I feel very delighted, elevated these days. It feels that some inner core of myself has acheived something, very very special. I felt sank in this feeling since the night of 11th february when Media announced that longtime Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak has quit. When visuals of celebration at Cairo's Tahrir Square were splashed on television screens, I could barely hold my wish of going to Tahrir Square and embrace those winners of modern time, to congratulate them, needlesss to say that I wanted to tell them-" Fellas, you have created, not made history". I just wanted to be there to feel, breathe, touch, embrace, imbibe the flowing air of joy. I wanted to be there to tell coming generation that I was present there when history was in the making. Every moment we live is going to be history for generations to come, but the scene of Tahrir Sqare was unforseen, for my generation, who came to life around the tima JP was urging Indians to revolt agains Indira Raj. Later on, we read the stories of Emergency days, win of Janata in 1977. In fact, later on we worked under some of those people, who had taken part in the JP movement. The likes of Ramdutt Tripathi and Sheetla Prasad Singh under whose guidance I worked for a while, always shown special emotions, while telling us the stories of Emergency and JP movement days. Back then, I always prayed to God, Please give me such an opportunity also in my lifetime.
Events of Egypt were much bigger than that. People congregrating in Tahrir Square to oppose the tyrannical rule of Mubarak, call for a million march and their continued protest sit -in was something we never heard of. And, here we were witnessing this, albeit on TV, Internet and other mass medium. As students, we have read about French, American, British and Russian revolutions. Peculiar Civil Protest Methods of Bapu are close to our heart as it was the gist of our Independence movement. Back in 1989, the massive protests of Thianmen Square, are still mentioned whenever we question China's Civil Right issues. But them we were not grown up enoug to understand the broader contours of that protest. Also, various mediums, like internet and mobile had not such levels of penetration around world, that are these days.
Revolution of Egypt stands tall in our minds, above all these events, as we are witness to it, in person. Participating in it as many ways, as possible, like viewing events on television, seeing comments of revoultionaries on Facebook and Twitter. Egypt contains many unique things. First of all, there was no clear leader of protestors, still they were mammoth, outnumbering almost any previous count. Who had heard of a million people marching in tandem for democratic and universal civil rights?
Egyptian Society is a hugely divided one. Between haves and have nots, among sectarian lines like Arab Muslims and Coptic Christians. But, for march against Mubarak, they all were comrades in arms, uniting their strong thirst for civil rights, merging their strength to fight the tyrannical rule of Mubarak and thus creating a mammoth mass of people, standing as one Pharaoh to challange the 30 year old oppressive rule of Hosni Mubarak and his coterie.
People who confluenced at Tahrir Squire, themselves divided them into several scouts' team, so as to keep an order, to keep the place clean, to easily spread the message, if the need arose.
Noted American Journalist, Thomas L. Friedman of LA times quoted one such young scout in his experiences. When Friedmen asked this young man, "why have you undertaken the job of cleansing this place without getting any remuneration?" He simply answered, and I quote him, "This is my country. It is my duty to keep it clean. I will clean the whole Egypt once Mubarak leaves". Who would not fall in love with that man's answer. How many of us contain this sort of thought within ourself. The cyber age revolutionaries of Egypt nurtured strong urge for democracy. And this feeling was not an isolated ones of only have nots of people. Those Egyptians who were living luxorious life far from the shores of Nile or Red Sea, also shared the compassions of Million marchers. One such Investment Banker, who worked in Saudi Arabia, took leave and returned home. He then took his two younger sons to Tahrir Square. When confronted with question why he did so. He told the investigator-I simply could not resist the wish to see through my bare eyes, what is happeing in my country. I wanted to be part of this history making process. I took my sons to Tahrir Square, so that they can also breathe the air of change, so that they can also tell their coming generations that they were present at the Sqare, when these momentous events unfolded.
Such strong was the feeling, urge for a change around the way they were treated by their rulers. Egyptians wanted to be treated respectfully, wanted to be free of conspiracies of their rulers. They simply wanted to live their life the way they wished. They struggled for it with passion, with all the instruments at their command. And it can be safely said that they have been successful, if not fully, at least partially. And, their means of spreading the message was also unique. They are the cyber revolutionist. Using the medium of Internet, they all chugged along.
Events of Egypt were much bigger than that. People congregrating in Tahrir Square to oppose the tyrannical rule of Mubarak, call for a million march and their continued protest sit -in was something we never heard of. And, here we were witnessing this, albeit on TV, Internet and other mass medium. As students, we have read about French, American, British and Russian revolutions. Peculiar Civil Protest Methods of Bapu are close to our heart as it was the gist of our Independence movement. Back in 1989, the massive protests of Thianmen Square, are still mentioned whenever we question China's Civil Right issues. But them we were not grown up enoug to understand the broader contours of that protest. Also, various mediums, like internet and mobile had not such levels of penetration around world, that are these days.
Revolution of Egypt stands tall in our minds, above all these events, as we are witness to it, in person. Participating in it as many ways, as possible, like viewing events on television, seeing comments of revoultionaries on Facebook and Twitter. Egypt contains many unique things. First of all, there was no clear leader of protestors, still they were mammoth, outnumbering almost any previous count. Who had heard of a million people marching in tandem for democratic and universal civil rights?
Egyptian Society is a hugely divided one. Between haves and have nots, among sectarian lines like Arab Muslims and Coptic Christians. But, for march against Mubarak, they all were comrades in arms, uniting their strong thirst for civil rights, merging their strength to fight the tyrannical rule of Mubarak and thus creating a mammoth mass of people, standing as one Pharaoh to challange the 30 year old oppressive rule of Hosni Mubarak and his coterie.
People who confluenced at Tahrir Squire, themselves divided them into several scouts' team, so as to keep an order, to keep the place clean, to easily spread the message, if the need arose.
Noted American Journalist, Thomas L. Friedman of LA times quoted one such young scout in his experiences. When Friedmen asked this young man, "why have you undertaken the job of cleansing this place without getting any remuneration?" He simply answered, and I quote him, "This is my country. It is my duty to keep it clean. I will clean the whole Egypt once Mubarak leaves". Who would not fall in love with that man's answer. How many of us contain this sort of thought within ourself. The cyber age revolutionaries of Egypt nurtured strong urge for democracy. And this feeling was not an isolated ones of only have nots of people. Those Egyptians who were living luxorious life far from the shores of Nile or Red Sea, also shared the compassions of Million marchers. One such Investment Banker, who worked in Saudi Arabia, took leave and returned home. He then took his two younger sons to Tahrir Square. When confronted with question why he did so. He told the investigator-I simply could not resist the wish to see through my bare eyes, what is happeing in my country. I wanted to be part of this history making process. I took my sons to Tahrir Square, so that they can also breathe the air of change, so that they can also tell their coming generations that they were present at the Sqare, when these momentous events unfolded.
Such strong was the feeling, urge for a change around the way they were treated by their rulers. Egyptians wanted to be treated respectfully, wanted to be free of conspiracies of their rulers. They simply wanted to live their life the way they wished. They struggled for it with passion, with all the instruments at their command. And it can be safely said that they have been successful, if not fully, at least partially. And, their means of spreading the message was also unique. They are the cyber revolutionist. Using the medium of Internet, they all chugged along.
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The post was written in March but posted very lately.
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