Jantar Mantar, December 30

At the condolence meeting, December 29, half the gathering shouted slogans: Hang The Rapists! We Want Justice! This is the other half, silent, holding up posters that do all the talking.

If the mobs aren’t storming the Bastille, take a chai break. Riot cops at Jantar Mantar.

Though some cops were busy. Big Brother, filming the protestors as per standard protocol. (He has a much nicer camera than my little cellphone number.)

By 11 pm, the crowd had thinned, but families continued to come in to pay their respects at the makeshift shrine. The candles had burned down, creating rangolis of melted wax.

Candlewax rosary.

The chaatwallah and popcorn-chips men had left, but the chaiwallah was still in demand.

“We want justice!” a woman chanted, breaking the silence. The justice of the lynch mob, of rope and hangings, this poster suggests.

This was a sleeping sadhu, who’d come to join in the protests during the day and needed a little rest.

Out of focus, thanks to my lack of camera skills, but this was a reminder that not everyone wanted blood. Tagore’s poem: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high…” Teenagers, asking where that India might be found.

Leaving, we passed a woman who was wiping her eyes with the end of her scarf. “Poor little girl,” she was saying. “That poor little girl.”

Posted

December 31, 2012

in

by

Nilanjana S Roy

Tags:

candlelight vigils, city diary, Delhi protests, Jantar Mantar

Comments

One response to “Jantar Mantar, December 30”

bombaytobk

December 31, 2012

I feel like I am getting more reliable news from your blog than anywhere else on the web. Thanks for your updates and your thoughtful insight on this tragedy…travesty. I hope you continue even when the foreign press forgets and the crowds slowly fade.

From New York with much compassion and support.

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