A day temperature of 41 degrees Celsius and humidity levels touching 77% had evidently sapped the energy of the thousands of people who had gathered at the Ramlila Maidan to support Baba Ramdev's fast against corruption on Saturday.
For most part of the day, under the drone of dozens of speeches and the onslaught of hot dusty winds, people slept, read newspapers and once in a while joined shouts of ' Bharat Mata ki jai ' and ' Vande Mataram '. The grounds were dotted with crushed halves of lemon that were being distributed by the handful to ensure that nobody suffered from dehydration .
Once every hour, the crowds would liven up to drama on the stage. From fiery speeches by religious Maulana Rizvi, who had the crowd cheering him at each reference to Ramdev and Lord Ram, to Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari, who stole the show with his song and dance routine, there was enough action and entertainment to ensure that when Ramdev took to the stage, he had everyone's attention . For the few hours when Ramdev took off for meetings with the government, the crowd again fell back into listless stupor.
Standing amid the vast sea of people, it was difficult to fathom why so many of them were braving the relentless heat, many of the men stripped to their vests, to sit through the afternoon with nothing much to occupy them for large durations. However, the moment Ramdev came on the stage, people shed off any vestige of lethargy to break into loud cheer and applause. "We are here only for Baba and will stay here as long as he needs us. The heat means nothing to us," said Sarita Devi, a school teacher who had come all the way from Assam.
A long and steady chain of people defied security to get close to the stage where Ramdev was seated just to get his picture on their phones. Police officials were on regular rounds and despite the surge of people in the grounds, no untoward incident was reported.
In the morning, a French student from JNU and her family dropped in to witness the unfolding of events, providing much amusement to the gathered devotees . A kinnar family did not just have the audience on its feet but also caught the saintly attention on stage as everyone stood up to get a quick view of their two-minute song and dance routine.
Ramlila Grounds had turned into a tourist spot with several locals dropping in to see what was happening. Bharti Verma, a 23-year-old who came with her cousins and uncle from Rajinder Nagar , said, "We have been watching this on TV but today we had the day off from work and decided to come here and see what was actually happening. But it has become too hot and we do not have plans of staying much longer," she said.
For most part of the day, under the drone of dozens of speeches and the onslaught of hot dusty winds, people slept, read newspapers and once in a while joined shouts of ' Bharat Mata ki jai ' and ' Vande Mataram '. The grounds were dotted with crushed halves of lemon that were being distributed by the handful to ensure that nobody suffered from dehydration .
Once every hour, the crowds would liven up to drama on the stage. From fiery speeches by religious Maulana Rizvi, who had the crowd cheering him at each reference to Ramdev and Lord Ram, to Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari, who stole the show with his song and dance routine, there was enough action and entertainment to ensure that when Ramdev took to the stage, he had everyone's attention . For the few hours when Ramdev took off for meetings with the government, the crowd again fell back into listless stupor.
Standing amid the vast sea of people, it was difficult to fathom why so many of them were braving the relentless heat, many of the men stripped to their vests, to sit through the afternoon with nothing much to occupy them for large durations. However, the moment Ramdev came on the stage, people shed off any vestige of lethargy to break into loud cheer and applause. "We are here only for Baba and will stay here as long as he needs us. The heat means nothing to us," said Sarita Devi, a school teacher who had come all the way from Assam.
A long and steady chain of people defied security to get close to the stage where Ramdev was seated just to get his picture on their phones. Police officials were on regular rounds and despite the surge of people in the grounds, no untoward incident was reported.
In the morning, a French student from JNU and her family dropped in to witness the unfolding of events, providing much amusement to the gathered devotees . A kinnar family did not just have the audience on its feet but also caught the saintly attention on stage as everyone stood up to get a quick view of their two-minute song and dance routine.
Ramlila Grounds had turned into a tourist spot with several locals dropping in to see what was happening. Bharti Verma, a 23-year-old who came with her cousins and uncle from Rajinder Nagar , said, "We have been watching this on TV but today we had the day off from work and decided to come here and see what was actually happening. But it has become too hot and we do not have plans of staying much longer," she said.
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