Thursday, August 18, 2016

Rolling Shutters Down


Throughout India, whenever there is a sign that civil disturbance is coming: riot, a vehicular accident, a strike, a political procession, gangs of youths in an alcoholic stupor on motorcycles looking for a fight, a woman being harassed, a dead body on the footpath; it is reported that shopkeepers have pulled down the rolling shutters. Their doors are closed and locked.  People lie low.  They do not help the victims. They stand on the footpath or retreat to their homes to look fearfully or with vicarious curiosity from their windows at the outside world, to wait for quiet and safety to return.

I wonder, does this phenomenon of pulling down and locking the rolling shutters exist outside the borders of India? Does it belong to the South Asian region? Has it/will it, spread even beyond?

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