Around two days ago, I heard news [I was listening to a
radio program], that the Indian Airline pilots have called off their strike
after some 58 days of a long battle. It is said that it’s an out of court
settlement. All of the guys, who left or got fired because of this, are keen to
come back from this week. What was the strike for, what the demands were, and
if these demands were met or not; is of no consequence to the people who
suffered on the airports. They grumbled at first, then sighed heavily and found
other alternative solutions. That’s just life.
Strikes in India are always colorful. Sometimes under Red,
Orange, Blue, Black; very rarely they are under the national flag. Especially,
in Kolkata region and Maharashtra, they can just happen and end at a moment’s
notice. I experienced such drama once , during one of the numerous rickshaw
strikes that happen in Mumbai. I was still a first year STUDENT, doing data
collection from various mobile stores. My area was thane, Kalyan and Dombivali.
When I realized that there was no means to go back to the station which was
really far away and public transport was not to be trusted [according to local
sources there was only one bus coming for each hour], I kind of panicked. After
running around frantically; literally begging to the rickshaw guys to take me
to station, I realized that the situation was hopeless and sat on a roadside
just like other people.
My face must have
looked extremely pitiful, cause some of the local ladies took pity on me and
invited me to hop in on the their tempo. Of course sitting in front with the
guys was out of question, so I climbed the back side. The ladies were quite
agile for their age, because it took me an effort to climb it. I will never
forget, sitting with all the vegetables, listening to their loud chat, occasionally
taking part in it, and laughing loudly as if I was one of them and nothing else
in the world mattered. Some of them
started commenting on the ongoing strikes. Believe me, these comments were full
of black humor and compared to us educated people, they were quite thorough.
“Beta,” one of the aunties told me, “when you spend your life carrying
vegetables on your head, you become smarter eventually.”
Not everybody was enjoying it the way I did. I clearly
remember that strike lasted for about three days. Being a season for board
exams, many students suffered. The BEST, TMT, KDMT [these are the public
transportation services in Mumbai and around] issued extra busses just for that
period, but for such a huge population they weren’t enough. This is just one
example. The question arises is this, are these theatrics really useful? The
common masses suffer pointlessly, while a group of people fight for their
rights. No, I am not saying that doing this is wrong. But the methods of such
actions of justice are too much. I took a walk once through KEM hospital area,
that day happened to be the second day of the strike of resident doctors. While
the reason for the strike was right, but the pain of all the patients who were
waiting for the treatment, was it right?
The answer is vague. Both sides have their issues. The party
on strike also comprises of people, with families to feed. The rickshaw drivers
have to balance the petrol cost. The resident doctors want some protection
against the violent relatives of patients. The BMC staff wants their 6th
commission pay. Just think, did they get it? The people of the past generation
can tell you the stories of Dutta Samant’s fight against all the mill owners in
Mumbai. Do you want to know further? The strike is still going on, even after
assassination of Dutta Samant, the mill compound being turned into malls, the
whole generation of mill workers lost in dark. All they demanded was some share
as well as living quarters, which still haven’t been granted to them.
Its just that overuse of the weapon has lost its impact. We are a forgetful bunch of people. The first time Anna Hajare fasted, the whole nation was on uproar. The second, the third, nobody cared much, not even the media. Once the opposite group sees the attack, they devise some strategy against it. Even in our legal system, there are such openings. For example, read the labor law. It takes a long time for a person to ask for rightful justice. And in between, time just flies. And we keep forgetting about such incidents, and find other alternatives to continue with our lives; shifting from a dramatic intervention to the normal monotonous life.
Let’s just hope that the next time a strike happens around
us, we’ll spare a minute to understand the both parties before cursing them
ruining the momentum of our daily lives.
It maybe naïve on my part but I wish that everybody will have an
enjoyable time like I did. The color fades fast when there are so many minds to
be painted. I’m sure that the people will devise some new ways to show their
distress. I just hope that they would not end into tragedies, as some of the
dramas tend to do.
Aditi A. Khawle
aditi_khawle_tchr@yahoo.com
