A Day In kashmir

I wake up early in the morning and the first thing i do is to search for a candle so that i could light up the room because govt. ain't sincere enough to provide 24 hour electricity despite of the fact we pay heavy electricity bills, then i go into the washroom and open the tap, expecting warm water to flow out of it, but soon i realize that i'm not stargazing and in Kashmir warm water flows out of the taps only in dreams, thus my plans of bathing are ruined. So i wash my hands and face with COLD water and brush my teeth and remove my night dress to wear school uniform. Then all of our family members get assembled to have breakfast. After having breakfast i leave for school. While walking down the road i saw dozens of stray dogs barking at each other. Although i'm known to the fact that "Barking dogs Seldom bite" but still i do not take any chance because i'm not sure whether this is applicable in Kashmir or not. Then I wait for a while until any elder passes by and i take his help to pass the deadly point. After this i wait for the bus to come at the bus stop. The bus service of RAJBAGH is so famous that our relatives always give a second thought before deciding to visit us. In the mean time i see bus approaching whose assistant driver, known as conductor in vernacular, is shouting Barzulla-Barzulla. I always wanted to inform the conductor that literacy rate in Kashmir has shot up to 65.67% in recent years and people now are able to read the destination written in front of the bus. Anyways i get into the bus and if i'm lucky enough i'll get a place to stand and if not then i have to manage hanging at the back side of the bus, only miracle can give me a place to sit in the bus. Sometimes such miracle happens and i get an opportunity to feel the luxury of the public bus. I usually don't remember what happened during the journey from RAJ Bagh to Barzulla because i usually fall asleep inside the bus, thanks to the govt. guest house where some foreigners enjoy music at high volumes till late midnight. Suddenly some voices disturb my peaceful sleep, its passengers shouting at Mr.conductor who is boarding passengers in the bus like he is making traditional aanchar. this does not affect me because imma frequent traveler and this is a common scene in the public bus.When i opened my eyes i see a couple of young women gazing at me with anger, they were expecting me to give them a chance to sit on the seat where i was sitting, but i'm not a misogynist, I believe that women should be given equal rights as men and if they want equal rights then they should also learn to suffer equally.Then i stood up from the seat, i asked a lady to sit there, but it was too late i couldn't convince her. However my intention wasn't to please her, actually i'm about to reach my destination and i'm trying to approach the bus door. After struggling a lot I managed to reach the door and asked Mr.Conductor to stop the bus, after so many requests he finally slowed down the bus and ordered me to jump from it, if he stops the bus his rival will overtake him and will sweep all the passengers waiting at the next bus stop. However i jumped from the slow moving bus and my polished shoe fell into the mud. I'm not worried about it what i'm worried about is the box carrying my tiff-in which i forgot inside the bus. I thought to run after the bus, but the driver has took up the speed to beat his rival, however i decided not to test my stamina. while thinking about the tough scolding that i'm gonna get from my mother tonight, i removed the mud from my shoe with the help of water which is easily available from the leaking water pipe.After such a troublesome journey i move into the school and enjoyed the day with my friends. I am starting to feel hungry, remember the tiff-inbox that i lost in the bus.I was enjoying to see my friend mocking our science teacher when the school bell rang and we rushed outwards just like we are visiting our homes for the first time. I rushed towards bus stand at waited for a bus to come, to my surprise i saw a bus approaching in which most of the seats are vacant and Mr.Conductor also is not shouting the destination name, maybe this conductor knows about the literacy rate. but soon i started cursing all the powers on earth when people from the bus stop rushed towards the bus and within no-time the bus was filled. I was angry and impuissant too. I also managed t get a place on the bus but this time i did not sleep because elders say tragedies occur in a blink of an eye, and when you are hanging at the backside of the bus then the chances are doubled. after some time i reached my destination and i came down from the bus i gave Mr.Conductor Rs.4 as bus fare and he left. I'm so happy because its not every time that drivers take the bus fare according to students rate. but my happiness does not last long as the flash back of morning event, Tiff-in box, came to my mind. I started moving towards my home and began to think some excuses that can save me from my mothers scolding. In the meantime i saw some bikers doing some stunts on the convent road, first i thought that they were professional stunts-men but soon i ruled out this idea when a person fell from his expensive CBZ and broke his leg, he came to the road to impress the school girls but only managed to please Mr.Yamraj. i continued moving towards my home, i saw a board saying "Zanana Park Under Construction" this is the board which was installed four years ago under mufti govt. and i'm waiting for the day when it will be replaced with "Zanan Park Now In use". After zanana park comes police station, thats why i moved to the other side of road, because it is said in Kashmir that "whatever you do where ever you go but never go to police".Then came the main market where i saw people arguing with butcher who is not selling butchered meat at reasonable prices, i also saw some travelers bargaining with rickshaw driver who is charging them hefty some of money, in kashmir rickshaw drivers do not have a proper uniform and they also dont have a meter installed in their rickshaw. At last i reached my home and i started banging the door but no one except some neighbors, who got irritated from my banging, came out. only then i realized that the door remains locked and the keys are in my bag, i take out the keys open the door and get into the house, i threw my bag, and took out a pen and a page and wrote a note and hanged it near the entrance expecting my mother comes and reads what is written in it. after this i felt asleep. After some time somebody woke me up, i was shocked to see my mother sitting in front of me and grinning at me first i thought she didn't see the note but soon i realized that she did and also forgave me for the loss of tiff-in box. Do you know what i wrote in the note? "2 things i wanna say to you 1st Lost the tiff-in box in the overcrowded bus and 2nd I Love You Mom!". this was enough to please my mom and she hugged me passionately, my moms love was enough to wipe out all the tiredness of the day.