This is a real image taken by me from my rented apartment.
7% for the schedule caste, 15% for the schedule tribe, 27% for other backward classes and hopefully 51% for us: the general category. Yes! Reservations/ Quota is what it is about.
What if I tell you there is another category being added or definitely shedding their sweat and others’ blood for being a part of the quota?
Ahmedabad, the largest city of Gujarat along with 4 other cities was deployed with parliamentary forces and curfew all over, just a few days back.
Violence broke out when 5,00,000 “Patels” protested in India over job and college quotas.
And I was in the middle of it all.
I stay in an apartment with 2 other college friends of mine (all girls) and have to travel to our college everyday for classes and meals at it’s mess.
Stone-throwing Patels, torched police-stations, burning cars and buses were a part of the latest drift for the days.
A little shift or a knock at the door and all your gut said was “don’t open that door: you don’t want to die at such an early age.”
NO Broadband service, imagine a life without that one resource we use every minute of our lives.
NO cellular data availability.
NO network coverage that means no calls even!
NO Whatsapp.
NO Facebook.
How the hell do we reach out in such a violent situation incase of trouble?
Yes, it was this serious a situation with no means of communication. Students living away from their parents couldn’t contact them or anybody else.
Offices, colleges and schools were shut down 26th August till 28th August.
Nights became scarier than ever, when the only sounds you could hear were of the people screaming, kids crying and the police’s beeping sirens.
The days couldn’t have gotten better, when in the morning you get out to find yourself some food and there is nothing but dust, closed shops and no means of transportation with police officers standing at every junction.
The riot caused no good to anybody. The media was reporting lesser number of deaths than what actually took place.
Schedules got messed-up, work stopped, caused a division in the society and more over people lost trust because by shedding someone else’s blood you can’t purify your own.
I was scared, really scared!
This is a real image taken by me.
