Into the Mountains

I in back in Delhi after an off for 10 days, I was visiting my parents at Nowshera (my home town), about 100 kms from the city of Jammu (J & K).This is a beautiful small town surrounded by hills from all the sides so as to give an appearance of a valley.I was accompanied by my friend, Irshad, who wanted to see mountains, rivers, greenery etc. We arrived in Jammu by a train and then hired a tempo for Nowshera. It took 3 hours for us to reach our destination.That day, we rested at my place and the next we started exploring Nowshera, I was the guide to Irshad. I showed Irshad various parts of Nowshera. Prime attraction of the town is "a temple,a mosque and a gurudwara" all built adjacent to each other.

Irshad was amazed to learn that this town is at the Line of Control of Indo-Pak Border, approximately 5 kms (in air) from the Actual LOC. He said to me that it is so close to the Border, but one doesn't feel this way. I've lived at this place for more than 20 years and I never felt that I am residing at LOC. This has always been a very quite place and people live happily and definitely more contented then their counterparts living in cities like Delhi, Mumbai,Chennai...This is what Irshad was surprised at, he had the picture of a border town as totally devastated by Mortar Shelling, poor people with no education and meager resources and everytime firing between the Indian and Pakistani soldiers. All his notions met with blows at stages of this trip.

When we went to the main city market, we met some of my friends, they are doctors, engineers,contractors, businessmen. Irshad was amazed to learn that after business, most common profession here is teaching, there is a teacher at almost every house, I've 3 teachers in my family only and also there are families where every member is a teacher (I've showed Irshad such a family.). And 99% of the teachers are trained (B.Ed) and Postgraduates in different disciplines. The literacy rate in J&K has always been very good, but this town is particularly famous for the number of postgraduates. We were around 40 students in my class, when I studied here and todays most of them are postgraduates in Sciences, Arts, Environment Studies, Home Science, commerce & those who are not in this pool are either in business or pursuing medicine, engineering, veterinary science etc.

We went to see the shrine of "Khori Baba" about 20 kms and at an altitude of about 150m from Nowshera, this was a quite a pleasant experience. We drove into the mountains. This shrine is maintained by Indian Army and marks the last point of the Indian soil, there is a wired fencing here beyond which no Indian except for Indian Army is allowed to enter.Irshad was particularly enthrilled by the experience. We visited some other places in trip, Mata Mangla, Jhangar(a small village at LOC, you can see Pakistan from here, also my father stayed at this village for years before moving to the Nowshera town.), Baba Bhiram Shah Gurdwara, a beautiful agricultural village Jaba (my mother's village) and to Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah Shrine at Shahadra near Rajouri (Rajouri is one of the districts in J&K, Nowshera is the most important town in Rajouri). This is the most famous tourist destination in the Rajouri district and is built on the tomb of Baba Ghulam Shah and his family, I was visiting this place for the very first time. The route from Nowshera to Shahadra is really beautiful, you drive amidst the lush green villages and beautiful mountains. We stopped at various places for photography. This place is maintained by BGSB Trust and few years back this trust has opened a University in Rajouri which offes courses in Computer Science, Mathematics, Management, Wildlife Diversity among others.

This time I viewed Nowshera through a tourist eye and I'll to admit that this place presents a wonderful tourist destination, where one can relax, enjoy the greenery, mountains, rivers, forget the worries and feel the freshness of air.

India : What does it offer

Few days back, I was reading a novel " Life of Pi " by " Yann Martel", a Canadian writer. This novel got the Man Booker Prize 2002. It's a beautiful story which narrates the adventures a your Indian guy. When I was reading it, I wondered Why the most of the Novels and Movies based in India are successes. For instance, the Siddhartha by Nobel Laureate Herman Hesse , Gregory David Roberts' Shantaram,Rushdie's Midnight Childern and more recently Slumdog Millionaire are a few to mention.These stories are more successful in the west,what do the stories set up in India have to offer. Is it the diversity,spiritual and cultural heritage or as many would say the poverty of India. "Siddhartha" deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian boy. In the movie Scent of Woman, while introducing the heritage and legacy of a school, the Professor said," among other things, alumni of this school have worked in ashrams in India."Shantaram" beautifully depicts the "Unity in Diversity" of India.
But more than spirituality, more than diversity, more than anything else, I think it is the "hope", the positive attitude of an ordinary Indian that is captured in all these works of art. At a time when the world is shattered by the great depression, recession, Slumdog becomes a great hit, wins 8 Oscars. Not because it depicted the poverty in India, but because it gave the world what it needed most at that time,"Hope".

Walking withe Comrades

I just read an essay by Arundhati Roy which is based on her travels in jungles of Chhattisgarh alongside armed Maoists.This essay "Walking with the Comrades" featured in the March 29 issue of Outlook. This is not a critic on the essay or Arundhati, for I feel I am nobody to judge. Some might think of her as anti-national(as a supporter of Maoists) or hypocrite for not accepting the Maoist proposal of mediating between them and the government of India, all I have is praise for her courage. She was invited by Maoists for such a trip, a sealed letter slipped under her door and she accepted this offer with alacrity. The essay describes Dantewada, a small town, epicentre of the Maoist's war as "Here the Police wears plain clothes and the rebels uniforms, jail superintendent is in jail and the prisoners free.Women who have been raped are in police custody, rapists give speeches in the bazaar".The Maoist controlled area is called "Pakistan" by police. She recalls her interactions with the members of "People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA)", "Krantikari Aivasi Mahila Sangathan", and "People's War group (PWG)". Another highlight of the essay is a brief history of PWG's struggle from the time they arrived in this region from Andra. How they organised tribals and led them to strike for their rights (to demand a rise in the price they are being paid for beedi leaves, for rise in price of bamboo), and how it developed into a armed movement.Tribals always supported PWG and believed that only it can relieve them of their grievance, like in the essay it says 'Lohandiguda was never a Naxal area, the comrades moved in when graffiti saying "Naxali aao, hamein bachao" began appearing on the walls' The people told her about the atrocities of the Forest Department. The forest dept. officials prevented the tribal from ploughing their fields, collecting firewood, plucking fruits, leaves, grazing their cattle, in the name of law. Even I know that all these activities in the forest area are illegal, but what about the poorest of India, who have nothing,only forests,for their needs and they have lived here for centuries. The Law is just not understandable. A friend of mine told me that nowadays there is "Forest Right act" which secures the rights of the tribals living in forests, but is this properly implemented, I can't say.
The Maoists controlled region is administered by people's government on the the principles of Chinese revolution and Vietnam war. They hold elections and the government has different departments just as the government in any state. . A rebel told Arundhati "They want to crush us, not only because of the minerals, but also because we are offering the world an alternative model.". In addition to the plight of tribals, their armed rebellion, the essay also presents a very beautiful account of a tribal festival (which she attended), their culture and beliefs.
I, personally, don't approve of violence of any kind and by anybody, but as Arundhati has put it what should one suggest them, go to court, do a dharna, do a rally,hunger srrike ......These people, the poorest and weakest of India, suffered so much at the hands of landlords, Corporate groups, Police, Forest Department, and of course the Salwa Judum. Their houses were burnt, their women raped, men killed. They have seen democracy failing everyday. I believe that an armed rebellion is not a solution, so is the Operation Green Hunt.