THE MAN OF THE JOURNEY

THE MAN OF THE JOURNEY

18-AUG-ENG 7

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA--------------------------Sometimes when I saw you, I felt like a boy standing in a crowd – on whose shoulders the burden of someone else's stick has been placed. Face tired, eyes searching, and gait such that you have set foot on the path of politics but your mind is searching for some other jungle.

Then came that day when you chose the road. You decided to walk amidst the wind, sun and dust. The first step of Bharat Jodo Yatra was not taken by the man whom social media used to call "Pappu". That step was taken by the person who was broken from within and also wanted to connect.

I saw, as if a traveler sets out on a long journey and gradually the tiredness on his face turns into a glow. The restlessness in your eyes was washed away by the dust of the journey. There was firmness on your face. The weight of truth started to be heard in your voice. And for the first time people saw – the face of a human being, not of politics.

Today when I see again that you are travelling on the land of Bihar, it seems as if the dust has risen from the banks of the Ganges It is refining you again. The soil of Bihar has always given birth to rebels – whether it is the fire of Naxals or Gandhi's movement. Now the same soil is saying to your feet – "Rahul, pass through here, learn from here, and renew your faith from here." Your journey is not just political, it is a journey of the soul. You are changing at every step. First the journey made you someone who "stands out from the crowd", and now this journey is making you someone who "stands out among the crowd."

The sparkle in your eyes now does not come from books, it comes from countless handshakes, the blessings of old women, the laughter of hungry children and the sweaty palms of farmers.

Rahul, this country is still looking for a traveller. It does not want a leader, it wants a man who will walk with it. And perhaps you yourself have now understood that the real meaning of politics is not speeches, but the journey. This walk of yours - slow, steady and full of dust - is somewhere the last walk of all our hopes.