A Bohemian affair

I got my hands on yesterday’s newspaper, researched a little bit on the television and came across a conclusion after delving into my inner consciousness that still instills a lit bit of sanctity and sanity to my inner self. The headline grabbing news that students were on fire in France because of a controversial law that empowers the employer to hire and fire at will within two years of first appointment. The feeling was not about the law or the justification of the protests. What led me into thinking was when the media related it to the protests of the 60’s,the counterculture, the “rebel without a cause” mindset and how different people came together to protest on a plethora of issues and that the justification of protest lay in the numbers. Protest, I thought, were merely for the sake of protesting, some way to vent the anger and frustration simmering deep down the heart or trying to find an outlet for youthful enthusiasm.
Some days ago when Bush came to India different parties went into protest and it was the not the issues that mattered as much as the protests. Protests, I thought, were merely for the sake of hogging the limelight. To create a impression in a circle or to enter a wider canvas. JNU, I think is a leftist bastion and the simmering cauldron of what I think is the “rebel without a cause” mentality. The PM went there once and faced protests on the issue of Iran and for once I was left wondering what was the point in protesting for a cause that was as alien to us as the rise of global warming to Sourav’s exclusion. And then I came across the conclusion that somehow has solidified over a period of time. The fact that India is a free country and a vibrant democracy where protests are means to glamourise the protestors. It is always glamorous to think differently, to rise against cruelty and oppression. In a nutshell to show heroism. It is another thing that the meaning of the words heroics and antics have been mixed up in the plethora of protests. Long live JNU.