Right Now, Kashmiri Youngsters Are Going Crazy About PUBG. Everything Else Can Wait.

There's snow in the valley, there are bullets too.

Kashmiris know how to face the test of nature while being dragged into politics of time. Wait, there's less than 100 days left in the general elections, the state too doesn't have a government, the most celebrated civil servant, Shah Faesal has resigned, there are encounters with the militants and the deputy mayor is locking horns with the civic body.

What is the Kashmiri youth's view on this? Well, they are glued to their mobile phone screens, busy playing PUBG.

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Believe it or not, PUBG has taken everything by storm in the valley and the youngsters are unable to cut themselves off from the virtual world for long hours creating chaotic situation in their real world. Young boys and girls alike are busy playing the game, while everything else is happening around them.

I tried to talk to several PUBG players in the valley and everyone had an amazing answer to tell. Hazim Bin Bashir, a pro PUBG player and a B-Tech Computer Science student at Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) says he started playing the game since the very first day when it got launched in India.

¡°Initially I played it for time-pass, but slowly it became part of my daily routine. It is quite attractive, because once you start playing it, you have to keep up with the competition. You got to improve your game play and be up to the mark with your friends, which really takes a lot of time and practice,¡± says Bashir.

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¡°A good player's main aim is to be neck to neck with the top players in his region, and if he does so, his name is listed under the top player's list in his country by the game,¡± he says.

¡°I won't consider the game as a life threatening element, but a little less than that because this game is a new trend yet and I believe that its craze will surely come down after some time among the youth because everything in this world comes with validity,¡± he adds.

The popularity of the game is so high that there have been demands by several groups to ban it. However, the players think otherwise. For some, there should be some regulations as well.

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Azif Mir, a PUBG player and a college student says, ¡°I don't think that it is the right to ban this game. Rather we should spread more awareness the about game. I can easily quit playing it if I found that it is boring me or feel the game isn't interesting anymore.¡±

¡°I think if we will try to make people aware of PUBG¡¯s negative impacts on our health and social life, it will be a big bonus. If we reduce the time spent in playing this game, that will be a big success keep in mind the number of continuous hours youngsters play this game,¡± says Fayaz Ahmad, an 11th class student from border town Uri.

Meanwhile, the Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) last week appealed parents, teachers and civil societies to restrain their kids from playing PUBG mobile game.

In a statement, DAK spokesman quoting Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) President and senior paediatrician, Dr Suhail Naik said that addiction to PUBG is dangerous than drug addiction and students who are playing this game have developed behavioural, sleep and psychiatric disturbances.

The student bodies like Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) and J&K Students Movement (JKSM) have asked the Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Naik to ban the game immediately. The bodies claimed that PUBG mobile game is extremely addictive and has resulted in poor results for the students in the recent class X and XII board exams.

"PUBG has so wonderfully designed game which has attracted huge number of youth towards it. If government will ban it in the state, people will find different ways to access it. So permanent solution is to be required,¡± says Naveed Bukhtiyar, General Secretary J&K Students Movement.

Representational Image

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Indeed, six cases of PUBG addiction have been reported in J&K already, with the most recent dating back to less than a week ago, in which a fitness trainer from Jammu city was admitted to a hospital owing to his addiction to the game.

While the parents' community have already requested the authorities and demanded a ban on the PUBG in the state. ¡°My son remains stuck to his mobile phone for complete 24 hours since the game PUBG has been launched. He sleeps for hours and wakes up late in the morning. It is seriously degrading his health,¡± says Ghulam Hassan, a tailor from Bemina locality of Srinagar.
It was not expected that a mobile game called PUBG would become so popular that it would inspire people in the valley to open up a cafe. A group of friends have set up a PUBG-theme cafe named Winner's Dinner in Rajbagh area of Srinagar which is witnessing a huge rush of customers on the each passing day.

BCCL/Representational Image

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Finding this menace unending, a delegation of corporators of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) led by Srinagar deputy mayor Sheikh Mohammad Imran last week also met Governor SP Malik in Jammu and sought a ban on PUBG mobile game in cyber cafes in Srinagar.

There has been no study so far that can tell reasons of addiction of the game among the youths in the valley. However, it can clearly be said that the game has thoroughly captured the imagination of school and college going people. And the elders are worried for obvious reasons.

The writer is a Srinager-based freelance contributor.