Toddler of a rebel!

Parbina Rashid

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I will not shave till CAA is scrapped,’ announced Assam’s heartthrob Zubeen Garg on a local television channel. One could dismiss his claim as a lazy man’s whim, but his conviction substantiated my belief that a person’s hair has something to do with his or her rebellious streak. Though I must admit that there is no scientific evidence to prove my hypothesis.

Years ago, Sinead O’Connor shaved her head in protest against the objectification of women in the entertainment industry, among other things she had been protesting against. She looked stunning in her bald avatar as she crooned ‘Nothing compares 2 U’ and bagged a Grammy in the year 1990.

I cannot say the same thing for Zubeen, one of the most popular singers from Assam. For, with Amit Shah’s firm stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act, and also the Supreme Court hearing on the Act going the ‘tareekh pe tareekh’ way, his beard is unlikely to see the razor for a long time. I am not very sure if the Robinson Crusoe look would suit his petite frame. But the ‘mane’ point is, one has to do what one has to do! Even if that action sometimes is a little off-tangent!

Like years ago, during the peak years of the All Assam Student’s Union-led agitation, I often used to accompany my grandmother for protest marches from Graham Bazaar to Chaukitingi field in Dibrugarh, shouting slogans like ‘Tez dim, tel nidiu’ (We will give blood but not our oil). I, a second grader, couldn’t figure out why we should give blood instead of the cooking oil in the kitchen! It sounded gory. But my confusion would soon drown in the din of the war cry — Joi Aai Axom (Glory to mother Assam). And sucking on the coconut candies that my aunt would give me for the road, to sustain my energy and interest, I would merrily hop along, raising those slogans.

Joi Aai Axom — I heard it decades later at the most unlikely place during my recent trip to Dibrugarh. I was there to be a part of a prayer meeting for my maternal aunt who had passed away. A teacher with a formidable reputation, a huge crowd had gathered to mourn her death. My 15-month-old nephew mistook the gathering for an anti-CAA protest rally, and rising to the occasion, he shouted Joi Aai Axom, throwing his hands up in the air. It took me a while to comprehend what he was saying. His sloganeering skill was quite wobbly, but his body language was unmistakably that of a revolutionary! To acknowledge the presence of this youngest anti-CAA protester amidst us, we mourners, too, shouted — Joi Aai Axom!

Times change, faces change too, but the spirit remains the same.