Click to play videoThe Justice for Jessica campaign, the battle for a long overdue judgement in the Priyadarshani Mattoo case,a strong Right To Information campaign, CNN-IBN's citizen journalists - India's middle class has amply proved over the past year that it is up and running for causes that matter.
Be it running around for radical reform, lighting candles for justice or garnering support for a long-term change, the great Indian middle class has been there and done it to all. CNN-IBN celebrates the spirit of the middle-class activism in a special series - The Rise Of The Radical Middle.
Aurangabad: What makes some people rise above the ordinariness of a routine life in a small town, to look at the larger picture? Can ordinary people, bogged down by the mundane but mandatory task of making ends meet, think beyond their world?
Anil Bokil believed it was possible and did it to prove his point. Bokil – a former engineer and an entrepreneur – doesn't look like a regular activist. There are no placards in his room that he calls home and no sloganeering crowds gather outside his door.
But Bokil has traded the usual comforts of a middle class lifestyle, for a life less ordinary. He gave up the security of a regular income and a family life - ready symbols of accomplishment in a small town like Aurangabad - to work on his vision for economic reform though creating entrepreneurs.
"You may wonder what difference it would make if just one person were to care about the country. But if I didn't, who would? An American won’t, a Chinese won’t," he says.
The activist within Bokil was born when he broke away from his routine of six years as a manufacturer of engineering instruments.
In a time of recession when banks were unwilling to loan money to local entrepreneurs, he kicked his own business to help his fellow entrepreneurs build credibility with banks.
Together they set up a tiny industrial estate with a contribution of Rs 100 from every member.
Today it’s no longer tiny, having grown to 50 units. "We all worked together, people of all castes..it was the need of the hour," says one of the entrepreneurs, Santosh Kulkarni.
For thousands in small towns busy preoccupied with climbing economic ladder and securing their own future, there are a few like Bokil who set aside their own career to give a leg up to the rest.
"I'm that man. He has the sensibility, but is a bit less intelligent. But he can sense what is happening to RK Laxman's common man,” says Bokil, emphatically.
This common man is not just talking but also walking the talk.
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