In the dead of night, my phone rang to wake me up. It was a horrible shock. By the moment I came to senses, it had stopped ringing. With outgoing call bar active on my phone as consequence of my inability to pay the bill in time –alas! I used to do it with a few clicks – I had no choice but to wait for another ring. Finally, the caller gave in to the impatient human nature and I picked up the phone with eagerness. Amazing! My otherwise discreet friend calling to know more about the buzzword in academic circle nowadays – study material. In fact, government has got now used to take perverse measures to frustrate all and sundry. For instance, teachers now chowkidars. Bizarre! Teachers are directed to prepare and upload e-lectures for students at a time of no or limited internet connectivity. In west, teachers give in years together to come up with study material. Sometimes a life of sacrifice is behind a publication – a paper, a book. But here irrational government decree is bound to frustrate a teacher, his pedagogy, his teaching methodology. With no students around, teachers are ordered to dance attendance on their bosses. And poor students – by now some of them have mastered the art of stone-pelting; some have got used to a life of imprisonment and the rest have totally lost the plot. Everyone is suffering. People from all walks of life are forced to live a dog’s life- all biting the dust willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly, silently or complainingly. Kashmir is burning. With neither side hinting at compromise, it is an impasse. No one gives a damn. Moreover, preposterous and irresponsible statements by Centre and State do nothing but make them a subject of ridicule besides adding fuel to the fire. It is high time that our mainstream camp stops shedding crocodile tears and resigns en masse, and does something to help people out of this crisis. Neither counting nor comparing killings with past help. Playing gesture politics, party politics at this hour is doomed to failure. Public is angry. It is no more a spark of anger; don’t mis-judge it as a mere flush of anger. Those at the helm of affairs here – at centre and in state – have to eat humble pie for their non-serious, deceptive tactics and politics from time to time. From Nehru down to Modi this heaven–turned-hell has seen nothing but double-talk and blabber on about ‘atoot ang, integral part’. With present crisis heading towards the fifth month and no solutions around, it is unrealistic on part of New Delhi to talk about development. Given the magnitude of loss and sacrifice offered by common man, separatists cannot afford missing an opportunity. They must do everything so that the sacrifices don’t go waste.
