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| "Home to House"reflects displaced peoples' Journey from paradise to inferno | | | M.L.Kak
New Delhi, Mar 8: From "Home to House",a book edited by Arvind Gigoo,Shaleen Kumar Singh and Adarsh Ajit,is a collection of articles and excerpts from various books written by Kashmiri authors and writers which describes in detail the journey of the Kashmiri Pandits from a paradise to an inferno.These excerpts and articles describe the state of mind and outlook.These migrants or displaced people have gone through the process of sublimation and continue to be in a state of trauma despite the fact that one generation of the displaced people is dead.
Although muslim neighbours watched helplessly the exodus of their Pandit neighbours the bond between the two communities still is intact.And a testimony to this growing bond,despite having ceased to be the neighbours of the muslim community,is given in his write-up "Air you breathe" by R.L.Shant.And the excitement in the mind of Asadullah on meeting his estranged neighbour, Omkar Nath is not a case in isolation.
The book is published by Harper Collins and as such one does not find any printing devils in the book.Well edited and nicely printed.
When Dr K.L.Chowdhary mentions the Nadimarg massacre through the voice of one of his patients, Satish Bhat, the reader cannot but suffer hallucination. How Dr Chowdhary has gracefully made his patient,who has been an eyewitness to the sordid carnage, in which 24 Panidts were killed,as he was one among a few survivors,reflects the art of the writer for keeping the reader spell bound.
Yes, the bonds between the two communities do not seem to have lost the traditional strength but cracks have appeared. And a mention about these cracks has been made by T.N.Dhar in his "under the shadow of militancy."He has given a vivid account of an extremist muslim who could change the course of the dialogue that was being staged to plug the gap between the two communities.This extremist could spoil the atmosphere to the chagrin of many of his co-religionists. Rashneek Kher too dwelts on willingness of the forgotten and forsaken Pandits to revive their ties with their muslim friends and neighbours.
Rightly Autar Krishen Rahbar has depicted the negative impact of intercaste marriages. He is one among those Pandits who believe that inter-caste marriages could lead to rapid extinction of Kashmiri Pandit culture, civilization and social ethos.That is why he has entitled his write-up as "Addition,Subtraction and Division".
Siddartha Gigoo has given a detailed account of the problems the Pandit community members faced in early years of the migration.Like an artist he has painted the story of penury, pain and fright of the displaced people living in tented accommodation warding off attacks from snakes,scorpions,millipedes and other insects.
Parneeta Khar gives a painful account of the loss of their ancestral house in Srinagar which was spacious.She talks about how several thousand displaced families had to either sell their houses for a song or were damaged in arson warranting further mental agony on the part of the displaced people.
The book "Home to House" is a journey from emotions to insensivity,from optimism to pessimism,from fun loving mind to frustration.The title of the book is quite apt because home st ands for emotions,while the house is nothing but a structure.This is what displaced people have gone through.They are devoid of emotions.They are full of fears and frustration.Their past has been glorious,full of excitement and energy,their present is gloomy with scant energy left,and their future is uncertain and as dark as dark clouds.
Well even during these years of suffering,trauma and tribulations those with a sweet voice have sung songs that remind the displaced people of old joys and present sorrows.Those among them who have a nose for writing have written books and contributed articles and short stories for various magazines and journals.what is striking about the displaced people is that they have not lost their sense of humour and this iks discernible in his write-up by late Shyam Kaul,an eminent journalist.
"Home to House" is a mirror reflecting the glorious past of the displaced people and their present miserable plight.If one wants to understand the gravity of trauma that displaced people have suffered one should read "Home to House." |
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