Thank you for wearing white

My phone kept beeping last evening and one after the other, there were messages pouring in asking people to wear White on 1st December, today.

I ignored the first, I ignored the second but after the third, it got me thinking. To begin with, I realized, each sms had come from friends from different cities which meant that people across the nation were probably all willing to endorse this gesture.

What I was dismissing initially as some pop-gesture struck me as the first opportunity to show unity with friends and people in general. So I quickly took out my phone and sent a message to everyone on my phone list asking them to wear white - not as a mark of mourning, but as a display of resolution - our resolution to stand united and demand peace, our resolution to not give up this time, not as yet, not for a long time to come.

I woke up this morning and saw some responses that exactly matched my initial reaction to wearing white. People messaged me saying they did not want to subscribe to such lip service, telling me that nothing will happen by wearing white, that no change will come by wearing white. Last evening I might have agreed, but this morning was different for me.

I decided not to argue with those who did not want to subscribe to me plea, not to try convince them, not to make a big deal of this. My objective of wearing white and passing on the message was the same as is for writing this blog - to act upon my convictions and if people fall in line, great, if not, someday they will.

I put on my white and as I walked into office, I saw colleague after colleague, all in white, smiling at me with that knowing look of "we all DO share the sentiment and we all are pained with the loss". As I walked into office, I knew my decision to pass on the message was right and that people ARE willing to unite for a cause.

Thank you all for wearing white. No change has come about today by having done so. Deshmukh did not resign because we wore white. The Patils did not step down because we wore white. But wearing white brought a sense of re-assurance and encouragement to me and maybe others.

Re-assurance that whatever said and done, there is a possibility of uniting for a cause, that there is a chance that we all might forget our personal opinions and biases, that peace still has hope.

If the few of us hadn't worn white today to show solidarity, I would have thought it is going to be an uphill task getting people aligned. Because if people cannot do something as small and trivial as wear White, if they have to have an opinion even on this, then how are we ever going to fall in line for bigger things tomorrow, even though we have all sworn that we will bring about the change that is so badly required in the country.

Wearing white was not as significant as knowing that this time, it is not a lost battle we are willing to fight.

Thank you all for wearing white. Today this has been a beginning. Tomorrow this is going to bring the revolution we all want to see and someday, white will prevail, peace will win.