This year for Indian Republic Day, a force of youth took to the streets and danced to the beats of Indian democracy and constitutionalism, making us all dance and sing with them.
This was not only a performance, but an assertion of their stance on India’s democratic and republic history (both past and present). A strong assertion that there is no room for regressing backwards.
Men, women, administrators, teachers, the common people all came up to share their feelings of love for what the youth were trying to convey through their flash mob performances. A whole batch of college students stood up shoulder to shoulder with our performers during the Preamble. Women shared how they got goosebumps when they heard the songs and salutations to our great Indian leaders and felt grateful that someone was trying to spread the meaning and power of being in a republic. Some youth in the audience joined in with stunts during the dance and elders participated too by clapping, foot tapping and cheering “Hum Sanvidhan Wadi” along with us. It was a day of many encouraging moments of solidarity.
We carried out performance after performance, covering over 12 locations in just one day was certainly a feat. Between the Anubhuti-mentored ‘Badlache Parv Kala Manch’ youth who came from NDT, Adivasi, tent and rural communities… along with the untiring all-women team of Anubhuti, as well as amazing volunteers, with lots of pre-planning and preparations supporting us through the day, we managed to do it. It was a small effort in the overall movement for upholding republican thoughts, where we, the people of India are the sovereign and claim that so loudly in public places.
There were also many stories of change from within the group of performers. These youth had to first navigate nerves and break many layers of social guilt in order to dance not only with each other, but in front of public audiences. They then had to face negotiating with their families to be allowed to do this so late into the evening, showing how there is trust and pride for change in communities.
