It was around 4 pm when Divya, our campaign manager walked up to me and said the people on the ship are gloomier than the prison. She had just bumped into Samir who had spent the morning with the Climate 6 at Midnapore jail and is now back on the Kidderpore Docks where the Rainbow Warrior is berthed.
It is not that the boat was in mourning or anything of the sort, on the contrary, the local members of Greenpeace Direct Dialogue along with the help of the boat crew had put up many colourful drawings made by Kolkata kids welcoming the ship to the city.
I never cease to wonder from where these kids get their ideas from. It is certainly not what they see around them when they are on their way to school, or to the local park at playtime. And here I include even the most privileged among them.
The pictures they drew are of a sun in the sky and a sparkling stream with many trees growing on the banks. There will be the mandatory two or three birds in the sky just above or below a rainbow and a happy dog or a cow jumping near a place that's apparently Home. Oh and yes, there was the ship in the stream and some fish too.
I can't imagine any kid these days in Kolkotta or Delhi or any other Indian big town getting a glimpse of this vision. Yet they draw, maybe, because it is there, deep in their hearts. Maybe it’s the picture of the world through the eyes as they see it.
And I am surprised about how close it is to our vision. But then, campaigning is not child’s play.
I imagine it will be difficult for those not directly involved to understand what it means when six of your colleagues are in prison. It strains the nerves of all. Especially, those who are part of the team and are not in jail! I have seen it before, when three of our ocean campaigners were hauled into New Delhi's notorious Tihar jail for highlighting the situation of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles in Orissa.
Today I felt we had reached that point here. Last night at 11 pm, Vinuta, Juan and I went to the flat to pick up a fresh set of clothes for the climate 6. From Asena's bag we found her a set of clean clothes but as we dived into Gaurav's rug sack we joked that maybe he was better off with what he had on his body at prison. It turns out that the climate 6 will be shedding their dirty clothes, for well, less dirty ones. Moral of the story, always have fresh underwear ready, you never know when it is an emergency.
I didn't fail to spot the quiver in Vinuta's voice as she spoke while turning off the lights of the flat on our way out.
Those who are not in jail, but involved feel the full brunt of it. Maybe, it's a feeling of helplessness, or guilt of not having done enough. And yet I know that everyone is seriously s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d to their human limits. Samir, our actions coordinator is ensuring that the climate 6 have everything possible from a toothbrush to - under the given circumstances - maybe even a cheerful smile.
Since this was my first visit on board the Rainbow Warrior and since I would like to be a deckhand for three months, I quickly figured out what was what and who did what and such stuff. And as the visitors started to flow in through the day, I proudly showed them around.
That's how I met Preeti Ravindra who is a class 12 student from St. Joseph's Convent, in faraway Patna and Aarti Dhar who is one of the security personnel at the port. They were quite absorbed when I told them the story of the Rainbow Warrior and her many successful missions. As we stepped into one of the crew members rooms (I think it was the mechanics), Preeti remarked that "it was much smaller than her room at home but almost as large as her hostel room" which made me laugh.
After the tour Aarti was thoughtful and said that though as a security personnel she would not take trespass lightly, she hoped that the judge will look at the motivations of the climate 6 on Monday when the courts will pass judgement.
I so hope too.
Vivek
Even if you couldn't be on board, you can still take a virtual tour of the ship online. And please help stop climate change by signing our Ban the Bulb petition.
