We kept saying and hearing these all along: today’s students don’t know history; they don’t have social awareness; they just learn by rote, surf, flirt, chat, play video games, watch movies and prepare for those campus interviews. TV channels increased their TRPs by showcasing their ignorance.
Even when they hit the streets, I heard professors say that they are doing this for getting a vacation. I have heard those of us who have never fought for our rights, say they don’t have anything better to do.
All of these could still be partially true. But now these young students have shown that they have something that we never had : raw courage!
I do not find all their demands and all their slogans agreeable. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t even matter, what goals they reach. All that matters is they are on the road, fighting for a cause, and sending a message that they cannot be taken for granted anymore. A genocide will not go unnoticed, unrecorded and unopposed. A country that has made a habit of killing and assaulting our fishermen will not go unchallenged.
8 Loyola college students started the fast. A week later, 10000 students have hit the road today to protest in Coimbatore alone! Many, many more students launch protests all over Tamilnadu. The Government has shut down all colleges. The fight has not abated. It has just begun.
You will not watch this on National media. Let them do non-stop coverage of deliberations with a 90-year old and the survival of a government doomed to fall next year if not now. These unheralded 20-year olds are the ones making all the difference. Stiff heads will turn and deaf ears will hear soon.
I set out to train and inspire these students. I stand inspired by them.
Posted by Kannan 
Loud Thoughts 