I returned from Kashmir on 30th August and since then I have tried several times to type down my experience but the moment I finish writing 4-5 words I erase them and drop the idea of typing anything about the Valley which used to be described by the famous line of Amir Khusro Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast After seeing the lush green valley decorated with pearl like little white and violet color flower I felt like to pat the back of the person who adopted these lines to describe it and to proudly shut the mouth of my Europe crazy friends, though they are few in number, who day and night rant about the beauty of Florence and Switzerland BUT amid these two feeling my brain continuously disturbed the peace of my mind and it kept on reminding me the song of Mission Kashmir धुँआ धुँआ धुँआ धुँआ धुँआ धुँआ धुँआ ही धुँआ......... ये ताक़त की लड़ाई है ये कुर्सिओं की जंग है........ I kept on shunting the voice of my brain but I cant blame it for that disturbance. I kept on trying to enjoy the thing which I enjoy the most peace but the peace of Kashmir was disturbing enough to create chaos in my brain because that peace was maintained by the soldiers with AK-47 in their hands, the soldiers who were looking lifeless in absence of people who would admire their courage and selflessness, soldiers who were looking dead because they were bound not to utter a words or to show any anger to the sweet little kids who were trained by their families to humiliate the soldiers who gave the courage to people like me to visit the valley and contribute generate employment in otherwise unemployed valley. For the first time peace was disturbing because it was achieved after cutting down the humanity into pieces. They call it peace but I call it mourning, they call their girls and women as civilized and I call them dead women walking who from head to toe are covered in black and white shroud, who die immediately after learning to walk on their feet (it was chilling to see the girls of 4 or 5 years old with dress code of salwar, kamiz and hijab). They call it achievement that there was not a single word written in Hindi as being a Muslim majority only Urdu and English or in certain cases Bengla was allowed but I call it dimness of their brains. Burned shoppes of Pahalgam were sign of their bravery and victory over few pilgrims to Amaranth but for me it was yet another failure of Kashmiris to earn respect and faith. I wanted to trust the attendant of shikara when he said we didnt forced Pandits to flee, it was Jagmohan who scared them to achieve political motives. Political motives? haaa. In the market of Lal Chawk one Jain vendor showed me the shop in front of his shop, that shop belonged to one pandit who was the most famous sweet maker of the area but he had to left his name and fame in Kashmir. That lifeless shop is renamed as Nishat sweets. The Kashmir which my parents, Bua and Taiji described to me was imaginable even without seeing it, I could relate with the Kashmir described by V S Naipaul in his novels but this Kashmir is unimaginable. Azan with Tinkling bells and conch of temple sooth the soul but the Allah hu Akbar in Azan of Srinagar was scary enough to wake me up from my slumber. I am not used to of seeing nursery class kids in salwar kamiz and hijab, I am not used to of listening to some Urdu verse which are not understandable by majority of Bhartiya in school prayer, may be that is the reason that I couldnt relate myself with Kashmir. I would have been happy to see the difference if it was about culture but unfortunately it was about religion which forces the girls to live in a moving cage. Waise I was wondering if being majority is criteria to decide functioning of schools then why secular have problem with teaching of Geeta and practicing yoga (the only purpose of which is good health for school kids) in schools of Hindu majority states? If bowing down is daily ritual or part of prayer in Kashmir valley school then why to cry over surya namaskar (which has scientific reasoning behind it) in schools ? oh yeah Kashmir has special privilege of sec 370 so secular who are bound by constitution dont interfere in the matters related to that area of Bharat. Mahila aayog and Indian feminists are not bothered about the rights and life of women there.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 09:21:52 +0000
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