During all these years, the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir witnessed the birth of millions of ‘new-borns’— who were in true sense of the phrase ‘born in a cage’.
by Ali Sukhanver
Flying without any support high and high, above and above in the open sky, has ever been a very popular dream of most of the human beings. But according to Larry Ortega, Birds Born in Cages think that Flying is a Disease. Larry Ortega is known as ‘a master of multiple disciplines and blends his classical training in painting with an intuitive approach to sculpture’. Birds are really a marvelous creature; they teach us a lot. From collection of material for preparation of their nests to the art of singing and dancing, birds have ever been our teachers. Without bringing to their knowledge, we learn a lot from them; but what about the birds born in the cages who think that Flying is a Disease.
Do we really learn something from them too? Yes, we do learn patience from them as well as the way to safeguard the naturally inbuilt skills. No one teaches them how to use their wings but in spite of being born in a cage, they ever and always look eager to fly; their dream of getting out of that cage lives along with them till their last breath. To them the world out of the cage, always remains a source of inspiration rather a romantic fantasy. They never take the concept of flying as a Disease.
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| Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Srinagar [File Photo] |
A few years back, an old man succeeded in selling a parrot to my children after convincing them that the parrot was born in the cage and it didn’t know how to fly. He assured them that it won’t be able to escape away even if the door of the cage remained open, intentionally or mistakenly. After a couple of days, my children felt that the parrot was not feeling well as his routine movements had become a bit slow. They thought that his sluggishness was because of the change of place and the change of surroundings. So it was unanimously decided that the parrot must be given an opportunity of strolling in the lush green garden in the backyard. They were very much confident that the parrot won’t be able to fly away as it was born in the cage and never had an experience of using his wings. So the door of the cage was left opened but the parrot seemed unwilling to step out. The children kept on observing it sitting in a hidden corner thinking that the parrot even didn’t know how to walk in the open area as it was born in a cage. Astonishingly, just after the delay of a few moments, looking cautiously hither and thither, it stepped out of the cage, then pushed itself to a hanging branch of a plant, then perched on to another a little higher one and then in blinking of an eye, it was soaring above and above into the open sky, screaming joyously, celebrating its freedom and liberty. I told my disappointed children; you could never suppress the natural instincts; a bird is made to fly; it never needs any experience or training for the purpose.
Same is the situation of the cages where human beings are born; cages like the Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir and Palestine. These are the cages where the breathing ones enjoy none of the basic human rights but that doesn’t mean they don’t dream of freedom and liberty. According to a report prepared by the World Population Census, in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, in 2011 the total population there was 1.25 Crores. The number reached 1.51 Crores in 2021 and 1.54 Crores in 2022. Last year 2023, it was 1.56 Crores (15,620,000).
During all these years, the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir witnessed the birth of millions of ‘new-borns’— who were in true sense of the phrase ‘born in a cage’. The authorities there remained misguided by the notion that the Kashmiris ‘born in the cage’ could never have a desire of freedom and liberty as they never have tasted it. But it simply proved a serious miscalculation which led the authorities to a blind alley of misunderstanding resulting in more human rights violations and atrocities. In short, the youngsters born in the last three decades in the Indian Illegally Occupied states of Jammu & Kashmir are now parenting another generation.
Though they all have never tasted the joy of freedom but they are struggling for it. This is the reason that the young generation there is playing a more effervescent and more active role in the freedom movement though it was ‘born in the cage’. It was the reaction of this generation ‘born in the cage’ that in the 3rd week of June, Mr. Modi was welcomed there in Jammu and Kashmir with the slogans ‘Killer, killer, Modi, killer’, and ‘Go Modi, go back’. Mr. Modi was there on a two-day visit after taking charge as the prime minister for the third time. Be it a parrot or a human being born in a cage, it is simply against his instinct to remain in shackles without any desire of getting freed.
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