Life in Curfew

In a curfew like the one we have just finished with, people are shell shocked, when one fine morning; after they are finished with the Fajr nimaz they learn that they are under curfew. With in no time the whole population finds it cabined, cribbed and confined. The ubiquitous trigger happy security forces take up positions and reprimand/thrash any one found violating the curfew orders. As the people living in the downtown wake up to ascertain the truth they soon realize that they are not allowed even to peep through windows let alone move out of their houses. It is not many minutes before they get shudders to visualize that their life is going to turn miserable. From here on they won’t be able to arrange bread, vegetables, milk and other essential materials for their kids and the other family members. Like in the past they would have to content themselves with the volume of stocks of dal, dried vegetables, dried milk, milk less tea etc. that were available at the time of imposition of curfew. Replenishment would be possible only when the deal in curfew is allowed, and under the circumstances that is not quite in the offing. As the shops selling cigarettes are shut those addicted to smoking go crazy, and in their frenzy toss ash trays to explore old used cigarette bits. For sick patients the curfew means that the death is in the nearby.  
People living in the interiors of the city have all the freedom at their disposal. They do not taste much of the strictness (and the brutalities) of the security forces. The supply of their essentials does not face hiccups: kiosks and other small shops feed them with the essentials, never mind at sky rocketing prices. Even though mutton, chicken and cheese become extinct as dinosaurs, but then ‘where there is a will there is a way’. Smart ones manage them with out much problem. People, in hordes, gad around from one place to another in search of excitement. A large number of teens and preteens while their time away in the full-fledged cricket matches played in the paddy fields or allow lands. Visits to the neighbours and friends in the locality lead to day long sessions of debates and discussions on the prevailing political situation. Amongst the hot emotional discussions, several rounds of tea and coffee served, add to the tale of woes of the ladies (in the houses that host these meetings). 
Mosques are suddenly found filled with the faithful to their overflowing. On way to and fro the mosque the nimazees in ones and twos broach upon the hot topics, to wit, the curfew, its violation (if any) and the possible deal. In the four walls of their houses the couch potatoes and the indolent glue themselves to TV, flicking the news channels with the remote control to know the latest. The Netizens while away their time chatting with their pals as also surfing through their favourite websites. The parents keep on pestering their children to study which are however dismissed by them with scorn. In their frenzy of zeal to provide a non-stop free tuition, the parents suddenly turn pedagogues in the real sense. As the students are on a holiday spree with no home work/tuition hang ups many of them pray for a prolonged curfew.   
Curfew has its own economics. In the normal course as the essential items are not available to meet the increasing demand the end result is the ‘demand push inflation’. During curfew and the deal given the shopkeepers skin their customers alive by charging prices as per their diktats. But when the stockists/vendors are uncertain about the length of the spell of the curfew, and the goods are either perishable in nature or are the ones that would involve inventory carrying costs due to unnecessary increase in their shelf life, the end result is that in absence of a spurt in demand the sellers are hesitant to incur further costs and would therefore like to shed off their inventories at the lower prices. During the recent curfew deals perishables like banana sold at a price tag as low as 10 rupees a dozen did hardly have any buyers. Similarly chicken with high mortality stakes and the added carrying costs incurred by way of feeding them during the lean period sold at 60 rupees a kg. 
Curfews come and curfews go. After all if we go by the rough estimates people of my age must have spent at least a year of our life in curfews that were imposed from time to time. It happened when I was in teens. It also happened when I was in preteens. Indeed it happened when I was in my twenties and in my thirties, not to speak of when I was in my forties. The repressions and brutalities are nothing new for us. We are not the pampered Jammuites to be treated with kid glove in the so called curfews. Need of the hour is that we brave them with all the patience and the team spirit and  share sympathies with each other.