Kashmiri Pandits. 11

             I must congratulate my community brothers and sisters  and express my gratitude to God that we have come a long way since leaving our ancestral place twenty six years ago in much agony and achieving our settlement in a dignified manner.  As there is always scope for improvement and learning , we have every right to protect our community and guard it against any misadventure.  Moreover, we have obligation towards our ancestors as well as our progeny.  We have to learn from our past  history by introspecting our shortcomings and failures and we have to shun the myopic outlook which our ancestors have adopted from time to time. We  have also to learn from other communities who have established themselves sagaciously.
Aharya Kriplani a seasoned leader of India was told once , by his community members I.e. sindhis, after independence of India, that they should fight for their independent homeland. But Acharya replied to them that whole of  India belongs to them. They should spread in whole of India and enjoy the benefits of free economy and democratic set up of India. Sindhis agreed with the advise of their  Leader.  Rest is history. Sindhis are most well off and patriot community of India nowadays. These are the results of strong leadership and faith on leaders. We have created a leadership crisis in our community. We don't believe in  our leaders. May be we have genuine reasons for that.  But we have to come out of it and change our outlook towards our leaders now. If we learn from our history we have been always marginalised by every one  due to the lack of unity in us. Unity is basis of good leadership also. Leaders  are also ordinary human beings like all of us. They are only a medium to bind the whole community together and act like a single mouth piece of whole community. Our leaders should also learn that they are the creation of time who survive under the aura of public image wielded around them. No sooner the public image is tarnished than they loose the magic of influence they may have created on the general masses.
On the idea of social Reforms in our community, some  of my friends confront me with the plea that most of our community members are well off now and therefore, giving dowry or spending extravagantly on marriage functions is not a problem these days for an average Kashmiri pandit.  But I personally feel  that spending money on marriage functions is simple waste of it, which could have been  utilized otherwise,  for  some productive purposes. We should learn from other communities of India, who are far richer than us , but they go ahead with only one function to celebrate marriage ceremonies  and even  the  expenses of function is contributed by both the parties jointly.
Our community has many obligations. They can employ excess funds with them for construction of old age homes, free or subsidised hospitals which has now become a necessity in our community as our children are living very far away from us. We can not stop them from going ahead in life  but at least we can assure  to meet  our old age problems with much dignified manner. We  may even  create a fund, contributed by every community member, under the proper management of our leaders,  to help our not so privileged community brothers  or those patients suffering from killer deceases.
After migration from Kashmir, it was a need of time to send our wards to engineering colleges on reserved seats,  to ensure their future in private or Multinational companies. But now we can send them for competing in other professions also.
We are presently the. custodians of our mother tongue I.e. Kashmiri language  and therefore, we have the responsibility of passing  it on to our next generations. We should also try to discourage inter caste marriages the rate of  which is increasing sharply in our society.
Our community has large number of professionals and intellectuals who are living a retired life now with out adding anything useful  to the society or community. They should be requested to come forward and form committees to make decisions suitable for our community. They will definitely come forward and can be the torch bearers of our community.
I personally feel it may not be feasible for us to resettle again  in Kashmir. Moreover our children may not like to return Kashmir because of meagre opportunities of jobs there. It would have been better to resettle Kashmiri pandits in any other part of India, where they can live in congregation  and preserve their heritage and culture with out any problem.
But if our leadership has decided that they will carve their homeland in the heart of  Kashmir itself with union territory status, my view does not hold ground.  I will have to respect the decision of my Leadership which is obviously representing majority point of view. I should wholeheartedly support the decision of my Leaders even if I have to swallow a bitter pill. That is how the leadership works. It is important to be rationale but excess of rationality does not work in  leadership. Sometimes in order to boost our leadership we should also have blind faith on it.
"There is not to reason why. There is but to do or die."
The great wars have not been won by arguing of  soldiers with their generals. They have been won by will, perseverance and discipline of solidiers. Same is the case with big revolutions.
It is now evident  that neither politicians nor separatists  in Kashmir are interested in our  return to Kashmir. They make lame excuses that Kashmiri Pandits can not live in separate homeland in Kashmir, but they are not able to answer how they can live in old houses which are either in dilapidated condition or sold by kashmiri pandits at throw away prices. Moreover, if shia' s can live separately in Srinagar or Sikhs can live separately in both Jammu and Srinagar. Muslims can live in separate colonies at Jammu. Why Kashmiri Pandits can not live separately in Kashmir. This is the  hypocracy on the part of Politicians and Terrorists of Kashmir who don't want. us back.

My Wanderings - 12

Humour and Satire are usually considered  interrelated terms. But there is a vivid difference between the two. Humour is generalised term while Satire is directed towards a particular event , person or a subject. Mark Twain, an English writer and humorist has contributed much to classical Humour and Satire by writing his books like" Adventures of Tom Sawyer "and "Adventures of Huckleberry fin".   Healthy dose of humour is now considered very good for health which can also  give a  new lease of life to the patients of depression and other psychological diseases. Laughing has been recognised as a  therapy and lot of laughing sessions can be witnessed these days in various public places and parks. Quick wit  and humour is also  considered  as a  good quality of a person. Some of the eminent personalities like George Bernard shah, Winston Churchill and Chesterton were known for their quick wit and humour.

