The Great Kashyap Bandhu

What great Kashmiri Pundit educationist and social reformer Kashyap Bandhu could foresee in 1929, not many of us had the vision to see that. The song that he wrote in 1929 was perhaps the outcome of social neglect and malice, Kashmiri pundits were facing in Kashmir since ages. He wrote and I quote,

“Travee Pheran lo lo

  Zooj, Pooch tye nariwar
 Yim chhi Shikasik Sardar
 Mala barhaiy gardaen
 Travee Pheran lo lo
 Pooch Pathkun Pakan
 Walna Yiwan Zangan,
 Chanda Sadkan doovan
 Travee Pheran lo lo !
 Tarang Chhuee akh khara
 Kalas Peth bodh barah
 Vank Panuk Soodh Kyah ?
 Zethem ziuth lotah
 Asan Janvaran
 Travi Pheran lo lo”

It means,

“ Give up Pheran, 0 dear
 Zooj, Pooch and narizvar
 These are agents of degradation
These have filled your neck with dirt
 Give up Pheran, 0 dear
 Pooch drags you backwards
 It envelops your legs
The hanging pocket (attached to your Pheran) is sweeping roads

 Give up Pheran, 0 dear
head wear tarang is as heavy as a ton
 It is a great weight on your head
 What is the use of long hair tail hanging through your back ?

 It is a very long tail appended
Which is attached to animals
 Give up Pheran, O dear !”

His main theme of the social reform movement was change of dress in our womenfolk who wore Pheran a long robe standing on both shoulders down to feet with no trousers or even underwear.  The head dress was white bandage Tarang with a number of turns round the head over Zooj, a sheet of white mulmul covering the head and extending to cover the neck overlapped by Pooch, a long white piece of white mulmul stretched down backwards over the Pheran.  Sheikh Abdullah's Muslim Conference Movement in 1929 which opened the eyes of Kashmiri Pandit Community to the dangers of physical onslaught of kashmiri pandit women and their overall dress being vulnerable to induce foul actions by the invaders, caused the immediate need of drastic change in the dress of our womenfolk.  So there was Kashyap Bandhu with his ready formula of a change of dress in our womenfolk from Pheran without underwear, which induced lethargy and procrastination, to Kurta and Shilwar or Dhotti with an underwear.  The latter prompted the wearer to be more active and prepared to face any physical onslaught or attempt of molestation.

Kashyap Bandhu pioneered this movement of change in dress and that too not without stiff resistance from conservative Pandits as a whole.  In this struggle of his for a change of dress, he was nicknamed as Kaesh Bandhooq which means a rifle filled with sawdust.

Kashmiri pundits because of their unique dressing style and cultural habits were always targeted by Muslim fundamentalists in Kashmir. Our Muslim neighbours or friends would very casually bulldoze us by calling us as “Daliye Batta”. That means a pulse eating kashmiri pundit who can never protect himself or herself. Or the term can simply be explained as “Coward”.  This constant deflation of our self esteem allowed them to easily throw us out of Kashmir. “ Daliye Batta” could neither save himself from the nefarious designs of Muslim fundamentalists nor offer any resistance to the mindless and brutal killings of its men and womenfolk. This “Daliye Batta” after being thrown out of Kashmir landed in Jammu. Here a new term was coined to puncture the already low self esteem of Kashmiri Pandits. It was a very innovative term and it went by the name of “LOLA”. It also meant coward.

The crux of the story is that a Kashmiri Pandit for an unknown reason has always been unacceptable whether in Kashmir or outside it. The reason I could imagine is that since majority of Kashmiri Pandits are well read and highly educated, it gives other people a reason to disconnect from us. The other important and underlying factor is that Kashmiri Pandits are not a vote bank for any political party in India. But mind it, a Bangladeshi living illegally in India is. Isn’t it ironical that first Prime minister of independent India, Jawahar Lal Nehru was also a Kashmiri Pundit? Isn’t it sad to know that we are refugees in our own country? Has there ever been a ruckus in parliament of India about the exodus of Kashmiri Pundits? Has there ever been a national debate on our fate in India? The answer is cruel and you guessed it right. It is “NO”. 

My First Brush with Fundamentalism

It was August 17, 1988 and Kashmir was witnessing a very strong anti-India movement. There were riots and arson everywhere. People of Kashmir were shouting anti India slogans from the back of their throat. Me and my sister would think that what has gone wrong for people to resort to such kind of strong agitation. It was around evening when my father returned home from his office that we came to know the reason. The reason behind such stupid agitation was the death of Pakistan’s Premier, General Zia ulHaq. He died in a plane crash after witnessing a military exercise between Pakistan and US army at Bahawalpur. I asked my dad but why this ruckus in Kashmir ? He choose to be silent. Perhaps he knew the answer but didn't want to share it. For next two days all schools, colleges and government establishments remained shut. After his funeral on 19.8.1988, slogans in his pride and honor were reverberating in the cool breeze of Kashmir.

“ Jabtak suraj chand rahenga, General Zia tera naam rahenga”

I would always wonder as a child why my Kashmiri Muslim friends used to support Pakistan cricket team in an India-Pakistan game. We used to argue how they can support Pakistan when they are living in India. I never got my answer. Perhaps we were too little to understand the undercurrent. After all we were all toddlers.  However I got my answers latter when Kashmiri pandits were thrown out of valley in the most inhuman manner. Our men were killed, children were maimed, girls and women were raped. It was a well orchestrated ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri pundit community from valley backed by nefarious design from across the border. The so called secular thread of Kashmir was broken beyond repair and forever. In January 1990 sea of Militants was flowing on the streets of Kashmir and were being asked to leave valley. The cruel announcements were being made on the speakers of mosques located in every nook and corner of the valley. As if this was not enough, a new slogan was coined to frighten the community. It was unimaginable, humiliating, nerve wrecking and painful. It was “ Assi gachi panun Pakistan, bataw ros te batnian saan”. It means we want Pakistan with kashmiri pundit women and without pundit men. It was just a beginning, more was to come in the later years that we spent in exile.