Winters; The period of inactivity; The onset of Hibernation

Haroon Nabi Lone

The beautiful view of snow capped mountains,the heavenly abode of thick white quilts, the sprinkling large pine trees,the distinct muddy houses and like; all gets covered with thick blankets of snow and thus covers all the underline muck, all the miseries, all the pain, all the agony, all the torment under it.

The symbolic assertion of so called winters especially for developing and underdeveloped countries leads to death. According to the poetry of Robert Frost; “Winter depicts as a force to be reckoned with, one that impacts our minds and hearts.” To go in a more practical sense;the same winter for a developed country and an underdeveloped one means different. The huge callus variants of the technology makes that so and what adds to the miseries is the landlocked areas of the world.

The world has been misled that only animals like polar bears, woodchucks, ground squirrels,bats, hedgehogs hibernate but the same is true for humans as well. While, the rate of hibernation is more for the people of underdeveloped countries that face the harsh winters. The period of hibernation for them starts as soon as the arrival of the harsh winter.

Everything comes to a standstill. The lack of technology adds insult to injury. The duration of the working day is reduced to only four hours a day which otherwise could be more than eight a day. The rate of progress is levelled back. The work at construction sites is slowed rather most times stopped. The educational system slightly and gradually comes to a standstill. In nutshell, slow and steady approaching death. That endless battle with nature continues till the winter comes to an end.

What is important to note down here is the bitter reality of the world; that such part of the world has to compete with the completely different one; where the progress never stopped, where the day was of 24 hours all over the year, where nothing hibernates; where nothing stops moving forward. There can be a dual answer for that; Either they never face such a time of the year or their advancement in the field of Science and Technology is ready to overcome everything that comes their way.

The Author is Editor-in Chief of News Agency Kashmir Dot Com- (KDC) J&K’s Premier News Agency and can be reached at [email protected]