Rattan Lal Shant’s book deserves to be adapted for picturisation

Book: Rupture: stories on the sorrow of Kashmir 

Translator: Dr Javaid Iqbal Bhat

Author: Rattan Lal Shant 

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Pages: 144  

inam ul rehman 

 

For years I have been longing to read a book that makes me experience the Kashmiri Pandits condition in exile. Rahul Pandit’s much-acclaimed book "Our moon has blood clots” mostly dealt with Kashmir Pandits conditions in Kashmir peppered with exile ordeals in refugee camps. Siddharth Gigoo’s “Garden of solitude”, which came earlier than Rahul’s book, partly mentioned the ordeals of living in a single tent under the scorching heat. However, nothing comes to mind which tells different stories of the same exiled communities.  In a way it's surprising that the Kashmiri Pandits haven’t written a lot on living in exile. Even only Ashok Pandit and Vidhu Vinod Chopra crafted two films—Sheen and Shikara. While the former is not much to be talked about the latter is a beautifully crafted film. But apart from that no Kashmiri Pandit, I think, tried to write or film anything of their exile. Or it just didn’t get published in the English language.   

 

Rattan Lal Shant’s stories on living in exile would have perhaps remained in oblivion without Javaid Iqbal Bhat. Rattan Lal’s stories written in Kashmiri and translated into English  encapsulates three decades of bonhomie, rancour, distrust, human bonding, loss, and life, et al.  

 

As the translator of this book, Javaid sets the tone of every story with his abstract (which makes it easier for weekly reviewers to review). It starts in the year 1979.  Two friends—Hindu and Muslim, returning from Jammu encounter a premonition of things to come while entering Kashmir. Rattan Lal’s finesse in bringing the undercurrent tension of a tumultuous year to the fore through a trivial conversation is what sets this story (Snow) apart. 

 

After a couple of stories set in the late 70s and early 80s, the rest of the stories move to the 90s where Kashmiri Pandits are living in exile.  

 

Of the 12 stories, 10 are set on post-migration.  One of the stories (Water) is poignant where a Kashmir Pandit family returns to the Valley after 10 years to meet their former neighbour whose daughter has gone insane on account of her brother being killed in a cross-firing between militants and troopers. Caught in their own dilemma the Pandit family does not know how to console Taseleema. Rattan Lal captures Kashmiri Muslims’ dilemma when Taseleem’s father says, “There is not one plague after us! Maybe he (a militant friend of Tasleema’s brother) now feels that the military is patronising us! And on the contrary, even the military is not getting off our backs. Their spies are also doing circles around us.” In another story “Intervention” Rattan Lal shows the racist nature of Kashmiris, and when I write Kashmiris it includes everyone born in Kashmir. Here Autar Krishan comes to Jammu, seven years after most Kashmir Pandits had left the Valley, to lit the pyre of his mother-in-law. Autar Krishan’s refusal to migrate had convinced the Kashmir Pandits in Jammu that he has renounced his religion. Only when he assures that he has now come to stay as a refugee his community members had a “peaceful sleep”.     

 

 Rapture captures the essence of what the Kashmir Pandits lost, and their perseverance to preserve a past from which they were deracinated.  The Pandits even lost their Gods in exile. This emotive tale is beautifully captured in “Gauri’s Dev Gaam”. A scintillating tale of a woman who is able to bring the Valley’s God to Jammu all by herself. It is a story of a woman against men, of tradition, of resilience, of never giving up, of loneliness, of indefatigability. Here is a story that has all the potential to become a beautiful piece of visual art.    

 

Just when you are thinking that these stories are philosophical Rattan Lal, in his afterword, writes, “Characters in my stories, who have borne the struggle and restlessness of the last 15 years, are true, because their miseries, pain, compulsions, and mental apprehensions are based on truth. The attempt of my stories,” writes Rattan Lal in his beautiful afterword, “is that they evoke this truth of pain and suffering purely on the humanitarian plane so that the reader does not only remain a spectator but also carries a little of their pain.” This humanitarian plane is evident throughout the 12 stories.  My surprise is that Rattan Lal’s fiction has not been adapted for picturisation. These stories have empathy, pathos, shrewdness, avarice, brotherhood, tragedy, and human bonding, et al.  

 

About the translator  

A translator’s craft is evident when he is not noticed. When the reader feels he is reading exactly the way the original has been written or visualised by the author. Here Javaid has done a commendable job. It is never easy to translate a book which is filled with “pauses”, rituals and customs peculiar to a particular community.  

 

 I know Javaid since my Amar Singh College days (2000-2003). We were four friends, and Javaid was the brightest of us all. During college days Javaid’s write-ups would regularly appear in the daily "Greater Kashmir". His writing was envious then. He was keen on two things: PG in English literature from the prestigious JNU, and make a career in academics. Unfortunately, in 2007/08 he was not selected as an assistant professor in the main campus of the University of Kashmir, and in his place, a person was recruited, whom even if you meet today you would come to know why our institutions have decayed. Instead, he was selected for the South Campus of the University.  Javaid did his PhD at Ohio University, USA. This is his second book.  

 

Design of the book

 

The publisher's OUP has given it a bland look. It looks like an academic book and therefore book surfers will instantly skip it. There are no pics of the author and translator as well. 

Hopefully, this translation should spur more such collaborations between Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits. And while politics may continue to divide them literature will help them to live with their differences.    

 

     

Are our administrators responsible for the mess in Srinagar city?

inam ul rehman 

 

Our society is a reflection of the façade of things we put on display. Maybe we like to be chaotic with no sense of responsibility. We want everything to happen on its own. That is why we don’t make our administration accountable. Whatever plan the administration puts in, we accept it. 

