18-year-old spends savings to join protest from Jaipur

The money was supposed to buy an iPad before college. She had been collecting it since her 16th birthday, asking parents, grandparents, and relatives to contribute each year, setting it aside carefully, imagining the day she would unbox it as a proper beginning to her student years. When the protests started at Jantar Mantar, the 18-year-old from Jaipur thought about it for one day. Then she took the `15,000 and came to Delhi. “I thought I could always save for an iPad again,” she said. “But I may not get another chance to stand up for something that will affect my future.”

She is using the birthday money for food, travel, and daily expenses while staying with a friend in the city so she can attend the demonstrations. “I don’t feel like I’ve lost anything. If anything, I feel like I’m spending my birthday money on something that actually gives me hope,” she said.

She is not the only one. As thousands continue gathering at Jantar Mantar each day, a growing number of teenagers and first-time protesters say they are funding their stay with personal savings accumulated over years and borrowed money from friends and family. Many are too young to vote. Most have never attended a protest before.

Shaurya, 18, had been saving nearly Rs 30,000 to buy a scooter before starting college. He arrived with a group of friends. “I kept thinking I would need it to travel to colleges and go around with friends. But over the past few months, all we’ve spoken about is unemployment and what kind of future we’re walking into,” he said. “What is the point of buying a scooter if we’re constantly worried about whether there will be opportunities after graduation? This spending felt more important here.”

Yashika, 17, said her parents were initially hesitant. “They told me to be careful. I told them this isn’t just about today. Whatever happens now will affect people my age for years,” she said. Her parents eventually agreed.

Between speeches and marches, the hours at the protest site pass differently than outsiders imagine. Groups of students sit on plastic sheets or in patches of shade, pulling out Uno cards, Snakes and Ladders boards, and water bottles. One game has become an unexpected favourite. In circles scattered across the site, young protesters play the childhood game in which players raise a finger only if the object named can fly: sparrow, pigeon, crow. Then someone calls out “Dharmendra Pradhan.” The circle erupts in laughter before the next round.

A 17-year-old protester explained the logic. “You can’t shout slogans for 10 hours continuously. People think we spend the whole day protesting. Actually, there are long gaps between programmes. These games keep us awake, together and in good spirits.”