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

My wanderings 10

We  may consider ourselves very extravagant in expressing our views on  all the  affairs of life, but only one thing, which most of us  express very miserly is Gratitude. We never thank for what we already possess and we constantly complain about what we don't  possess. Actually human nature has been framed in such a manner  that we value the things which we don't possess and after possessing the same  we loose interest in them. This rat race of possessing things lands us in the deep mire of ingratitude  and vicious circle of desperation. By doing that we loose the precious moments of joy which the nature could provide us otherwise.
Nature has provided us with bounty of resources in the form of climate, sceneries and produce and same nature has provided us the faculties to enjoy them as well. But we are always ungrateful to his blessings and take them for granted. Moreover, we are in habit of complaining about what we don't possess. By doing this we loose even those things which we possess and are not in a position to gain more. By expressing Gratitude we can at least retain the things we possess and expect much more beyond that.
Let us first take example of our health. As far as we are having a good health we never express gratitude for it. We take it as a birth right and always far granted. But we start to value it  only as our health fails us due to ageing process or due to some disease or accident. Our senses like our vision,  hearing, taste smell or touch are very invaluable assets which we possess. Our  internal organs like our heart, brain,  lungs,  kidneys or liver are constantly working for us all the twenty four hours.  They are working for us even when we are sleeping and unaware of everything. Let us don't take every thing far granted and we should often express our gratitude to them. We should not complain for small material objects which we may not possess. A man was always disgusted with God as he could not purchase a shoe for himself until he saw a man without feet. We can even express gratitude to our internal organs by not overburdening them with  intoxicating drinks and smoking. We can give them relief by daily exercise so that they remain fit and fine to serve us better.
Our relationships and friendships are also important to us  as we are living in a society. We should highly value our relationships and friendships and often express our gratitude for that. These should not be taken  as burden but treated as an opportunity to develop our personality and the personality of others living with us. We should never adopt a selfish approach  while dealing with anyone, whosoever, by chance, comes across our way in usual course of business or otherwise.  Some people are in habit of occupying  seats in a bus by expanding their disposition and resting their enclosures to two seats even and look at another passenger with  an unwelcome gesture of intrusion. That should not be the attitude. Always make a space for another passenger and welcome his approach  as that will be your expression of  gratitude for relations.
Mostly people overburden themselves, sometimes even at the cost of their health,  to earn an extra buck. They are never satisfied. Greed and ingratitude overtakes their senses. They want to invest in properties, shares and Bank deposits. This is a never ending game and they don't really enjoy the life in true sense. These properties or deposits are hardly utilized by them latter on. The properties and shares remain at status quo and one fine morning he   bids  adieu to this mortal world. 
Therefore, a person should be thankful for whatever little he possesses and enjoy his  life nicely. A little food on ones  table a roof on  his head  with good health and loving companion is enough  for ones rejoicement and expressing gratitude to the Nature.

My wanderings - 9

'Penny wise pound foolish'.  It is an old saying which was haunting my mind from early childhood,  but I could never under stand its  significance  until I visualized   the importance of thrift and curse of extravagance. However, occasional extravagance to bring some joy in life can not be ruled out. But small savings in steady manner sometimes amass big fortunes. I am not trying to inculcate habit of thrift in the minds of readers here,  but to plead the importance of small things  in life,  which are usually neglected or given last priority. Small things are very important in life which can be completed with little effort,  but they can pave the way for bigger accomplishments.  Small leaps with steady impetus always help in attainment of greater heights and big leaps are sometimes fraught with the risk of tumbling down from there.
Mahatma Gandhi could realize the value of small things in life at the early stage of his career as a leader. He always volunteered for keeping the sanitary system neat and clean around him and also taught his followers accordingly.  While discussing the crucial matters of Nation  with other leaders he would not miss the small chores he was in habit of doing. While discussing the important issues, he would stand up suddenly and give feed to animals or attend to some other small chores  to the amazement of his guests.
We make bigger resolutions on the eve of every New year, but if we honestly admit, we are  hardly able to accomplish them. Why not to start with smaller resolutions which can be realized with little effort. If we make a resolution to brush our teeth daily before going to bed or exercise daily in the morning, we may be able to  to perform them with ease. These small actions of ours can  give us better results in respect of our health  in the long run  and save us from visiting Dentists and Doctors often. There can be a large list of small things which can be completed  side by side with the important and bigger ones  with out disturbing the latter and not at the cost of waisting ones  time. Time management is very important in life and those persons who know how to manage their time sagaciously never complain about the shortage of time. Neglecting small things at the time when they need our attention cost us dearly later in  life. It is well said  that ' Stitch in time saves  nine'.  Small nose or small hands and feet are considered as the signs of beauty in women.
Excess of everything is bad. Even excess of good qualities in a person are not sometimes much appreciated and even few bad qualities in a person are sometimes ignored.
In case of managing stress small or big stress does not count much but it is the time period  i.e. how long one carries stress with himself  matters. If  one carries stress with himself for short period it does not matter  much. But if one carries stress with himself for all the twenty four hours, it will really ache and finally help in landing the person in trouble.

