Born On A Cusp

I was ranting to FrenchBeard about the curfew imposed by the Philippines President Arroyo following yesterday’s aborted coup attempt. He cuts in, obviously concerned, “A curfew, really? For how long?”

“12 midnight to 5am.” (Puzzled as to why he was asking for how long, defining ‘curfew’ in my head to be a period of time, usually in the evening, when people are required to be tucked inside their homes.)

“That’s it?”

“What do you mean, ‘that’s it?’”

“Here in India, if a curfew is imposed, it lasts for many weeks. That’s our curfew.”

The last time there were riots in Delhi in 1984, for instance, after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, there was a curfew, and it was the sort of weeks-long curfew. Not the Philippines kind. People were allowed out for a couple of hours to buy food. To this day, in places where communal riots take place, it is also the kind of curfew enforced by authorities.

Not that Filipinos should be thankful that the curfew in the capital and surrounding regions is “only” for five hours. A restriction is a restriction and, for freedom-loving people, something to sound the alarm about.

I was simply reminded once again of how little the Philippines is, if you sit it against India.