakes and
biscuits and chit-chatting in between protest meetings or in the form of
humoring oneself by observing the people around. Some great ones take the
opportunity of protest meetings to sit down and read medical books in between
slogans. Some find an outlet to their creativity in the form of making up
extempore slogans or long touching messages in group chats or repeating the
same statement in different ways on the microphone during protest meetings. Some
people misinterpret their talents and try to sing in between protest meetings
leading to uncalled for comments from the listeners. Some play video games on
their phones, while some show silent, passive-aggressive protest by never
joining in during slogans. One observes that particular PGT who comes into the
meetings every day for some time to show solidarity, never sitting down,
joining in the slogans or saying anything at all and wonders how he is indeed a
tall-standing “pillar of support”.
It is this
love and humor, coupled with our undying dedication to our cause that keeps the
protesters united on the face of every adversity. However, fear still looms in
the shadows- fear of failure, torment and violence grips us. Will we really
have justice or do we have to see other dark nights like the first stroke of
our 78th Independence day? Only time can tell. Till then, let Love
and loyalty unite us all as we, as a nation, raise our voices against injustice.
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