Today, I walked past waiting patients to the quadrangle at the heart of AIIMS, where striking doctors prepare to go hungry for another night. There were candles all around, remnants of a quiet vigil from an hour ago. Little groups of students huddled everywhere, some on benches, others stretched out on red carpets in the centre of the ground. Around them, strung up everywhere, are banners. There's a joke painted on one. It's about Manmohan Singh telling George W Bush of a plan to send Indians to the moon next year. "How many," asks Bush. "100," Singh replies. "25 OBCs, 20 SCs, 15 STs, 5 handicapped, 5 sports personnel, 2 Kashmiri migrants, 8 politicians, 18 generals and, if possible, 2 astronauts." Another poster read: "I am leaving for the US. I was disowned by my own country." This is what it has come to?

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