24 July,2026 09:18 AM IST | Mumbai | Aastha Atray Banan
It’s naive of us to expect actors, cricketers to speak up. They don’t have the courage that Gen Z has displayed. Pic/Shadab Khan
It's been an intense week for Indians. if you are online consuming content or offline attending protests, you have been overwhelmed with emotions like anger, frustration, sadness, and helplessness. I have felt all those and more. I have also noticed that the protests have led to many revelations being brought to light, other than the lack of accountability by the government and our flawed education system.
Here are four off the top of my head.
Gen Z knows what is important. They skip out of meetings that needn't have been meetings, they check out of work at a decent time, they say it like it is, they don't shrink themselves, and they are now doing the work many of us should have done a long time ago. If any one of us thought Gen Z was lost, and unsure, and wasting their life, well, how wrong were you! They have told us what's actually worth one's time - and that's why so many of them were on the streets, fighting the good fight.
They have also done it with such swag, such charm - making funny reels, writing hilarious banners, and just being bindaas in the face of police action. I am in awe, I am proud. Gen Z, I salute you.
It's time for some friendships to end. Many have decided to sever connections if political ideologies don't match. Cries of "if you support the current government, we are no longer friends", have filled Instagram. Friendships that may have survived spouses and children, have now dissolved in the dust. Many studies have shown that about 15% to 35% of adults end relationships over political differences. But it's mostly driven by partisan hostility, aggressive communication, and perceived moral failures than by the actual distance between ideological beliefs. The last few days have seen people's real feelings come to the fore, and that's why the hostility seems to have risen to this level. It's okay, adults should have few friends - get the ones who are ride or die, and let the others fall off.
It's taken almost a week for the celebrities to start responding to what's happening. Alia Bhatt posted on Thursday, applauding the students by saying "their courage humbles me". Salman Khan also put out a statement. But most have been quiet. Their silence is expected but still annoying. But as I said in my column last week: it's naive of us to expect actors, cricketers to speak up. They don't have the courage that Gen Z has displayed. Stop expecting anything.
And last but not the least (in being shameless) are the influencers. Many resumed posting branded content, being as tone deaf as they have always been. One morning I found myself trolling many of them - leaving messages on their posts about "perfumes that smell good" asking them to "pause and reflect". I want to take some credit for the fact that Ankita Chawla, also known as Hustlerani, removed three of her posts once I commented. You can't be so involved with hustling you forget everything else. Then there was Masoom Minawala who was posting about ORS brands, Rida Tharana who was posting about her creator workshop till three days ago and then started posting reels on her opinion on the stir. Ranveer Allahbadia was posting about Christopher Nolan. Eye roll. And a podcast called "Having said that" was still posting ragebait clips. I trolled them also, by the way.
Once again, I want to say this loudly: Influencer content is for sale. If a brand said post on July 20, well, let's post on July 20. It's only the fear of trolling that's keeping them from their usual business right now.
It's been intense. And it's going to continue for a while. Find time to take breaks from offline and online protests and work on your mental and physical health. That's the only way we will manage to keep going. And all we can do right now, is keep going.
We got this. Gen Z has got this.
See you next week.
Ranting and raving about all that's trending on social media, Aastha Atray Banan is an author, creator, podcaster, and the Editor of your favourite weekend read, Sunday mid-day. She posts at @aasthaatray on Instagram.
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