It was the first time in Yasir’s life that he was holding a mobile phone, his own, in his hand. So the first thing he wanted to do was to get connected to social media. As his aim was to become a reporter, social media was necessary. So he did it, he installed Twitter, WhatsApp, leaving Facebook aside as he considered it more of a “Fakebook”. He started using Twitter; it was his dream to be a widely-followed Twitterati. He started following fine personalities of the world from the fields of literature, politics, journalism, sports, etc.
Days passed, but he was hardly getting any response from anyone. He was responding to most of the tweets. Yasir’s motive of using Twitter started fading day by day as no one was replying to him; it seemed that it was a hard nut to crack. So, he lost his interest in achieving his dream (journalism). He wished that someone would come to boost his confidence, but it was all in vain.
One day, a strange thing happened—Yasir, with a hope of getting some response, was scrolling down on Twitter. Suddenly, he saw a picture of a beautiful woman. The account name was ‘The Mill On The Floss’. Above the picture, she had tweeted that she had cast her vote, and was happy about fulfilling her duty; she had become part of the democratic process. Yasir was a staunch critique of politicians; he was dead set against them, so he sent her a message. The conversation started like;
“Hi, mam” Yasir.
“Yes,” Stranger.
When she replied to Yasir, he was as happy as a lark, but he was nervous too, as it was the first time that someone had replied to him; so it went on. Yasir criticised politicians; the stranger defended them. It was Yasir’s first conversation with any stranger that, too, with an outsider. She wasn’t from his conflicted place, Kashmir. They introduced themselves to each other. She was Anjana Kashyap from Haryana working in Delhi.
So conversations went on between the two, but one day, an argument started between them, apparently because of Anjana. Actually, Yasir told her that he wanted to do something for his people. He would die for the cause of his people. On this, she was enraged. She replied to him that if he wanted to become a militant; he should go and become one; no one would stop him. This is the thinking of most outsiders towards Kashmiri youth.
Yasir was hurt because he wanted to convey to her that his aim was to become a journalist, which he did later. She was happy to know that and promised Yasir that she would help him at every step, which she did. Yasir sent her his own quotes; she uploaded them on Twitter. In this way, she made him known to a lot of people. Yasir used to call her ‘Ma’am’, but with time, the connection got so strong that ‘Ma’am’ changed into ‘Mom’ and ‘Mumma’.
Yasir called her mumma, and he became her foster son. Whenever Yasir was trolled, she would come to his defence. One thing that Yasir utterly hated was when someone would troll her; it used to come just like a bolt from the blue to Yasir. He wished her on Mother’s Day also. Yasir was happy that day because he had wished not a stranger, but someone closest to him, his ‘Mumma’.
Still, there were differences between them, which became a cause of a severe argument. The argument was so abominable that Yasir got depressed and blocked her on 1st August 2019. He wanted to get rid of her, but the unforgettable moments with her were haunting him. He wanted to unblock her, but suddenly, something struck his mind, which stopped him from doing so. So he didn’t unblock her, but unfortunately, on 4th August 2019, the Internet services were snapped throughout the valley soon after the abrogation of Article 370.
Days passed, and Yasir started regretting. He would have chatted with her but alas! He couldn’t. He started missing her a lot. He would pray to God to forgive him for his sinful act of blocking his lovable, closest, bestie, his mumma, in a nutshell, his everything. When the Internet wasn’t restored after one, two, three, four, five months, Yasir thought that he lost her completely. Then, after five months, on 20th December 2019, his happiness knew no bounds when he got her cell number from Sonu, another friend. So he called her, and they talked for a long time.
Now Yasir has taken a pledge that he would never hurt her as he doesn’t want to lose his beautiful mumma. He hopes that the differences between them will vanish soon. So, in this way, an encounter with a stranger became the most unforgettable moment of Yasir’s life. A stranger became his lovable teacher and Mom.