One thursday in November 2000.

Arrival of AFSPA-

armies, guns, bullets, bombs, suspicions, killings, deaths, roar of cries, widows, orphans, widowers, rapes, molestations, bomb blasts, sound of gun shots, massacre etc. etc. etc.

 dreams, hope, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, homes, dignity, citizenship, rights, justice etc. etc. etc.

Day 1.  Hunger strike began (november 2, 2000)

Day 2. Still continuing.

Day 3. No, she hasn't eaten anything still.

Day 4. No, not even a single morsel.

Day 5. Counting

Day 6. Counting.

Day 7. Counting.

Day 8, day 9, day 10, 11, 12, 13………………………

Accused her of committing suicide. Threw her in the jail.

(yes, the armies have the right to kill her, but she doesn’t have the right to kill herself)

This is their story, this is their logic.

In the meantime,

if you remember she is still fasting, still starving.

The days are still counting……….365, 366, 367……………

700, 701, 702, 703……………………………………………………..

2000, 2001, 2002, 2003……………………………………………..

4000, 4001, 4002………………………………………………………

She is our inexorable eche sharmila.

She is a human being. She has a stomach, she gets thirsty, she gets hungry, she wants to live.