We live in a world full of information, with scenes changing every second and, in some cases, every fifteen seconds.
There is nothing wrong with that as long as it remains in our control. The problem begins when we are no longer choosing what we want to see, and instead become the material being stuffed with information that was never required. At times, we do not even realise when we have stopped watching and started being used.
The recent Cockroach Janta Party protest in India was a call much required. Society had reached a point where something had to be said loudly enough to be heard.
It reminded me, in its intention, of what Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt did in the Central Legislative Assembly. The situations were not the same, but perhaps the purpose of creating a disturbance was. Sometimes the noise is not made to destroy. Sometimes it is made because silence has become convenient for too many people.
Every ignited protest is filled with the pain of people who carry a genuine grievance. It is supported by real people because something has already gone wrong somewhere.
But these protests also become an opportunity.
For some, it is an opportunity to show the animal side that has been kept tamed by law and order. For others, it becomes a stage. Suddenly everyone has something to say, something to record, something to perform, and sometimes even something to become famous for.
There is nothing wrong with being seen. The question is what exactly is being seen, and what is being forgotten behind it.
Then there are people who understand the value of an overflow. They see emotions, attention, anger, sentiment and momentum moving together, and they try to store this flow in a dam or tank. Not to resolve it, but to use it later according to their own convenience.
The pain belongs to someone else. The emotion belongs to the public. The benefit may finally belong to people who were never part of the grievance.
Still, the flow has to go somewhere.
Emotions need to be answered, resolved, redirected or parked. Now that the hype has settled, the question is whether the result expected from the protest was ever achieved.
Was the pain heard?
Did anything change for the people for whom it was ignited?
Or was the pain utilised by some while the whole nation moved in a flow of emotions that filled every street, shook the country once again, and then quietly found something else to watch?
A protest should not be remembered only for how loudly it began.
It should also be remembered for what remained after everyone stopped looking.