Arshid Malik
Anger is a strong word. It is so very forthcoming and resilient. Like all emotions it is rooted in the human mind and may be understood simply in terms of chemicals that that work their way into the human blood stream and fire us up, yet it bears the power to affect the unfolding of events to cataclysmic proportions. It is interesting to note that throughout history the social depiction of youth as “an angry young man” has been held synonymous with unrest and revolution, to the point that the actual causative is hard to isolate. Is it anger that devours the youth or is it the youth that feeds on angst? It is a tricky question for sure. The fact is that more than often the emotional context(s) of anger is (are) generated by negative factors and it is rarely a matter of attitude.
The recent, exigent upsurges in Kashmir which depict sheaths of anger unfolding as chasms of unrest dotting the normal life circumstances of the Valley are suggestive of the fact that something is wrong. The magnitude of the sudden upsurges is indicative of the fact that the anger is already in the making, stashed up somewhere in our neurons and stupendously being added upon, waiting for a strong foothold, which turns up in the shape of any given single “misdeed of the authorities” and “all hell is let loose”. This conversely suggests that the Kashmiri people, the Kashmiri youth are relatively shy and do not spend their anger on a near average basis. Sounds true, for there are long periods of silence, broken by intermittent chaos varying in the specific identifiable positions in the continuum. On the same count one might be led to believe that this anger is guided and channelized by certain institutions but the level of involvement of the youth on a quantitative basis suggests otherwise, although the footholds may sometimes be institutional.
So the anger is generated, accumulated over varying periods of time and then directed outwards towards which often turns out to be the administration in our case, for there has been paltry evidence indicative of this anger being directed to other institutions which would as a matter of fact effectuate a collective outburst of the same owing to its social or asocial character and thereof the collective appeal to the minds of the youth.
So, one question that beseeches the attention of the intelligentsia and policy makers is “why is the youth in Kashmir angry”? I would look back at myself to answer that one. Well, even though I have a decent job and manage a living I am generally substantially angry. I work hard to make a living and then, after the day is over, I am stuck – I am stuck with dumb routineliness as also the absence of healthy routineliness. What you may easily recall, and which may eventually corroborate the ideas of the reader and the writer, is the helplessness that enshrouds us when we reach home. The only exciting thing about night time is perhaps “having dinner with the family”. There is no social life beyond 6:30 pm, generally speaking, in Kashmir and that is one very valid cause of anger directed at institutions that govern us. This is me, an educated, employed and almost settled face of the youth in Kashmir; what becomes of those who are not educated enough to turn docile and submissive? What do those others do who do not have jobs or cannot make a living?
This is the stark reality of Kashmir and no one need grow bones against it. We would be helping if we care to understand.
The recent, exigent upsurges in Kashmir which depict sheaths of anger unfolding as chasms of unrest dotting the normal life circumstances of the Valley are suggestive of the fact that something is wrong. The magnitude of the sudden upsurges is indicative of the fact that the anger is already in the making, stashed up somewhere in our neurons and stupendously being added upon, waiting for a strong foothold, which turns up in the shape of any given single “misdeed of the authorities” and “all hell is let loose”. This conversely suggests that the Kashmiri people, the Kashmiri youth are relatively shy and do not spend their anger on a near average basis. Sounds true, for there are long periods of silence, broken by intermittent chaos varying in the specific identifiable positions in the continuum. On the same count one might be led to believe that this anger is guided and channelized by certain institutions but the level of involvement of the youth on a quantitative basis suggests otherwise, although the footholds may sometimes be institutional.
So the anger is generated, accumulated over varying periods of time and then directed outwards towards which often turns out to be the administration in our case, for there has been paltry evidence indicative of this anger being directed to other institutions which would as a matter of fact effectuate a collective outburst of the same owing to its social or asocial character and thereof the collective appeal to the minds of the youth.
So, one question that beseeches the attention of the intelligentsia and policy makers is “why is the youth in Kashmir angry”? I would look back at myself to answer that one. Well, even though I have a decent job and manage a living I am generally substantially angry. I work hard to make a living and then, after the day is over, I am stuck – I am stuck with dumb routineliness as also the absence of healthy routineliness. What you may easily recall, and which may eventually corroborate the ideas of the reader and the writer, is the helplessness that enshrouds us when we reach home. The only exciting thing about night time is perhaps “having dinner with the family”. There is no social life beyond 6:30 pm, generally speaking, in Kashmir and that is one very valid cause of anger directed at institutions that govern us. This is me, an educated, employed and almost settled face of the youth in Kashmir; what becomes of those who are not educated enough to turn docile and submissive? What do those others do who do not have jobs or cannot make a living?
This is the stark reality of Kashmir and no one need grow bones against it. We would be helping if we care to understand.
