Dial-up in the time of cholera

I have been reduced to dial-up internet for over 10 days now, which is one of the reasons why I have not blogged. Can’t stand the dial-up speed anymore.

We have been unable to reach our office for the last two weeks due to Agitation 2.0 here in Kashmir. In the meantime, my home broadband connection was messed up by my service provider BSNL. For the second time they changed my username/password without any prior information. Indeed the idiots do not deem me worthy of any correspondence on the matter. Since customer service does not exist, I called an ‘insider’ who informed me about this change. Apparently the local exchange has to make an adjustment locally in order to give effect to the change in the central server. The local exchange employees, however, have not been able to report to work due to curfews and renewed vigour in protests/hartals. As a result, I have been demoted down to dial-up.
I was not here during the early nineties when the agitation was supposed to be at its peak. But I have not seen anything like the present circumstances my whole life. There are dozens of demonstrations each day. Most of them are led by just-out-of-school, 18-year-olds … those that were born during the turmoil.

I have been out and about and seen this new breed of protestors. They have taken the gun out of the equation but I have seen them mocking armed Indian security forces like our generation could never ever imagine. Most of the security personnel bunkers in the suburbs of the city have been demolished. I think we are in for some tough times for the remainder of this year.

Apart from high speed internet connectivity at home, food supplies are also scarce. So the villages are sending some free supplies to the townships. I am writing this post while observing a total blackout imposed by the youth protesting India’s independence day celebrations.