Kashmir on the verge of a people's revolution (PART-I)

"A sleeping giant waking up to this world of injustice and oppression"

It was Thursday, The last day of the three day deal which Hurriyat conference had announced for giving people a breather before another week of continuous strike and protests….
Sensing the urgency in the eyes of every Kashmiri rushing to markets that this might be the last day when day get a chance to go out and buy themselves a bag of rice before their lives get crippled again with the indefinite strikes and curfews…Even I rushed to the overcrowded and busy Lal Chowk (city centre)….No, not to buy any rice or processed food packs of the Italian pasta or Chinese chowmein but instead to buy my essential stock of groceries and clothing to help me survive in college…
Yea finally I found a college ready to take me in...The current scenario doesn’t allow a Kashmiri to live freely in India (AS IF WE WERE LIVING FREELY IN OUR OWN VALLEY….!!!)
Most of the Kashmiris living or studying in the more greener pastures of India don’t feel secure anymore…Thanks to the communal forces acting in this great nation that forced me to go for college to Middle East (Dubai) rather than our own thriving metros….
The shops seemed so empty and the clothes looked like they belonged to some ancient age….!!! Maybe the highway blockade and the strike kept the newer and trendier stuff from reaching the windows of our cities beloved shops….!!!
Totally frustrated, I decided to come back home empty handed…But just as I was about to go back to the car parking which happened to be quite adjacent to my school (C.M.S. Tyndale Biscoe which sits handsomely at the heart of the city centre), I heard a familiar sound…The ‘ding-dong’ of the famous school bell (which is already a piece of history due to its age and the high pitch sound it creates throughout the otherwise chaotic Lal Chowk streets)
I turned back and remembered that I was standing right next to the glorious and historic school gate…All the memories of the nostalgic childhood flashed across my eyes and I stood there as if a spectator witnessing his wonderful childhood pass by him…and then this moment of wonder was broken when a sharp voice thumped my ear…"Hum Kya Chahte???……Azaadi,Azadi…Azadi" (What do we want?....Freedom, Freedom…Freedom)
It was a huge crowd of young students in their school uniform (in fact the students of historic S.P. College) protesting the death of their beloved batch mate at the hands of Indian troopers….The students in their school uniforms and handsome ties over their sparkling white shirts with their broken voices portrayed the dismal future of our next generation..Following them were the girls of Womens College with their own slogans for freedom…
I stood by the side of my school as a mute spectator witnessing the historic scenes…Youth bringing a new life and new energy to this struggle against oppression and brutal force…What better way to compliment when a group of bar association (lawyers) dressed in black joined the students in their cry for freedom…
The intellect is finally getting vocal and driving home the point that they are not ready to give up their basic human rights…
Seeing the huge rush and chaos in the crowd, I somehow managed to make my way to home…
The scenes are still quite vivid in my eyes…
And then late in the evening I peeped out of the window in my room on hearing someone shout out from a loud speaker…"Hum kya chahte??"(what do we want?) followed by huge chorus from people "Azadi Azadi Azadi" (freedom freedom freedom)
The huge crowd of ‘ordinary’ people protested throughout the night with the mashals (torches) burning and flames rising high…
I could feel the heat even from a safe distance…! The heat which spoke a lot more than the crowd on the street…The heat which spoke of the fire that had been ignited twenty years ago and now had grown into a full blown resistance…The flames which spoke of the ray of light which the common people had chosen to follow….The smoke which told the untold story of a ‘burning paradise’…It was quite indeed a sign of waking of the giant…
The common ordinary soul has finally waken up to its struggling conscience which isn’t ready to give in to the brutal oppression….A conscience that is ready to fight and struggle for freedom…The conscience of the common ‘people’ which has finally woken up to this world of injustice and cruelty…
To be continued...