The day without freedom

Part One

The government has released its official statement regarding riot in the capital on Friday. Due to speculation that social networking sites were used to organize and coordinate the belligerent masses, the government has decided to block internet access to all social media sites starting today. Our correspondent has reported that…

“Eh Babita, bring me my chiya!” Raghu Pandey snarled as he flipped through his newspaper.

“Yes, maybe ‘raise’ the volume of the TV even more. I can ‘clearly’ hear you as of now.”

Mr. Pandey didn’t seem to hear his wife’s response. As he so often bragged to his fellow grandpas, he had perfected ‘the art of ignoring one’s angry wife’.

“Social media banned…uproar expected…oppression of right to information…utter garbage! So what if some ‘net’ is banned? And these brats call themselves youths! In my heyday, I was fighting for the political freedom of my nation and here they are, bickering over social media. I’ll never understand this generation”, Mr. Pandey muttered to the wall. He let out a huge sigh that formed blurry clouds on the cold window pane. The present had rejected the ideals of the past, creating in him a bitter relic that turned in its grave every time some news announcement about the latest iPhone came along.

“Babita! Why isn’t my chiya ready? Are you mourning the ‘death of social media’ as well?”

No response. Granny Pandey was no amateur in the ‘art of annoying one’s snotty husband’ either.

Part Two

‘Fellow students! We must rise up against this oppression. Today its social media, tomorrow it will be the goddamn internet. Next thing you know, they will seize our phones and computers! This is a rebellion, a revolution. No more silence! No more silence!’

“So this is what the hour-long traffic jam was about. Made us walk all the way from Ekantakuna to Pulchowk. Don’t these students have somewhere to go, like their classes for instance?”

“What? I can’t hear you Nitesh.”

Nitesh pulled Sanju away from the burgeoning crowd. The mob had gathered and was prepared to strike.

“They start a ‘revolution’ because they couldn’t use Facebook for one day? This is going too far.”

“Yes, maybe it is. But Facebook does mean a lot to our generation. Facebook is the modern oxygen, a desperate man’s defibrillator for social identity. The youth of today knows no language other than hashtags and memes. Just because you change your profile pic once in a blue moon doesn’t mean you cannot empathize with their feelings.”

“Is this the monk philosopher or a man guilty of indulging in online obsession? Social media is cancer; once it attaches to your life it will never stop growing. You know, like you’ll never get ‘her’ number through online chatting yet you waste your time on it anyway. For all your bravado captions and ‘candid’ photos, you are just a pretentious kid aren’t you?”

“Shut up Mr. Smart-hole!”

Icy wind blew past their faces and whispered a familiar sound from far away — the sound of police sirens approaching closer by the second.

Disperse, I repeat disperse immediately. Or we will be forced to fire tear gas…

Part Three

“Reshma, get down now! The food will get cold, hurry up”, Mrs. Acharya made her final attempt.

A muffled sound could be heard from upstairs, a sound like someone was cursing aggressively. Or maybe quiet sobbing, not that anyone downstairs heard or tried to.

“Those egocentric morons”, Reshma wailed as she tried to fight back tears from her bloodshot eyes. “Rioting over some baloney price hike and what now? The government bans Instagram just because a few people burnt tires?”

‘@Reshuach01’ drilled her face into the pillow. So close, I was so close to getting a million subscribers on YouTube. People were pouring support from all over the world; one fan even sent me such a cute present. Now it is all gone, my life…

Splash! Cold water against the face! But the dark streams could not be wiped off her plastered face…

This isn’t fair. I put myself on the top, I worked countless nights for it. Those photoshoots were not cheap, far from it. Just when I thought I had finally made it — millions of followers on Insta, finally about to trend on Twitter…it’s like God is trying to smite me, pulling the rug from under me at the worst moment…

“Ah! There’s my little princess. Bored from crying all day?”

Reshma kept quiet and pretended to eat. Daal, bhat and spinach.

“So how was work dear? Hope the traffic wasn’t so bad like they say on the news.”

“Unfortunately it was. To pile more misery, it seems you can’t work in ‘social media marketing’ when there’s no…you know”, Mr. Acharya continued, “Anyway they’re talking about overturning the ban soon. They can’t have people like me sitting at home and doing nothing.”

Reshma’s eyes lit up. Maybe tomorrow…

Part Four

“Oi Subbey! No PUBG today huh?”

“Ya Raja, I thought only Facebook and YouTube were banned.”

“So what are you doing here? Didn’t you say yesterday that ‘PUBG is a man’s game, only infants play football’? If you think we’ll let you play, forget it.”

“Please Raja just today. I’ll even buy you that magazine with the pretty girls.”

“Idiot, don’t say such things out loud. Now come and play, if you can that is. Staying holed in your house with your ‘lover’ PUBG has made you chubby. Make sure you’re not on my team.”

Shadows of little children danced in the pale moonlight. Some slipped, some cried while others called names. Lo and behold, the laughter of children in a nation ravaged by chaos! Here, chaos was simply the wilderness in the young hearts, finally free to express their whims. No homework, no scowling parents, no worry over social media, just the game. And they said ‘playing football’ was a waste of time.

“Subodh Pandey, you better haul your ass back home right now. Get back home or you’ll catch a fever! Kids these days, they think their grandpa is some kind of nanny to them”, Mr. Pandey harked as he sipped from his cup of tea. The TV could still be heard in the background:

Today was a dark day for Nepal. Riots and mass demonstrations quickly escalated and spread like wildfire throughout the capital. The government has heard the people’s message loud and clear: do not dare take our freedom of speech, our fundamental right and a way of life. The government may have softened its stance on the matter but let it remember one thing. Let people engrave this event in their memories; let them remember this day as the day they tried to take away our identity, our soul, our pride and failed. A day without social media, the pinnacle of science and technology.

Yes, let us remember today as ‘the day without technology, the day without freedom’!