A thick carpet of snow covered Srinagar on the morning of January 30. And snowflakes kept falling. The white and cold drape on the city formed the backdrop for the conclusion of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was journeying through the length of the country braving the heat and the rain, shared his feelings about the yatra at the Sher-i-Kashmir stadium as snow interspersed with raindrops fell down incessantly.
The crowd in front of the dais was sparse, huddled underneath a thicket of umbrellas. Party leaders said it was partly because of the snowfall and the tight security restrictions in Srinagar. The leaders on the stage too, their numbers affected by the inclement weather, kept their speeches brief. Rahul wore a grey ‘pheran’, a tribute to his Kashmiri roots and a marked departure from his T-shirt and track pants routine on the yatra. Waving away a security person who had rushed to him with an umbrella, he made an unhurried speech in which he talked about the rigours of the long walk from Kanyakumari to Srinagar and highlighted that he had walked through the valley despite security threats and had got only love in return from the people.
The imagery of the leader, at the end of the 135-day yatra that began on September 7 at the southernmost tip of the country and passed through 12 states and two Union territories covering 3,900 km, was that of a person who was ready to endure hardship and pain in solidarity with the issues of the people. Early on during the yatra, he called himself a tapasvi and described the experience as a sort of penance. The salt and pepper beard that grew long as the journey progressed would have added to the image.
Esta historia es de la edición February 12, 2023 de THE WEEK India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición February 12, 2023 de THE WEEK India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Divides And Dividends
Contrasting narratives on the scrapping of Article 370 define the elections in Jammu and Kashmir
Playing it cool
Everybody knows what 420 means in the Indian context. But in American parlance it is something very different: four-twenty or 4/20 or April 20 denotes cannabis celebration; its cultural references are rooted in the hippie culture of the 1960s and 1970s.
The heroine's new clothes
Who else but Sanjay Leela Bhansali could bring on a wardrobe reset like the one in his just-dropped period piece—an eight-part Netflix series called Heeramandi?
AI & I
Through her book Code Dependent—shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction—Madhumita Murgia gives voice to the voiceless multitudes impacted by artificial intelligence
Untold tales from war
Camouflaged is a collection of 10 deeply researched stories, ranging from the world wars to the 26/11 terror attacks
Hair force
Sheetal Mallar, in her photobook Braided, uses hair as a metaphor to tell a story that is personal yet universal
THE WHITE TIGER GAVE ME CONFIDENCE IN MY ABILITIES
The first time Adarsh Gourav made an impression was in Ramin Bahrani's 2021 film The White Tiger, a gripping adaptation of Aravind Adiga's Booker-winning novel.
The art of political protest
The past doesn’t always remain in the past. Sometimes, it emerges in the present, reminding us about the universality and repetitiveness of the human experience. Berlin’s George Grosz Museum, a tiny gem, is a startling reminder that modern political and social ills are not modern. Grosz lived through World Wars I and II, shining a torch into the heart of darkness in high-ranking men and women—who were complicit in the collapse of the world as they knew it.
REFUELLING DYING SATELLITES
A Chennai company is making waves in the world of space tech startups
DIVERSITY IN UNITY
THE SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY IN THE US HAS SEVERAL THINGS IN COMMON, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS, THERE ARE WIDELY DIFFERING OPINIONS AND FEELINGS