You have heard the Voice

We the People are so busy trying to make ends meet, that we have forgotten what it is to think. Mostly, our attitudes unconsciously reflect our desire to be left alone to lead our lives – we want someone else to do the dirty work.

So here we are, watching on national television, and on our streets, the frustration of the collective. Suddenly, there was the septuagenarian, who has miraculously emerged from the mess, to allow us to see what we were.

So in a surge of oneness, the Great Indian Middle Class is out there, showing its strength. For the first time in 64 years, it discovered its Voice. However, in the melee, in the comparisons to Gandhi, one thing is emerging slowly, that some of the commentators are piecing together and putting into words. What everyone missed and what everyone is discovering now.

The ruling class across polity is not just a bit confused. They have lived in a time warp, feasting on the crème of the country, while the drones worked their butts off to make a living. They ensured that the drones did not get anything free – that every bit of education, medical care or essentials of basic living, were fought for tooth and nail, thus allowing those in power to feast on, uncontested.

This ruling class is yet a leftover of the children of the Midnight Generation, who probably saw Freedom happening but were too young to participate in the building of a nation. So without the pain of hard labour, they grew into understanding power and what it could achieve. Now in their sixties, seventies and eighties, these illusionaries, our elected representatives, wise in experience - stand there bewildered not understanding the actual truth of what is happening out there. And Anna was visible, they targeted him; fell flat. Every party in the opposition is glad they aren’t in the hot seat.

But this isn’t about Anna at all. This is about the Voice that has been emerging, a Voice we see every day, we have nurtured them, brought them up and allowed them to grow into the New Generation. This New Generation is not really looking for the privileges of stepping into the shoes of their fathers, mothers, grandfathers or grandmothers like the Leaders who try to be role models. They are discovering new things to do, new things to enjoy and new experiences to explore. In fact, this is the Generation that sees little beyond themselves and their concurrent life circles, the Generation that believes that they are their own role models. Freedom and Gandhi then, were things they read in history before the 11th standard.

This Generation is from the Great Indian Middle Class, looking for good educations, for better degrees, better paying jobs, good lives, well-furnished homes and happy experiences. This is best epitomized by the current Airtel ad so brilliantly interspersed between the news on channels capturing the Voice, where groups of youngsters sing to let you know what their different friends are and how these friends are important to them. And they are the Voice – they are right in front of you and they will not listen to what you say unless they themselves believe in it or are convinced about it.

They are our children, our grandchildren – and no – their Voices are not that of merely the rich and the powerful or those in the media. They are the Voices of those who live next door, who catch buses, trams and autos to college or to work, without the media making them into youth icons. They take loans to get them through college, they aspire to study or work elsewhere in the world and in their own eyes, they are global citizens, yet contemporary Indians.

So is this about Anna? Not at all. This is about the Voice everyone missed, and the Voice that the Wise, in their elected confidence are completely disconnected with. This Voice votes/or not votes, but they are in touch with reality. They have always known what they do not want. (Have you tried persuading your child to do something against his/her wishes? You will understand what I mean.)

So when this pristine, grandfatherly man, who seemed sincere and who suddenly emerged talking Jan Lokpal exhorted them to be there with him, they needed no encouragement. Like a dam burst, they are there flooding the streets.

The Wise Ones have retreated, licking their wounds. They Youth Politicos cannot help them for they themselves grew up in the lap of privilege, acquiring easy educations in Harvard or Cambridge, touring the world young and cocooned in security.

Anna is merely the metaphor, a strong one nevertheless. The voices on television grow stronger, and they are from the Voice – now not shy from showing a Face. There will be others who will speak as loud.