Were I in India I’d be at Jantar Mantar, were I a youth I’d have been there all month and were I still a practicing librarian I’d love to make a video like the LA Public library did about 6/7 but about “Vaste Guna Huiya” which appears on protests signs and in short videos students have posted, notably during police interactions. In those videos, it seems a way to ask the police “what are you even doing here?” but using a meaningless phrase to convey the nonsensical nature of police / state intimidating and attacking youth.

Shivani Dixit of India TV News, traces the now famous phrase back to an old video of a kid jumping from the top of the staircase, in response to a friend or perhaps sibling asking “Can I get a “Hoyi Yeah?” which is perhaps a thickly accented or willfully modified “Oh Yeah.” Landing on a mattress placed at the bottom of the stairs, the kid gleefully gets up and says, “Oh Yeah!” to which the first kid rejoins, “Hoyi Yeah!”

As Ameesha S of Free Press Journal notes, there is no evidence that the two are linked. Even if they are, it has become the “6/7” of the students’ protest. One Deepender Singh Hooda quoted it in parliament today. In 2005, at the age of 27, he became the youngest member of parliament in India. In his speech today he praised the youth who protested with the constitution in hand, with revolutionary slogans, and using terms of endearment like “kuchu puchu” when calling for the education minister to resign. He also called out the government for its unwillingness to hear the students or allow them to speak. “The government sought to suppress the voice of the youth,” he noted.

I know I am jumping on the bandwagon of internet lore but if there are other origins of this phrase I hope we hear about them too. Meanwhile, here is that 2015 video – and I can’t help thinking, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed? Think again.” The monkeys are not listening! Instead they are cheering each other on, catching each other when they fall, and getting right back up again.

Read / Watch More:

CNN-News18 Deepender Singh Hooda addresses parliament about government response to student protests: https://youtu.be/zLiIiZUyvGc

India TV News: what-does-vasteguna-huiya-mean

BBC: Delulu, Clock it: Cockroach protest brings Gen Z slang to India’s parliament

Free Press Journal: what-is-vasteguna-huiya-the-viral-gen-z-phrase-that-has-made-its-way-to-parliament

Reddit: my_mom_is_asking_me_what_does_vastegana_huiya

LA Public Librarian explains 6/7: https://www.instagram.com/reels/DQczNe7EmBr/