The poem was first published on 30th January, 2020. The protests before it had been building for a while: JNU resisting the fee hike, then CAA at Jamia, which culminated in the police attack on campus, then the sit-ins at Shaheen Bagh. A pogrom followed, and then COVID hit. Since then, mobilising for anything has been hard, and workers, especially, have struggled and gotten very little support.
The current youth protest, triggered first by the "cockroach" remark, then the NEET leaks, offers some hope. Lots of students, parents, and citizens are out there for the first time. It's tempting to say, "We're only here for one thing, we like our causes tidy—no politics attached." Or "we're apolitical, we just care about education." Or, from the other side, "this isn't organic, it doesn't engage with the issue", and withhold solidarity. Pause before doing that.
Politics is all-pervasive and inevitable. I hope solidarity moves in all directions, and that agitating shows us how similar our goals are- workers wronged, hospitals being privatised, students forced to sit one exam and then made to reckon with its futility, in a state that treats them as fragile the whole time.
Even as farmers are heading to Delhi's Kisan Ghat on 21st July for a mahapanchayat against the India-US trade deal, it's worth sitting with the instinct to see that as someone else's fight, too far from campus to matter, rather than acting on it right away. There's room for careful consideration of our own principles and privilege, and what engaging would actually cost or ask of us. But whether we engage or choose not to- the choice is political, and always will be.
Solidarity to students is coming from all spheres. We must remember this feeling and the importance of political engagement and standing together with our impoverished and less glamorous brethren.
Chicken in the Middle of the Road
We don't get our hands dirty
with petty leanings of polity
You see we don't concern ourselves
with the news flying off the shelves
No, we don't fly off the handle
Neither light up any candles
even if it is quite dark
and we could maybe start a spark.
No, we shall maintain a neutral stance
Or maybe keep waiting for a chance
to show ourselves and where we stand
but we're scared, rightly so, and
neither you with your shenanigans
nor the state, the fanatics, the hooligans
really seem to get much done
plus, your pain really doesn't seem fun.
So, I'll be waiting till you sort it all out
I'll look away, ignore the shouts
and shots and screams and all the noise
I will maintain my calm and poise.
I mean, I'm alive, am I not?
I shall survive, despite the rot.
For I am quite nice and complacent
And I subdue all doubt, while still nascent
And if things go wrong (and I still end up thinking)
I shall lie through my teeth, not even blinking.
Or if I still crumble with the status quo
It won't be my fault, you know
Because nothing ever is, because I never do
The onus to save me, will be upon you.
Edited by Parth Sharma
Image by Shivangi Shankar
