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Smell of a revolution as crowds gather to back Hazare by Neha Tara Mehta

Over seven lakh calls to a phone number set up to register the number of supporters for an anti-corruption movement. Schoolchildren who have swapped their cricketing heroes for a 78-year-old Gandhian who is fasting unto death. Cries castigating Manmohan Singh's effeteness being greeted by a roar in the swelling crowds. And a mostly-out-of work Uma Bharti scouting for a photo-op but barely managing one.

At Jantar Mantar, the site of Anna Hazare's fast unto death for the Jan Lokpal Bill, it is hard to miss the smell of revolution in the dehydrating April heat.

"In our country the rich are becoming richer and the poor are getting poorer. How can we not protest against corruption?" asks Tania Basu, a first-year student of mass communications from the Jagan Institute of Management Sciences, who has spent the last two days camping with her classmates at Jantar Mantar, though her exams start on Monday.

"If Anna can fight the system at 78, we should do so too," says her batchmate Kaushik Kumar.

"Bhagat Singh, after all, was in his twenties when he sparked a revolution." For many of the young rebels with a cause, coming to Jantar Mantar was about lending their moral support to Hazare, who they confessed they had come to know about on Facebook and via the media only recently.

"We haven't done anything for our country," says Varun Wighmal, a first-year student of Ramjas College. "At least we can express our support to Anna Hazare." Hazare's call is yet to ricochet in the University of Delhi. "Students at the university aren't so involved with the campaign now," says Rohan Kathpalia, a third-year student of Ramjas College.

"But Facebook could make a big difference. Each one of us has between 300 and 500 friends. Even if we can reach a tenth of them, we would reach a large number of people."

Facebook is also being used to promote the Asmita theatre group's street play on corruption. "We have been staging this play since March 23 to help create a mass movement against corruption," says electrical engineer-turned-street theatre activist Vineet Ahuja, just before joining his 20-member
troupe to perform in front of Hazare.

Among the youngest at Jantar Mantar were students from St Mary's School.

"Our generation needs a revolution," declares Kali Walia, a Class XII student.

Her classmate, C. Lavanya, agrees: "We are here to shape our minds and the minds of our generation." Lavanya is confident that the revolutionary spirit will last well into the IPL. "Even if people don't come here, we will. This is more important for the nation's survival than watching a cricket match," she says.

The young people get a thumbs up from the man they are rallying around. "There are young people here of all ages - 25, 30, 40, and 60," he declares to a crowd that howls in support. "Youth power is the greatest strength of a nation." Among the 170 people who are fasting along with Hazare are two doctors from Maharashtra - Dr Praveen Sharma, a neurosurgeon at Fortis Hiranandani Hospital, Mumbai, and Dr Sunil Gandhe, a general physician from Ahmednagar.

"We have jumped into this also to prove that it isn't just a bachelor who can fast unto death," Gandhe says. "Even people like us who have families and busy practices can make the sacrifice for a cause." IIT- Delhi alumnus Rajiv Malhotra, who's the president of a Delhi- based company, is organising more IIT-ians to participate in Hazare's movement. "Anna is 74 and does not need to do this for himself," Malhotra says. "He is fasting for us and for our children. Why should IITians take a back seat?" The movement, clearly, has just begun.

With inputs from Kumar Vikram