It was not just another weekend for Harish Haswani and Preethi Haswani.
It was not just another weekend for Harish Haswani and Preethi Haswani.
The couple was at the Freedom Park with their two-year-old daughter Ojal to make their votes count while endorsing the Jan Lokpal Bill draft. “It’s not an outing, but service to the nation,” said Preethi, a project manager.
The couple plans to be here on Sunday too. Preethi’s husband, a software engineer, has been a regular at the Park and wanted to initiate the family into the movement.
“One of my friends is on an indefinite fast. I have been visiting to meet him and lend my support to the movement,” Harish said.
Parents were going beyond teaching children about truth and honesty.
“There is no relation between what we teach and what happens in the real world. That’s why I wanted my children to see for themselves the Jan Lokpal Bill movement and understand what corruption is,” said Pushpalatha VM, a homemaker. Her husband, Vinod Kumar, has been visiting the protest site but it was a first for the family.
“I will keep coming here till the bill gets passed,” said businessman Ramesh GS, carrying his four-year-old daughter. Anna topi sat firmly on the little one’s head. Ramesh spoke about lending his voice to cries of Inquilab Zindabad and Bolo Bharat Mata Ki Jai. “The bill will help reduce corruption because people are together. Individuals refusing to pay bribes will not help. We paid `500 to get a birth certificate for our daughter. It happened within two days. If not, it would have taken a month,” he said.
The daughter’s school admission too required the couple to pay a bribe. If a Lokpal Bill board is put up at government offices and it clearly states that bribery is an offence, corruption will be reduced, he added.
Engineer by week, nation-server by weekend
These days, software engineer Tejesh BM is spending his time for the nation, picking up stickers thrown on the ground. This do-gooder goes around collecting pieces of paper that have Hazare’s name so that the people do not set foot on them. “I respect the country; I respect the person who has brought us here,” he said.
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