This whole "shia-block-roads" outcry is so bizzare to me. You don't have to be Shia or believe in all Shia beliefs to appreciate the significance of this. And I don't mean it in a "hum sab ka mazhab hai" preachy way. Even in completely irreligious terms, this is such a uniquely

enriching experience for all of us.

Thousands of people congregate to remember a moment of political resistance against an oppressive state. It's a testament to human will and bravery. It's part of all our histories. In a country where people barely congregate for anything,

where there is barely any political protest, any political organization, Shias remind us of the act of resistance in our political tradition.
They bring to us a sense of community. They occupy spaces *meant* for citizen expression. Its message is so universal, you have hindu

participants in its rememberance. Hindus aren't shia. They realize they don't have to be to understand the political and cultural significance of this.

It's a practice to keep our histories alive. The spirit of resistance alive. The sense of community alive in us as people.

It comes with a tradition of resistance poetry, literature, and a unique expression of protest.

People around the globe keep the spirit of resistance around one way or another. And people around the globe occupy public spaces as a means to jog the memories of people of their

communities.

These two days that you get off from work, aren't a holiday. It's a break from the mundanity of life so that you could get time to connect with the humanity in you. To remember the struggles that are part of your histories. To remember the struggles that are part

of your present. There is a reason Kashmiris cry out for Karbala in a way more intimate than most of us can imagine. They draw strength and courage and inspiration from it.

It's okay if you are inconvenienced a little. Be a inconvenienced a little. Let this inconvenience remind

you that you are not a machine in a mundane hustle. You are human. You have the audacity to resist. You treasure the memory of loss. You have the courage to fight even when a victory is not on the horizon, because the courage is victory. The fight is victory.

Remember you are human.

You don't have to belong to the shia community. You don't even have to be muslim to appreciate the significance of these two days. Even if you don't dedicate any spirituality or religiosity to this act of rememberance, you'd be poorer without it.

Even if this is not a moment of religion for you, understand it's a cultural phenomenon. It's an emotional and intellectual excersice to revive our sense of community and humanity. Even if it's nothing for you, it's this for all of us.

Don't be a people who chooses convenience

over memory of our political resistance. Over organizing in the community.

There is not much we come together over which has such a universal emotional pull.

If we lose this, we lose everything. We'd all be poorer.