My Wanderings - 8

Politics as the word implies in dictionary is the business or science  of wrangling etc. and pleads  moves and maneuvers  concerned with the acquisition of power or getting ones way e.g. in business. It is actually a game of winning sympathies by brainwashing people and sacrificing  principles in the name of  compromise at the alter of democracy, which signifies Govt. of  the people, by the people and for the people. It is well said that politics is the last refuge for scoundrels. Therefore, no man with conscience can survive in it. Politicians or leaders are the creation of time which survive under the  aura of public image wielded around them. No sooner their public image is tarnished  than they loose the magic of influence they may have created on  the general masses. As no person is hero to his wife or valet, because being in close proximity with them they are fully aware of their weaknesses. It is only their public image that makes them hero's in the eyes of public. Therefore it is  necessary for them to maintain their public image for survival  and foremost duty of opposition party to tarnish it in order to ditch them  and consequently replace them  by their own candidates. Now it depends upon the logic of arguments cleverly  substituted by both the parties  to justify their point of view which can influence the masses to great extent. Tongue is a double edged knife which  can cut both the ways. If a person is convicted  on some clues by prosecution, the defence can prove him innocent on  the same clues, if pleaded properly. Ethics in politics  is always  sacrificed  for the sake of so called logic in it.  Ethics is an abstract term and non existent in politics and  logic is so called because it is only a  clever bid of presenting the argument in better way to influence the masses like hypnotism.  Therefore, any argument made in the right direction can make the Careers  of politicians and vice versa.
This reminds me of a book entitled 'Animal  Farm' written by George Orwell, which is a political satire. All the characters in this book are different  animals representing diverse classes in society. They free their farm  from the domain of Man and form their own administration. But in due course of time the animals   who worked hard for the independence and development of Farm and once regarded as hero's are turned in to villains by brainwashing the common masses  on the behest of some other animals.  It is a smart tale of how old hero's can be converted in to villains for the benefit of others.
Moreover some body has aptly said it that ' There are no permanent   friends and foes in politics but pertinent adjustments.
We have usually seen politicians  of different parties in order to grab power compromise their contradictory ideologies to  form coalition Governments. Yesterdays enemies become friends today because of the mutual interest in formation of government. They forget the earlier  rivalries , the dirt they  hurled on  each other and the accusations they made on each other. The greed of power persuades them to forget everything and they come closer, sometimes even to the surprise of their voters.
In a recent election, a politician defined politics as the art of managing contradictions. The quotations and definitions can be tailored to suit the convenience of a politician to achieve political ambitions, but stark reality is that compromising ideals and contradiction with the main objective of grabbing power defines the essence of politics. Therefore, politics is also art of compromising ideals for gaining power.
I had also a little experience of politics in my earlier period of service.   It was relatively on marginal level. I was elected Assistant Secretary of the Staff Association , zonal office unit with a huge margin of votes. After sometime members of our association were not satisfied with our work , particularly of our secretary. They started signature campaigning   against us. I thought it my moral duty to resign from the post. But our Secretary and big leaders of the association were not interested in breaking the unit and persuaded me not to resign. As my conscience could not tolerate it any more, I resigned from the post to the much resentment of higher leaders. Then new elections were held and a new secretary of the same party was elected by  manipulations and rigging of  the elections despite of the fact that no member had voted in his favour. 

