Curfew : Horror! Horror!

View from New Road: The first day (Jan 17) of curfew as the busiest city centre of Kathmandu is deserted at 7 pm.
Pic by Prakash Mathema/Kantipur

As I awoke from my good night's slumber today morning, I found, to my dismay, that my mobile had no network. It sent a chill down my spine, for Feb 1st's Royal Takeover is nearing its anniversary and you don't know what happens when the nation is languishing under tyranny. The state's stance is not only absurd, but also quite irrational.

I mulled over possible consequences. Almost a year ago, when I came back from college, I found an angry-looking monarch addressing his 'subjects' (yes, we are no longer citizen, we are deprived of the basic rights of citizenry)in national television channel. I was still optimistic: he'll either declare election or restore democracy. But, no, he didn't. Instead, he declared emergency. Today morning also, I went down the memory lane, these three hundred fifty two days of (solitude?) regression and autocracy. Is this blog turning political? No, my aim is to document my innermost feelings in the most subjective way I can.

So folks, curfew has been imposed, political parties' activities banned, leaders are arrested. I am an apolitical animal. However, I have faith on and dedication to democracy which I believe is the best system to run a country. A tad later in the morning, I came to know that land phone lines too are dead. State is using all of its mechanisms to suppress the agitation. The land lines were open at around 9 am. This forceful incommunicado, this dunno-what-happens-next and the psychological terror. everyone knows, imposing curfew is not a solution, but the home ministry is hell bent on executing its apparatus to horrify the public.

At office, my colleagues are anxious to know the everyday changing timetable of curfew. "Is it at 7 PM? How can we complete our tasks?" These questions seem to bite us physically. As I write this, its 4:30 PM and am also in a hurry to be done with the blog as quick as possible and head for home. This uncertainty hovering us; they say that its doubly painful to live under constant fear. Torture of this kind is worse than the death itself. That said, am not pessimistic. I believe every dark cloud has a silver lining. This cul-de-sac, this stalemate is taxing, its turning our celestial nation into an inferno. This must cease in near future.