Friendship Day: When protests sparked dosti at Jantar Mantar

At the recent protests at Jantar Mantar, as youngsters faced batons and tear gas, they also found something unexpected — lifelong friendships. Amid the chaos, some strangers have forged bonds that have endured long after the protests ended. Here are a few such stories.

Some friendships are made over coffee, some over college canteens, and some, apparently, over tear gas and evading lathis. This Friendship Day, we speak with a bunch of strangers who met at Jantar Mantar and since then have gelled together as BFF’s. Between dodging batons, sharing water bottles to wash off tear gas, and the classic ‘bhaago!’ , these protest buddies didn’t just survive the day together, they also swapped numbers, and now long after the demonstrations are over, their bond is still thick.

Several youngsters who turned up at the protest have been sharing pics and Reels with their new friends.

“I went to the protest solo on July 20 with no squad. Then the tear gas hit and suddenly everyone’s running. I grabbed onto the boundary railing for dear life, and so did the girl next to me — a random girl with glasses and two other friends in tow. By the time the chaos died down, we’d unofficially decided we were walking out of there together,” says Pari Tripathi, a second-year student at Delhi University, adding, “Then the craziest discovery happened, turns out we go to the college, same batch. She is Indian Music Society President, I am Dance Society Treasurer, and neither of us had a clue until a tear gas cloud introduced us. A week later we somehow ended up performing at the same freshers’ orientation. Now we are stuck with each other for life,”

Priyangshu Naskar, another DU student shares, “Tear gas canisters went off, and then the police lathi charged right at the biggest group there, which I was standing in. Everyone just ran. Some random tall guy grabbed my t-shirt and pulled me to the side and that’s how I met Navish and his 4 friends. Five of us ended up hiding behind a shut tea stall, half sheltering from the rain, half hiding from the cops. The internet was down, everything ran on UPI, and barely any shops were open , so we were collectively broke, hungry and dehydrated for most of it. In between all that, we somehow found time to talk about music, history, and completely mundane daily-life stuff, like we were old friends and not five strangers. We made a pact that day to stay peaceful no matter what, and honestly, that’s what got us through the next few days without anyone in our group getting hurt. When it was finally over and we’d actually gotten what we came for, we went out and celebrated together. And, today we are chatting all day long in our WhatsApp group,”

It’s not just students but even influencers who made new bonds in the city and are cherishing those. Take for instance lifestyle influencer Yash Chandra who is today making friendship day party plans with the strangers he met back then, “I put up a post on Instagram saying jo log protest mein mere saath chalna chahte hain, join kar lo. Wahan se sab connect hue, and we decided milte hain New Delhi metro station pe, phir auto lekar Bangla Sahib gaye. Milte hi itna connect ho gaya. Gaye toh the protest support karne, but end mein itna fun ho gaya, bilkul ek hangout jaisa feel aaya. Now we are talking on a daily basis and not just talking, we are booking a farmhouse for friendships day and going to party.”