My wanderings - 7

Once in my childhood I laid my hands on an old piece of paper depicting my family tree which started with the name of our ancestor Pt. Raja Kaul. There were many other names  of our ancestors  in descending order and lastly my grandfathers name ended the sequence. I could not understand the importance of preserving the piece of paper at that age and lost it in due course of time. Then I had a chance of reading an article in a magazine on Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru  showing family tree of Nehru family  which also started with the name of  pt. Raja Kaul as their first ancestor .  But I could not confirm whether it was a matter of coincidence that both family trees started with the same name or Pt. Raja Kaul was one and the same person in both the family trees. As I had lost my family tree document I could not compare other generations of both family trees which I deeply regret. However, list in  descending order of generations was so long in both the family trees that it was not a matter of surprise that Pt. Raja Kaul would have been one and same person to head the Kaul dynasty in Kashmir.
As far as I have heard from my elders I could recollect my  dynasty from Pt. Nand Kaul who had no child and adopted  male child from his cousin and named him Ram Kaul. Then wife of pt. Nand Kaul gave birth to her own  male child and named him pt. Amar Kaul who formed another clan of our dynasty.  Pt. Ram Kaul worked in police Dept. as a clerk and was married to Smt. Sampkuji from Labru family. Pt. Ram Kaul was a quick witted person  with a  bit  of hot  temperament  and his wife a pious and kind lady. He had two sons and two daughters. His elder son pt. Laxman Kaul, my grand father was a very  religious  and intelligent man and worked in State Excise Deptt. He was married to smt.Radhamali from Rainas  family. My Grandmother was also very beautiful and intelligent woman. They gave birth to two sons Pt. Gopi Nath Kaul and  my father Pt. Sham Lal kaul. My grandfather Pt. Laxman Kaul died very young   at  the age of  29 years only.  My father was only two years old at that time. Pt. Laxman Kaul was very religious man. On every  'shuklpaksh Ashtami' he used to visit Mata Kheer bhawani shrine  at Tulamula , which was approximately 25 kms away from his residence at Srinagar. Like most of the people ,those days,  he used to visit the shrine on foot as there was no  availability of public transport. Once he applied  for  a days leave with the same purpose, but his senior  rejected his leave application. He was left with no other alternative but to start his journey in the evening on foot and travel to and fro through out the night. After his brief  sojourn  and paying his oblations at the shrine , he reached the office on time next day. After few days the right hand of the officer who had rejected  his leave application was paralyzed. But it is not known whether the officer  realized his mistake or at least connected his sickness with the above mentioned  incident or not. Due to the death of my Grandfather at an early age, my father and my uncle were brought up by their grandfather Pt.Ram Kaul and  uncle Pt.Samsar Chand Kaul, a dedicated and hard working man who was married to  smt.Tarawati from  chakoo family of Rainawari. They  had five daughters and a Son. The name of their son is Sh.Girdhari Lal Kaul who is settled at pathankot.
My uncle Pt. Gopi nath Kaul was a sharp witted and intelligent person who was first Dentist in the valley. His Son Dr. A.K.Kaul was a renowned and first graduate dental surgeon in the valley.
My father a devout Hindu got interested  in spirituality right from his childhood. After completing his education he joined medical department. Once on duty at Badgam Kashmir,  he was preying on the river bank early in the morning, a great saint  Swami Nand Lal ji of Badgam, who was lovingly called Mahatma ji  noticed him and advised him to join his teaching classes in the evening. My father most readily accepted his offer and started joining his classes and never looked back. Then my father became his most devoted desiple  and learned the delicacies of spirituality under his feet. My father lived a full satisfied life of a family man taking full responsibility of a family but remained aloof from the  worldly affairs. He was living example of spiritual virtues and embodiment of values envisaged by Gita.
My mother was a devoted  housewife and  a resourceful lady who used to manage all the affairs of our family. She was daughter of Sh.Sham Lal KaK, who was  one among first graduates in the valley  and  one of the pioneers of theater in Kashmir. His two sons  Sh.Amar Nath KaK and Sh. Som Nath KaK were  founders of optician business in Kashmir.
My parents gave birth to five daughters and two sons. I am the youngest in family and my elder brother Dr.V.K.Kaul is a renowned chemical engineer and first doctorate in chemical engineering from our family.