FLOWING WITH THE RIVER: REFLECTIONS FROM THE YATRA

THE first week of the Bharat Jodo Yatra was an emotional one. After wandering through the cynical desert of everyday politics, it feels as if I have stumbled unexpectedly upon a life-giving river that nurtures all those who submit to her flow. The river burst forth tumultuous from a sangam of the seas. Mighty, exuberant, almost raucous. And yet tentative, self-conscious and surprised by her own power. But most of all, she is inevitable. The turning Universe has made this time and place hers alone.

- SACHIN RAO

I arrive in Kanyakumari on September 7, my fiftieth birthday. An early flight, a long drive on jammed roads, the chaos, and the audacity bordering on the madness of the idea of walking the length of India at the rate of a half marathon a day weigh me down. I can hear a voice in my head asking, 'Kaha phas gaya re tu? The beach is overflowing with people.

A sea of humans, the shine in their eyes, a spring in their step. People from all over India and every walk of life, most from outside the Congress. They have come for no reason other than to witness what their bones tell them is history being made and to be counted by their presence with an idea whose time is now. The atmosphere is electric. The air crackles with the latent potential of a million voices waiting to be unleashed. The collective energy is an explosive force that launches our Yatra forward.

I well up with emotion as I realise that every step in the journey to come is a step shared by the lakhs in Kanyakumari and the crores with us in spirit. I pride myself on being a nirgun bhakt', a rationalist after Nehru. But I cannot help but interpret the gift of a moment that comes but once in many lifetimes, on my fiftieth birthday, as anything less than a call from the Universe.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude, joy and purpose. This may be as close to venerating the divine as I come.