Cold Media

It’s getting very cold now. In fact since the last fortnight or so, nights have really become freezing cold. In the moonlight, the look of snow covered mountains makes it even worse for me. I cannot imagine every winter how did my mother and father found it beautiful to look at those very mountains and chat well into the night. After I was snuggled into my warm Razai, they would go out to sit close to each other side by side, look at the moon and chat. God knows till when. But by then of course, I would be sound asleep. Immediately after the earthquake few months’ back, cold was not a problem for me. But now it is going to snow soon and we don’t have a roof on top. We never had electricity here. But we have these Kerosene lamps. So I sleep next to the lamp to stay warm.

I live in this part of Kashmir in Pakistan, from where I can see only these mountains on all four sides. They say that the real world is beyond them. Where there are trains, cars, roads and even planes. They say there are shop selling all kinds of yummy sweets, gosht-biryani, shiny caps and dresses. But planes, we all have seen, flying far above, though looking only as big as my nail. All of us invariably run out of our homes as soon as we hear a familiar distant drone.

Well, a good thing about this earthquake has been that I have seen helicopters at a very close range, in my own village! It is said that planes need a very long road to fly off, but the helicopters land nearby in the open field. Doctors come out and give medicine to sick. Immediately after the house fell, my five-year-old baby sister got a chance to travel in the helicopter, as she was crushed under the stones of the house wall. There is no news of her since. Let her come back I will ask her about the helicopter trip. I am so jealous of her. My mother also seems very sick with all cough and fever. But she does not want to go in the helicopter because she says that she has to cook for my father and me. Somehow my parents do cry often when they see my sister’s red frock hanging on the rope. The doctor must have told something to them in the last helicopter trip.

A lot of dust flies with cold wind when helicopter takes off with sick and hurt people.

There were at least 20 kids of around my age. We all used to run around the whole village in the evenings. Elders would give us things to eat. Now I don’t meet anyone. I don’t know where they have gone. It seems that either they are sick and hurt or have gone away far off. Iqbal my neighbor has got both his legs bandaged. In fact his right leg seems much shorter than left. I think there is no foot there on the right side. It’s just straight. He was a very good mountain climber. He is one of the few who went to school beyond those mountains in the south. He has learnt to walk well with the help of a stick. Then there is Razia. She does not recognize me any more. Shape of her face looks a little different to me. A bit compressed side ways and all bandaged up. So actually we should not be recognizing her rather than she doing it to us.

If the helicopters coming here was good a thing, best was yet to come. Suddenly one day these four people came out of the helicopter with cameras and would you believe small TVs. They were pointing their cameras towards all of us and taking pictures. I went quietly and stood behind the small TV. Everything was looking so good in it, the broken houses, fallen debris, stones and all the village people. Then I saw Razia in a distance. I was gesturing towards her to do something. She did not react. Then I saw her big face on TV. I was wondering how the camera guy is able to take pictures far and close standing at the same spot! Then I noticed – he turns something in front of the camera.

Razia did not do anything; just sat and looked dumb. She should have waved her hand like other children did. Many of them did not have legs but they did run and jump about. But Razia - she lost a chance of her lifetime.

These camera people also have been coming so many times. They all have similar cameras and small TVs; but the design and name on their microphone keeps changing. Sometime same people have come twice also. They all were kind of friendly to us all. I wish I could help them in some way. May be by carrying things for them or just show them around. TV people were talking to villagers with the help of another villager, who can speak TV people’s language. Suddenly the only woman among them noticed me watching small TV and asked me to sit next to my mother. I did. Then they pointed the camera towards us and talked to my mother with the help of our ‘language-man’. My mother spoke for some time and then started crying. I noticed that cameraman turned same thing to make her face big on the TV. After a while my mother was sobbing uncontrollably. The cameraman was making her face bigger and bigger. Finally she got up and went inside the broken house. The cameraman showed his thumb to the woman. I wondered what that was for. They kept the camera on me. I decided to not miss this opportunity. I got very excited and waved at the camera frantically.

Our ‘language-man’ announced that soon it would be very cold for the TV people to visit this village. So they may not be coming here again.

Problem was that I could not see myself on small TV. I don’t know who all are going to see it. But whoever sees it, I hope they like me, ‘smiling and waving’.

Never mind my broken teeth and an amputated arm.