Once a person who had recently learned voilon compelled George Bernard Shah to witness his performance. After completing his performance the violinist asked for the opinion of George Bernard Shah.
" This reminds me of Leo Tolstoy" , opined   Bernard Shah.
" But. he was not a Violinist", retorted violinist.
" Neither are you" ,replied Bernard Shah.

Bernard Shah was a thin man. Once his friend Chesterton, who was a little bulky told him that if a foreigner visits London and encounters you, he will form the opinion that London is recovering from recent famine. 'But after meeting  you he will learn the cause of famine in London," replied the Bernard Shah.

Once a beautiful actress of London proposed to Bernard Shah for marriage giving reasons that children they may have after marriage will have  his  wisdom   and  her  looks.
But reverse is also possible if they had your wisdom and my looks, commented the Bernard Shah.

Once Winston Churchill  as Prime Minister of Britain  was walking on a small passage when he encountered leader of opposition of British parliament. Only one person could walk on the passage. Leader of opposition did not relent and said, " I don't give way to fools".
Winston Churchill immediately moved back and replied, " But I give way to fools"

Once British parliment was in full swing. There was hue and cry as usual in parliaments. No body was listening to anyone. A member was trying to put forth his point of view. He began several times by saying I conceive , I conceive, I conceive. But no body was paying heed to him. When Winston Churchill noticed this, He said in a loud voice, silence, Gentleman," Mr So and So conceived three times but delivered nothing."

Khushwant Singh, an imminent Indian English writer of " Train to Pakistan" fame has also contributed a lot to humour by compiling thousand of jokes. It will be worthwhile here to mention one of his jokes in order to conclude my write up.
Once Morarji Desai as Prime Minister of India was invited to London to attend Commonwealth meet along with other heads of states. One head of the state early in the morning  accidentally entered Morar ji's room in a hotel , where the later was staying. He saw Morarji with a glass of whisky. He said to Morar ji, " sir you start it early in the morning". No Morarji replied, " it is not what you are thinking about". It is a natural product and very good for health. Morarji confided with the other head of state the secret of the exhilarating drink, he was having.
One day the Head of the state in question hosted a dinner in the honour of heads of the states of other Commonwealth countries. When Morarji arrived at the dinner, he found a big glass of whisky in front of his table. Morarji was upset and told to his host that I had already confided to you that I don't drink." No Sir", the host replied, " It is not Whisky, it is "Queens Special " brought fresh for  you direct from Buckingham palace.

My wanderings - 11

Flirting with Urdu poetry is very sensational and thrilling. Some familiar words related with urdu poetry are Irshaad, Mukarar, Kalam,  takhalus and many more.  Urdu poetry is very pleasant with a streak of rebellion in it. Urdu poets usually speak against Naseh, wayez and sheikh. These are the different interpretations of common adversary of Urdu poets and  that is Advisor. Advisors are considered as the  epitome of ethics, who usually advise on each and every subject on this earth biased with their myopic outlook. But poets are usually made of different metal who do not want to discipline their life according to their dictates. They  prefer to live in  free atmosphere in order to  give vent to their feelings and passions and which is also the necessity of good art and literature.  Here I give examples of few famous Urdu couplets which speak against the so called Advisors.

Aey Sheikh peene de muje masjid me baithkar
Ya woh jagah bate de jahan pe khuda nahin.
Oh Sheikh let me drink in a mosque
Or show me that place where God is not present.

Sidharenge sheikh kaba to hum inglistan jayenge
Woh dekhe ghar  khuda ka ham khuda ki shaan dekhenge.
When sheikh will go to kaba we shall visit  england
He will see the home of God and we shall see his glory

Yeh kahan ki dosti hai ki bane hai dost Naseh
Koi charasaaz hota koi gamgusar hota
What type of friend ship is this that friends have become advisors
Friend should be like a solution to all the problems.

Zara suno aay sheikhji ajib Shay hai aap bi
Bala shabab o ashki alag hue hai kaheen.
O sheikh strange type of subject are you
Has ever  beauty  and love remained aloof.

Kya fitnabari wayaz ki yeh baten hai
Kya usne kabi is rang ko dekha hai is rang ko Jana hai
How disputed  are the advises of Advisor
Has he himself  ever experienced it or not

There is a vast treasure of Urdu poetry worth preserving and quoting,  which is not possible here. But I will prefer to quote few selected  Urdu couplets which have influenced me in my life to a great extent.

Fikre maash asheqe buta yade raftgaan
Is zindagee me aur  kya kya kare koi.
A person does only three things in life
I.e . economic worries, idol worshipping and nostalgia.
In order to live a person has to take care of his economy. Idol worshipping is symbolic of faith in God or loving his beloved, family, friends and relations. And last of all old memories I.e. nostalgia.
Old memories are always sweet when revived  and a person forgets all the pain which he has undergone in the past . He usually cherishes the reminiscences of bygone days.

Gardishe Ayam Tera shukriya
Mai ne har pahloo se zindagi dekh Lee
Thanks to the vageries of fate
That I have seen life from all aspects.

Now last of all I will quote my favourite  kashmiri pandit Urdu poet
Brij Naryan Chakbast who gives his interpretation on Life and Death.

Zindagi kya hai anasir me zahoore tarteeb
Maut kya hai inhi ajza ka pareshaan hona

Ramesh Kaul