 

Why do our city’s roads shrink rather than expand? Why does our city become chaotic with every passing year? There are many, many questions which we don’t ask our administrators. 

 

Shrinking roads, traffic jams are because of shops on roadsides and vendors  

 

Take the example of the roads. Wherever roads are constructed shops pop up making it difficult to ply vehicles. Because when shops come on the roadside people have to stop to buy things, and the Srinagar Municipal Corporation never asks shopkeepers to keep car space. People start to believe that parking on the roads is their birthright. As a result, a road of 25 feet gets reduced to 12 feet which creates traffic jams. Add to it vendors being allowed anywhere they like.  

 

Isn’t it amazing to think how are shops allowed on both sides of the roads? Why isn’t construction barred near the roadsides? When any government acquires land for road construction why isn’t some spare land kept for future widening of the roads? We have traffic jams even on the bypasses! Think. 

 

Why does Srinagar city have rarity of service lanes? Why are our pedestrian walkways not meant for people? Why are these pedestrian walkways occupied by vendors, or shopkeepers? When shops are allowed on any side of the road it will automatically create hurdles in smooth flow of traffic? Yet shops sprout up wherever there is even a glimpse of road, even residential places have been turned into shopping hubs. Look at Jawhar Nagar, Sanat Nagar, what have they been turned into. 

 

Isn’t interesting to see that while in other zones people plant greenery along the roads we dug out their roots here. We make sure our roads are bereft of any greenery, or if planted we ensure they don’t grow.     

And then you have many road arteries dug out without thinking about traffic. Our bureaucrats do things first, think later, and then plan things in a haphazard manner. 

 

Dude, where are zebra crossings, bus stops?

Isn’t it interesting to note we have only few zebra crossings where no vehicle stops and no walkers cross.  It seems the University of Kashmir has more zebra crosses than the entire Valley of Kashmir.  Our authorities do not consider it of any value. That is why we see traffic lights are not functional. That is why we don’t see online challans which will help in reducing rash driving.  It will also make the life of pedestrian walking easy. 

One may find a few bus stops in Srinagar, but note buses don’t stop there. No consistent effort has been made to make both people and transporters board from there. People board public transport anywhere.  And the drivers stop in the middle of the road as there is no online monitoring of the traffic. 

 

Tsunami of public LMV on roads while buses disappear

                          

We see sumos, taveras in abundance on our roads. Little do we question our administration why are buses disappearing from our roads? With the increase in such light motor vehicles on our roads, will it help in any way to reduce traffic jams, control pollution, and mitigate the lack of transport problem in the evenings? The lack of public transport coupled with its slow-motion moment forces people to buy their own vehicles which creates more burden on the chaotic city. The government may put up a few hundred buses on the road, unless private players are not convinced to give up LMV for buses, things will not improve. 

 

It has been 10 years yet the traffic police has not found any solution to traffic jams at the Rambagh junction. The department does not have any will to divert one way traffic toward link roads which are available in plenty. 

 

We don’t make our administrators accountable. Otherwise, how is it possible that our houses dwarf every time roads are macadamised?  Why are old layers of any road not removed before laying of the new one? Why do our roads tear off in one season?  

 

We never seek answers. We let our administrators do anything without questioning them. 

In government offices you are taken seriously only when you put things on paper. The government machinery is blind unless and until things are not brought into its notice. Unfortunately, the majority of us are not willing to go that extra mile. All we do is to talk with each other, and expect our talking will do magic.  

 

Garbage Hills 

Our city stinks from every corner. It is littered with garbage. Why is it so? Why does the SMC install dustbins near schools? And here they don’t distinguish between government or private schools. The SMC, it seems, encourages people to throw garbage on the roads.
How many of us write to the administration to remove these things? Of course, we throw our garbage on the roadside and then complain of dog menace.   

 

Dogs, dogs everywhere 

 

A lot has been written on this topic. But I am not sure how many appeals have been forwarded to the administration, or how many RTIs have been submitted to know what the SMC is doing about this menace. With the SMC encouraging people to dump their garbage on roads dog population will increase, and so will their fearlessness. Dogs always move in packs and that is where they are most aggressive and dangerous (https://www.greaterkashmir.com/city/stray-dog-menace-assumes-horrendous-dimensions-in-srinagar)

 

The much touted “Animal Birth Control Programme” of the SMC is yet to take off (https://www.greaterkashmir.com/todays-paper/kashmir-todays-paper/growing-population-of-stray-dogs-animal-birth-control-programme-yet-to-take-off ) . In this scenario how will dog bites diminish? 

While a person dragging a dog is arrested, how will dogs be sentenced for biting people?(http://risingkashmir.com/man-held-for-dragging-dog-tied-to-a-scooty-in-srinagar-police). In all civilised societies animals do have rights, however when the same animals become a threat to humans the rights of the latter prevail over the former.  According to news reports, the dog population alone in the city of Srinagar is one lakh! Which effectively means that for every 13 persons we have one dog to counter with! It is a humongous and horrific picture.  

  

I don’t know if the much-touted smart city will be inclusive for our disabled population. I don’t know if our administrators have constructed ramps, toilets, for differently abled people.  The “broad themes for development” on their website do not display inclusive development for the disabled population! 

 

We want our city to be great, hassle free but we don’t make any effort for it. We want everything but we don’t want ourselves to do anything. It is the dilemma and it is the curse. Smart cities cannot be constructed without making people smart.