New Delhi, March 22
In an attempt to end the ongoing stir, the Government of India on Tuesday invited Jat leaders for another round of talks.

“The Centre has indicated that it wants to hold another round of talks,” said OP Mann, one of the Jat leaders, to The Tribune while confirming that a delegation had left for Delhi. However, he refused to elaborate when the talks would be held.

The Jat leaders have set two deadlines, March 25 (Friday) and March 28. The first deadline is March 25 when the Jats intend to block the Delhi-Ambala railway track.

On March 28 all railway tracks and roads in Haryana, including those going to Delhi will be blocked if their demand is not fulfilled by then, they have threatened.

Hisar, March 22
Despite sharing a name with India’s epic Ramayan, a dusty settlement near here was a little known hamlet outside the district till recently.

It all changed three weeks ago when it became the epicentre of the pro-reservation agitation by the Jats. For 17 days now, over 2,000 members of the community, including women and children, have been blocking the rail track passing through the village, disrupting traffic between Hisar and Delhi.

The blockade site looks like a rural mela. Colourfully dressed women and street urchins have a dominant presence among the sombre menfolk attired in white. The women and children are boisterous while the men laze around as their leaders hold impromptu strategic sessions to decide the direction of the stir.

The main strategist is Hawa Singh Sangwan, a former commandant of the CRPF. Like the village Ramayan, Sangwan was not known outside his home district of Bhiwani. But he has shot to fame in the three weeks since the stir began for the tenacity with which he is leading the community.

With the temperatures rising steadily since last week, the protesters have raised makeshift shelters across the rail track for protection against the sun.

While most adults understand what the agitation is about, street urchins are there for the heck of it. A 12-year-old boy, Surender, hailing from a nearby village said: “it’s great fun. All my friends are here. Sometimes we attend school and sometimes we spend the day here”.

Asked if he knew what the agitation was about, he pondered for a while and then replied: “My brother who attends college in Hisar says he will get a sarkari naukri”.

Life at the protest site is hard. Men and women squatting on the tracks need to attend to household chores too. A kitchen runs at the site round the clock. Food is cooked twice a day for those who care to eat. Tea is served at short intervals.

Groups of women do the cooking and children serve the food. The flour ghee and at times vegetables are donated by the people of Ramayan and nearby villages. One of the leaders said: “The expenses on food are met almost entirely through donations”.

At night, young males keep a vigil while the protesters are asleep. The day begins at 4 am. Groups of protesters head for the fields for the morning chores.

To keep away boredom, groups of young village boys sing the raginis, the traditional Haryanvi folk songs. Remarked 60-year-old Birmati: “In chhoron ki ragini sunke, ji sa aaje” (these raginis rendered by the boys touch the heart strings - a real pleasure.”