Two Kashmiries
------------------------
Sound of gun fire was less fearful
than the silence. Their eyes were blood shot. Tears had simply dried. They
simply waited for the inevitable to happen. A baby was cozying in the lap
of her young mother oblivious of her
fate and totally immune to happenings outside.
A young boy was just looking towards his mother like a bird in the nest
waiting for its turn to be fed. A girl,
in her teens, was tightly holding her mother’s hand with perplexed expressions
as if she were expecting the worst. Each person in the attic was eying each
other waiting for the cue not knowing what to do next. The escape from the onslaught of rouges who
were identifying every house of pandit family in the locality for the militant
elements and torching their houses could have been short lived but for the
presence of mind of Gul Nisaar who had brought them to his house and had hidden
them in the attic . Smoke was bellowing out not far from their hide out. They
heard the steps approaching them. Arjun Nath became skeptical. Watching his
daughter-in-law with the baby and the girl trembling, he hugged them tightly
trying to insulate them from fear as he had no other option. What if ? He did
not want to even imagine as the nightmarish experience of the previous night
was enough to rattle his confidence. His son was shot dead yesterday as he had
been sympathizing with moderate element of the society and speaking against
terrorism seeking to establish its foothold in the village. He held himself
together with sheer will power and did not allow the breakdown to overpower his
senses.
There was constant knocking and
then he heard familiar voice of Gul Nisaar.
“ Azarnaatha, open . Quick. We have
to move.” He saw the fear on Gul
Nisaar’s face underlining the urgency. Gul brought them down to the backyard
ally where a jeep was waiting for them. Rahmaan, Gul’s son was at the driver’s
seat. He gestured them to move in quickly. Without hesitation, Arzannaath
ushered everyone into the vehicle. Water welled out of Gul’s eyes as he saw the
jeep getting enveloped into darkness. South side of the locality was still
burning and so was his heart.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rahmaan drove the jeep through
service lanes avoiding main roads. At every bend, he stopped his vehicle and
made sure that the lane was clear. Gun shots shattered the peace intermittently
giving creeps to Arjun Nath and others. After half an hour of absorbing violent
jerks they reached main crossing where they found an army truck. Rahmaan
stopped near the truck. Army Captain enquired everything from Arjun Nath and
asked them to sit in the truck. Fear gave way to some alleviation that could
also be short-lived. Patting Rahmaan, Captain ordered the truck to move.
Rahmaan returned now taking the main road. Three days later Arjun Nath with his
daughter-in-law and grand children found themselves in the refugee camp in
Jammu. Conspirators had struck the first blow to kashmiriat ?
Similarities and differences though
always defines the relationships between two individuals, two families,
two communities, yet a strong bond of friendship always conquers the complexities of situations. To Arjun Nath
and Gul Nisaar Kashmir had always been an awakening to nature’s beauty in all its pristine appearance
in all seasons. For them simple name ‘Kashmir’ galvanized both to be patriotic
towards their land of birth. Kashmir where tourists thronging house boats at
Jheele Dal , at Chaar-chinaar, Nishant-Shalimar, Ganpatyaar, Hazratbal, Kheer-bhawani
the golf gounds of Gulmarg, Sonamarg among pine, fruit laden trees, snow laden
mountain peaks, valleys and a spirit of once pervading peace among the innocent
populace seemed a never ending dream . Gul Nissar and his family was not a
neighbourer to them, they were a family within the family as described by the
tenets of humanity. They were hopeful that their land, torn asunder by the
ravages of time and politics, embroiled in ethnic, political disputes will one
day wake up to its reality and their pain and longing of separation will cease
to exist.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Camp life soon took its toll. Arjun
Nath’s daughter-in-law and the baby could not adjust with the camp life and
vagaries of weather. They both succumbed to the alien conditions .Arjun Nath
somehow survived to look after his grand children and opened a tea stall
selling tea at the highway. Time flew. Tea stall owner shifted to one room flat
built for all the refuges by the Govt.
Time, if cruel, is kind too. It
always tests the limitations of humans. Refugees were going through those
testing times. Slowly but steadily their fighting spirit came to fore which
started eliminating their docility, timidity, fearfulness from their traits.
They started calling themselves displaced Kashmiries. They took up jobs which
they would have never thought of venturing into had they been in Kashmir. Arjun Nath’s entrepreneurial skills took
everyone by surprise and he soon opened a small restaurant at the highway.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arjun Nath was overseeing the
arrangements of the restaurant when he saw a familiar face alighting from the
bus. He could not believe his eyes. He ran shouting ‘Gula, Gula.’ Gul Nisaar saw him too and ran towards him
with open arms. Both held each other tightly. On lookers were first amused to
see both in tight embrace and then starting clapping. Eyes were moist. Gul
Nisaar could utter only his name repeating, “Arzannatha, Arzannatha” Gul Nisaar
had alighted alone. This surprised Arjun Nath. He asked him about Rahmaan and
his family. Something snapped inside Gul Nisaar and there was no dam to stop
the flow of tears. Pulling himself together, Gul Nisaar informed him that his
son Rahmaan was tortured and killed for helping them escape soon after they
left Kashmir. His grand-daughters were forcibly married to militants which made
others in his village to tow the line dictated by the militants. Once all ‘battas’
were driven out, moderate muslims with moderate and nationalistic thinking were
targeted. They started facing the wrath of hardliners and militants. This
shocked Arjun Nath. He could not digest that people of same faith
could kill one another just to terrorise others shutting them up from raising
their voices. Every religion in the world is liberal yet some fundamentalists
make it look like fundamentalistic.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With the help of Arjun Nath, Gul Nisaar established his own small
business. Some of distant relatives of Gul Nisaar ,who were also driven out of
the valley for showing their solidarity with their pandit brethren and for
their moderate and nationalistic views,
also joined. The true character of kashmiriat could be found within these refugees,
displaced from their own land and within their own country. What a paradoxical
situation ! People like Arjun Nath and Gul Nisaar were determined to bring back
the same sense of security, same sense of brotherhood and same sense of
solidarity no matter whether they were in Kashmir or outside Kashmir as ethos
of Kashmir and kashmiriat had found
echoes everywhere in the world since centuries.
Future was not to be held to ransom by some belligerent elements.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All rights reserved/Tribhawan Kaul
No comments:
Post a Comment