Winter bunkum

Winter is coming. Finally, after having almost completed half of the three-month calender period of the winter season, meteorologists are predicting freezing temperatures, harsh storms and heavy snowfall.

Simon was happy about it, contrary to most people who were bracing for a disaster as presented by local media.

Simon loved the snow. He saw it as an opportunity for games, where he could ditch school and build snowmen and snow angels from the heavenly flakes that seem to levitate like feathers in the air.

But he was unaware of the trouble the snow caused. How it made life difficult for the poorer castes who lacked the infrastructure to face the adverse conditions. Or how it made access around cities almost impossible, with the snow becoming ice that was too difficult to break to clear the way.

To Simon, all the talk about challenges and difficulties, and the state’s targets and aims, and all such political talk were bunkum. He saw it as simply performative speech-making, insincere rhetoric that only served to spread unnecessary panic among the people. If only, listeners could actually think for themselves, read more, gain a pluralism of information and be critical of everything they hear.

If people could form a viewpoint of their own, perhaps, Simon thought, they could learn to enjoy the snow more.

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