Editor,
A few months back, while I was surfing on Youtube, a random music video from Arunachal appeared on my homepage. I wasted no time and clicked on the video. As I was listening there came a line which was catchy and immediately caught my attention. It goes like this: “Doimukh ka ladka daaru peeta case-case.” I immediately burst out into laughter. And the line that follows immediately goes like: “Smoking weed, banging hoes, saare bachche ash-ash.” By then I was laughing my lungs out, the reason being it was really unexpected and sounded funny at that time. Finally, when I calmed down, I realised that these lines were deep and stood true in today’s scenario.
An artist usually expresses himself/herself through their art and also takes inspiration form and portrays the happenings around him through art. Going by this logic, it made sense. The abovementioned lines from the song can be conceived in a much broader sense. If we look around us, we can clearly see the rate of liquor stores mushrooming. Now, there must be a reason behind all this mushrooming, and it can either be due to carefree regulation by the government, or it may be due to the ever increasing demand. Perhaps, Arunachal ka public daaru peeta case-case will be the more appropriate representation. If we consider a unit of one square kilometre as a sample area, I believe that we will find more liquor stores than schools within that area. Maybe this is also one of the reasons directly or indirectly responsible for the dismal performance of our young brothers and sisters in their boards this year. What’s interesting is that the government time and again issues nth number of orders prohibiting the setting up of liquor stores within ‘x’ km radius of educational institutions. Again, do such orders have any effect? I guess not. Moreover, alcohol is one of the highest sources of income for the government. Perhaps the government is more interested is cash-cash.
Next, the line goes like: “Smoking weed, banging hoes, saare bachche ash-ash.” This line depicts a much more horrifying reality than the previous one. One can immediately think of drug menace, sex work and the consequential effects that follow. The drug menace as we know is rampant in and around us and has already destroyed many lives. Also, one cannot ignore the infamous clock tower area. I wonder how things became so wayward. It started as a rumour and today it’s a fact. It’s very explicit how our smart city is gradually becoming ‘sin-citified’. Alas! The future doesn’t look good.
Nonetheless, I may be wrong and just exaggerating things more than they actually mean. Or maybe too much negativity makes it look exaggerated. But honestly, underneath those lines there lies a deep meaning beyond its intended purpose. A food for thought.
Signing off.
The Scribbler