IMAGINE 25,000 PEOPLE marching over three weeks a distance of 350 kilometres from Gwalior in Madya Pradesh to Delhi. Imagine a procession five kilometres long made up of women wearing red, orange and yellow saris and men carrying green and white banners, chanting and singing. Imagine all of them sleeping out by the roadside every night, eating one meal a day, some of them walking barefoot on the hot tarmac because they are too poor to afford shoes. Imagine all this and you will have some idea of the padyatra (footmarch) that I took part in, in October 2007.
The tradition of ‘footmarches’ ...
There are approximately 553 more words in this article.
To read the rest of this article, please buy this issue, or join the Resurgence Trust. As a member you will receive access to the complete archive of magazines from May 1966.
If you are already a member, please Sign in
