Eluding Eureka

Ever since, Eureka made Archimedes and his bathtub immortal, the Greek word continued symbolizing positive changes and discoveries for the larger good of humanity. As 2012 is about to be history, that ‘eureka moment’ remained as elusive as it was for most of Kashmir’s recent history.

In the time warp when change is actually a changeless continuity, Kashmir witnesses completion or restart of cycle that have defined history for good or bad reasons. Barring the monotonous continuity in different spheres of life, things have defied change. For a change, literally, there is no change.

Fall in the violence was supposed to pave way for a comfortable routine. It does not seem so. As the boys are being accused of attempted murders for petty instances of stone pelting and cops go knocking at doors between dusk and dawn, it seems return of 1986-88 days. That crop of fugitives then charge-sheeted for almost similar offences later became killing machines and was eventually consumed by the situation in the prime of their life.

For a society that survived an overwhelming situation for decades, a situation that would ease stress and help society come out of a dehumanized era is still to be considered. It is the same situation dominating the scene in almost every sphere. Every year, hundreds of our boys and girls are graduating in sciences, arts and fine arts. So do our research scholars. Barring certificates, there is nothing new that could be celebrated, talked about from a rooftop, cherished and converted into models.

In politics, there was nothing new. One politician was caught on a greasy pitch but umpires skipped a decision making. Another was found reliving an Agatha Christie plot but the conclusions of investigations had an art film climax. Yet another one was found bulldozing things here and there to retain statusquo. Then there are same old weepy lots, shuttling in fixed frames and out of the box. A single shift at some level would have fetched Kashmir a eureka moment.

Policy making remained stagnant. The state faithfully did what the established systems wanted it to do. Central sponsored schemes, funding patterns, road building, tunnel laying; almost everything retained the same monotonous continuity. Everybody talked about being out of box but at the end of the day, everybody is caught in the same frame, doing what Romans were doing. The only change was ‘Neros’ stopped when conflagrations were reported and passed the flute to somebody else!

Quite a few changes were reported from the business sector. From introducing radio taxis to the beginning of selling Kashmir as a marriage destination and eventually getting a posh address for living in Gulmarg, the brats seem to be using their exposure and wealth to offer something that could be considered a change. As people say, hate is the beginning of love, let 2012 be an epitaph of pessimism. Let optimism take over in 2013.