Cooped Up

Yesterday, the march came into Delhi and marched right by the Gandhi Peace Foundation where I am staying. I sat on the balcony and took more photographs of the march. It took 1 hour and 10 minutes for the march to pass. The march stopped for the night near the centre of Delhi in a dirt field called Ramilla Maidan.

After breakfast this morning, I headed out to Ramilla with several others. Today is the day we march to the Delhi parliament. It's only a 4 km hike so all foreigners made a point of being there.

I arrived shortly after 9 am. The streets were full of armoured police. This does not bode well. TV cameras and reporters thronged the perimeter of the field. The marchers were still enclosed in the field when the march should have started at 8:30. We made our way in through a heavily guarded gate. I found out the police was there to prevent the march from proceeding to parliament. It was a very convenient place to hold 25,000 people.

Rajagopal made some announcements to the effect the police is not our enemy, our struggle is not against them, etc. A delegation of Ekta Parishad executives was dispatched to go talk to the Prime Minister, where he was supposedly holding a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture about the land issues the Janadesh marchers are fight for.

In the last few days, the rallying chant has been a hybrid Hinglish phrase: Jemne or Jail - Land or Jail. The organizers and marchers are prepared to go to jail if that's what it takes to get land.

But while waiting for either the march to start or to be arrested, people milled about, some groups kept dancing while the foreigners suffered under the scorching sun. I started to feel faint so I went behind a tent where some policemen were gathered. I sat on a silver box. Through the iron railing, I saw some of my friends on the other side. Lou, a French marcher who is two months pregnant, said she fainted just a few minutes ago and scraped her ankle. I asked her over to sit in the shade. So she climbed over the railing and down the wall, with the police watching.

I realized I had lost my water and I must have been a sorry sight. I know I felt like vomitting. Lou sat beside me and fanned herself. At least we weren't in the sun. The officers near us started brewing tea. When they finished, they poured out a tray and brought it to their colleagues at the other side of the field. Another officer poured out two cups and offered them to Lou and I. I was ever so grateful. It revived me immediately, which made me think I must've been suffering some kind of sugar low.

I walked around a bit and ended up resting near a gate. I must've dozed off. Anita, one of the march organizers, shook me a bit and gave me some raisins. Then she started talking to a woman on the other side of the gate telling her about the march and its purpose. I heard the woman say, I came down to see the march because I read about it in the newspaper yesterday.

A vendor came by selling disks of peanut brittles. I decided to get some. The woman said, Just a minute. She bought about 15 disks and gave them to me. She said, You are doing such a good thing. Give these to your friends.

I gave half to the marchers near me, then walked back to where the foreigners were and shared the rest with them, telling them about this gift from the woman outside the gate. I think we all felt better because she did this.

Some of the foreigners were concerned they'd be trapped in the field for days, some were just annoyed. Someone started the process of phoning our home embassies. The Canadian, German and French embassies had already been called. The embassies were told we had willingly walked in, but now we aren't allowed to leave.

I am not sure about that. It's difficult to leave because the marchers had crowded the exit gate, and the only other gate available was locked. The police certainly won't let the march continue on Delhi's streets. But individuals, especially foreigners, might be able to leave the field. I saw some people go through a gap in the railing with the police watching. I wanted to leave. I really had to get my flights sorted out. So I went to that gap in the railing and asked the officer leaning against the wall if he could move aside. He did and I left the march.

Now that I've sorted out my flights, I will go back to the march to see what is happening.