Monday, October 30, 2006

copy & paste?

Stumbled upon it. Thought about it a lot and finally, I want to write something about this post.

Never been interested in bloggers who search the net, copy & paste statistics, lines, paragraphs, ideas and opinions from websites/webzines, and then put in their co-called opinions after every quote. Bearable once in a while, but people who make this a full-time profession…no thanks!!

Wanted to leave my comments on this post but on seeing the circus, I decided not to participate.

To make a long story short, let’s leave out what the left-wing, right-wing or chicken-wing influenced newspapers, websites or politicians say. Just wanna ask a very simple question to all those who were saying such nice things about the Kashmiris, who were summing up and generalizing the whole people of J&K as ‘namakharam’ and even justifying it too.

How many of you have lived in Kashmir? How many of you have seen and experienced the struggles there? How many of you have really close friends from that state, friends who have told you their stories?

I’ve not been there too, nor do I have many friends from that state. But I can understand a bit coz I believe their story is not much different from the people in the north-east states. The only difference is that Kashmir has always been in the headlines while the people in the north-east can thank their lucky stars if they can find a 3 line para tucked away in some hidden corner of the newspaper.

I dread to think what these educated people who commented on the above mentioned post must be thinking or knowing about the people in the north-east. ‘Educated’ would be a wrong term here, ‘literate’ would be a more appropriate word.

It’s so easy to talk about change and sacrifice, about being patriotic and any damn thing. But to see and feel, to experience all the pain and fear, and to go on as if nothing bad has happened in your life. And to take life as it comes, that’s tough. Imagine…

Imagine having dinner with your family and loved ones. Imagine hitting the floor when the shootings started.

Imagine sleeping peacefully. Imagine being awakened by your mother and sent off to a neighbor or relative’s house in another area/locality to escape the beatings, arrest or killings at the hands of the army.

Imagine a kid playing with marbles, like every other kid. Imagine the same kid knowing the difference between the sounds of an 1A SLR (self-loading rifle) and an AK-47.

Imagine your fathers and brothers, your mothers and sisters. Imagine them being harassed and threatened by the terrorists and the army coz both parties think we support the other one.

Imagine an ambush. Imagine the army firing indiscriminately at the innocent civilians coz they couldn’t find the terrorists. Imagine the army having absolute immunity under the AFSPA to torture, arrest or kill anybody in an entire state.

Imagine your hard-earned money and your family’s. Imagine handing them out to the terrorists coz the other choice was death. Imagine the politicians, the police and the army doing nothing about it coz they all get a share.

Imagine schools without libraries, labs, cafeterias and proper toilets. Imagine schools and colleges that close every other day because of the violence and the politics. Imagine exams being delayed and losing precious years. And imagine these same students coming to the metropolitan cities and competing with the students who never had to go through all that shit.

Imagine the innocents caught in the crossfire, everytime. Imagine the innocents being stripped of all their basic fundamental rights. Imagine…

I, and almost everyone in my state grew up like that. So tell me whom do I blame. The terrorists? The politicians? The police? The army? Or the ordinary people, who are tired of everything and just want to be left alone?

Should I search for the culprit? Should I end up bitter and defeated? Should I just get on with my life, with whatever I’ve got? Or should I play a Hero and end up being just another corpse on the streets?

Do you think someone in New Delhi has done a great thing because of the ‘special status and economic packages’ you guys talked about? Are you that stupid or just plain ignorant to know that all kinds of ‘special status and economic packages’, grants, concessions, and subsidies mean nothing? Forget about Kashmir, it doesn’t mean a damn thing to any state in India. It never reaches the intended people or the targeted segment.

If you, with a happy carefree childhood, with all those years of smooth uninterrupted education, in places free of bullets and bombs, in big cities where people from all over the world live and learn together…came out with such stupid and biased opinions, I can only pity you.

When you haven’t gone through even a millionth of what these people in these troubled regions have lived through, what was in your fuckin’ head when you generalize the whole population of a state?

For your information, I don’t think Afzal should be hanged. I think he should be beaten and tortured every day, for the rest of his life by the families of the victims in the parliament attack. All terrorists, and I mean ALL terrorists become legends or martyrs after they are killed. Doesn’t matter if they are hanged or killed in carrying out an attack. And for almost all of them, that is their ultimate dream. If he has to be killed, let it be so shameful that those terrorist organizations won’t even talk about it or mention his name.

And the next time you wanna write or comment on something, please spare me all that shit collected from this newspaper, that magazine, this website, or that TV program. Just tell me your own story in your own words, and that, will be something really interesting, and worth reading.

Monday, October 02, 2006

brothers in arms

dust and weary bones
solace on the pavement
dream a little more
my brother
dream a little more
before the battle begins

you and I, we are
the untouchables
the unwanted
the unclothed and unfed
the broken mirrors
everyone turns away from

back to back, we’ll fight
we’ll fight to live
in the cruel light
and we’ll lay, side by side
in the dark, my brother
my brother in arms