Treat, Treaty, Treatise and Treatment

In this land water flows,
through hills and meadows,
this is divine blessing,
through sun and shadows!

A few days ago as I was driving towards Baramulla, there was a traffic jam and stuck in the middle of it, I cursed my luck. For a person in the driver’s seat, traffic jam is the worst thing that can happen. While others sitting in the car can relax, the driver has to be vigilant and move 2 meters every 60 seconds, lest he would be mauled by the drivers behind them. If however, you try to be smart and wait for three minutes with your eyes closed and engine off (trying to save the cheap petrol and also conserve your environment) so that there is a gap of 6 meters, to your surprise no gap will be there! Mind you, the driver behind you does not rest. After all, its a busy world. And as I was being tortured by fate, I saw some army men approaching. Within movements the cars started moving again and the jam was cleared. It was as if superman man had come but with the modification that his underwear was not visible and he had a gun in his hands. Driving ahead I came to know that there was no freak accident or mishap. Actually people of some village had blocked the road, protesting against the shortage of water. But seeing the men in khaki approach, it seemed as if their thirst had vanished.

Today there was a jam against water shortage, and tomorrow same will be for electricity shortage. Unlike Kissan Jam, this jam seems quite bitter if you are stuck it and quite amusing if you are observing it (just observe some people the next time you are in a jam).

Now, this jam I was in was not due to lack of roads. It was because people were not provided water. Now we do have a lot of water but we just can’t use it. “Why this sorry state?”, I thought. Maybe we have a treaty to thank for this. Indus Water Treaty is what it is formerly called. “What did this treaty do?” I asked this question to the water tycoon of Kashmir, Mr. Jhelum.

And he gave a strange reply saying, “Some bleak day, a long time ago, they signed a treaty or that’s what they called it. The world at least knew it that way. But inside that room where it was signed, it was known that it’s not a treaty, it was a treat for both of them. They felt great that on the basis of their power, they stripped a nation of its resources and kept it all for themselves. These days people are protesting against a rape, but wasn’t that a rape too. It was also a rape, economic gang rape of a nation.

And to the people of this state, it was presented as a treatise. A treatise which took that many bitter experiences to comprehend, and comprehend they did little. From this little comprehension of theirs, they now demand a treatment for all of this (although they are not even in a position to beg for a treatment). Treatment will be there, but doesn’t appear to be soon. Till then it appears that people will have to enjoy the Traffic jams, Kissan jams, Sil jams, Freshtop jams or as some might argue Brain Tonic jams! But please don’t dump the bottles in me!”

They steal our means,
they steal our dreams,
and then they complain,
Why those screams?