Thread:

Back in late Dec & early Jan, I visited a number of anti-CAA protests and sit-in sites.

There, I saw something that I think was both a little heart breaking and yet extremely beautiful.

These sit-in protests were by and large led by women. That in itself was pretty bad ass in my opinion - I had never seen something like this in my 23 years of life and was glad that I could witness it. This should be the norm.

But something that caught my eye was individuals leading for the first time -

I saw so many grandmothers & mothers who had, for the most part of their lives been housewives to their husbands and caregivers to their children; but here, for once, they were leaders.

I distinctly remember a lady, who managed a simple task of telling people to keep the sidewalk clear - to stand elsewhere. She did that with great enthusiasm; you could see that she was enjoying the task.

In a moment of ignorance, I asked my friend, 'Who enjoys such a thing?'

My friend replied: 'Someone who has never had an opportunity to do something like this'.

That is when it struck me - what we see as mundane, punishment tasks, are an opportunity to lead for so many people. For them, it is almost a gift; privilege of sorts.

Another instance I remember is that of a man who had trouble walking due to a medical condition: the first couple days I saw him, he was sitting in a corner, nobody cared about him - to the crowd, he was a nobody with no real purpose.

It was apparent that his medical condition had robbed him of many opportunities.

A few days later, I saw him heading the entry desk where he sat and checked ID cards of the people who entered the protest site.

You could see the difference it made - he was so happy to be a part of something - to have responsibility - to contribute to a cause in his own little way - to be a leader of a small task.

We take so many things for granted - many of these are a privilege for others.

It was heartbreaking to see that a huge section of our society has never done what we consider basic, boring and mundane tasks - their circumstances/culture/family have held them back.

But I was so happy to see that these people were still trusted with these tasks, regardless of the fact that they lacked experience in these areas - the community showed faith in them. The community decided to include them and help them learn instead of sidelining them.

This was one of the things that I loved about these protests - the people here were so forward-thinking, welcoming and understanding towards their fellow protesters.