Twitterati for Anna

What's your side huh?
District Tumsar, Nagpur, India

In my last post I spoke of how everyone who is anyone has an opinion to express - be it about Anna Hazare, Tihar Jail, Jan Lokpal or Sonai & Co. The twitter citizenry, or tweeps, if you like is not only never behind, it is usually a few paces ahead in breaking news these days. Its also the most interesting. I came across a few tweets that I felt necessary to share in a post.

Some are witty, others hilarious, some regular and yet others that are downright dumb. Some display angst, some frustration, some motivation and others just poke fun. But all of them drive home a point. What that is – I leave for you to decipher and interpret yourself. Here's a compilation of some of the best tweets (by my personal measure) on the issue over the last 2 days.

@claudeveigas
15 Aug 1947:Whn the world slept, India rose to freedom; 15 Aug 2011:Now that India has risen, the govt.is trying to put it back to sleep

@hkollar
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. - Mahatma Gandhi

@prachi_dhanuka
#annahazare the new age gandhi with more hair and less teeth!

@RohanDasgupta
#AnnaHazare is a mad man. Oh, he sure is. But India really needs some of his madness right now. #IndiaAgainstCorruption #iSupportAnnaHazare

@MTVIndia
Anna Hazare arrested. Our faith in demoNcracy is restored.

@IACMumbai
It took 9 months for the govt to arrest Kalmadi, 4 yrs to arrest Raja n Kanimozi but 3 mins to arrest Anna #FakeDemocracy

@jhunjhunwala
Arresting Anna Hazare for a Hunger Strike is like arresting AR Rahman just because you don't like his Songs

@jayvasavada
Government sending message that vandalizing is d only way of protest not fast because they never arrested Thakeray but arrested Anna!!

@sapnabhavnani
Got arrested, singing in the police van, never felt so alive!#annahazare aage bado, hum tumhare saath hai!

@anilthakraney
Soniaji & Co: Don't know how to say this in Italian, so here goes: Vinaash Kale, Viprit Budhhi.

@vikramchandra
They are sending Anna Hazare to Tihar jail?! Is no one in the UPA thinking at all of what they are doing?

@maya206
This is the theater of the absurd. Corrupt and anti-corrupt in cells side by side in Tihar & the most inept, out of control govt I've known

@kiranmanral
This has gone beyond being the theatre of the absurd. This has become sheer ridiculousness. This is what will now cause anarchy.

@chetan_bhagat
Corruption hurt UPA. Arrogance will kill it.

@greyoceanblues
Its not about #Anna anymore. Its about whether we want to be lorded over by a power hungry dynasty who doesnt feel answerable to the people

@RajeshAmarnath
#isupportannahazare when Gandhiji wanted congress to be dismantled after freedom, he must have been right!! We can see the british congress.

And the winning tweets:

@PetaIndia
If you’re with Anna Hazare in his fight against corruption, then also consider being vegetarian like him. #isupportannahazare

@adityamendonca
#AnnaHazare , You've spammed us .Good movement , WRONG COUNTRY

@ranvirshorey
It's almost like #AnnaHazare has just asked this Govt. "Who's your Daddy now..?" #janlokpal

@manish_moments
Dear Rahul Baba .. Ever heard of kalidas chopping th branch on which he sat..

Have you come across any others? Feel free to share them on a comment...

News on twitter? What's wrong with that?

The only form of communication I know
Naddi, Himachal Pradesh, India

There’s news coming in fast and quick about Anna Hazare…Anna Hazare’s fast, Anna Hazare’s jail, Anna Hazare’s bail. Sitting in my Manhattan apartment, I feel deprived of the circus usually put up by Indian news channels following a political tamasha, or any tamasha for that matter.

It is on occasions like these, that I appreciate even more the role of Twitter and Facebook in providing real-time updates on the situation back home. I know, there is enough of a case against calling twitter a reliable source for news, but there are just as many who will make a case for it. I add my count to the latter. Atleast, its news with a sense of humour. On a rare occasion, wit too. Provided you’re following the right mix of people. I ensure that my timeline reflects the regular and the ‘reliable’ but also the im-too-cool-for-my-pants dude who picks up the breaking news, adds his own hilarity to it and jolts out his own version of the original serious intonation. What’s wrong with that? There’s enough serious news to go around the internet if you’d rather look that way.

As I look at my twitter stream today, I see a common mass of young India, shocked (some amused) at the events conducted by its own government, I see chants of a ‘second freedom movement’, I see support and encouragement for a man they don’t know – for a man that they might not necessarily agree with but agree to his right to democracy, the right to speak up and the right to protest. More importantly, I see less cynicism about the outcome of the protest and much less ignorance than would have existed without Twitter. :)

Armchair activism? Maybe but again, what’s wrong with that too?