High-voltage drama and sweet smell of revolution at Azad Maidan

MUMBAI: Each time the crackling voice on the mike asked, "Desh ke khatir kaun ladega?" and the sea of protestors fitted with Anna topis at Azad Maidan burst with "hum ladenge, hum ladenge", a cobbler outside Azad Maidan nodded with rhythmic precision. His gaze followed hundreds of feet that zipped past him, turned to two cops on a scooter, who were more determined to hear 'Munni Badnam Hui' on their mobile phones, and then remained fixed on intermittent glimpses of the vada-paostuffed tonsils of a frail young man who exposed them every time he chanted, "Jai Hind, Jai Hind."
The cobbler, who squatted under a poster of Anna Hazare and Mahatma Gandhi, was probably used to witnessing high-voltage dramas at the maidan.But this was a class apart. Azad Maidan had turned into a shrine for remonstration tourists. Students with the tricolour tattooed on their cheeks streamed in with mobile phone cameras, men with aviator sunglasses slid inside Tommy Hilfiger collars dropped crisp notes in donation boxes and heeled girls releasing wafts of perfume joined the sloganeering. Some even offered to jump into police vans.
Women in embellished salwar kameezes stepped out of screeching cars complaining of the heat and the lack of chai. Men in pinstriped shirts answered phones with, "I'm at the Anna protest, dude." TV cameras zoomed in and out as 'celebrities' streamed in.
The maidan was divided into huddles: volunteers who distributed pamphlets, activists who discussed latest developments in New Delhi, supporters who observed their second day of hunger strike, yuppies who seemed amused by their presence at protests and trespassers who came to breathe in the sweet smell of revolution. The people, the mood, the slogans changed as one moved from one clique to another. "Nation's power, student's power," was heard near the gate where the members of student unions stood. "Sabse bada dushman kaun? Brashtachar, brashtachar," was heard near the stage where activists huddled. "Anna wale disco, Congress wale khisko," was heard from some chuckling yuppies.
People breezily walked through, stopped to take photos of impassioned volunteers waving flags and smiled at the crowds that had hung around at the BMC's balcony. When a camera-happy crowd of giggly girls formed around the volunteers on hunger strike, a spirited Parsi protestor, 53-yearold Bankim Mistry, with a placard saying, 'If you take me to jail, I want to be treated like Kasab,' demanded Rs 5 for a click. "You people pay Madhuri so much for modeling. I'm also a model today," he said.
A few feet away, a television reporter with gelled hair took a sip of water and accosted a young supporter. "Why have you come here?" he bellowed. The student said she wanted an end to corruption and disappeared into the crowd.
A woman from Goregaon requested that ladies wear black in protest. A man with an unwieldy beard and a tricolour tattooed on his head begged for money to buy lunch. Volunteers with jholas full of Rs 10 Anna topis, badges and posters dished out the fastestselling item on the ground with expertise. Those who didn't have change, got it free.