Sameer Arshad,
TOI Crest, Jun 26, 2010, 12.49pm IST
Indu Jalali was edgy and rarely came out of her uncle's house in a tony Srinagar neighbourhood when she visited the Valley in 1998. It was the first time that she'd been there since the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in the late '80s. She would cover her head and face every time she stepped out, taking care to shun Kashmiri Pandit symbols to avoid attention . A year later, though, Indu's stay at a hotel in Srinagar's Boulevard Road and a 16-year-old attendant's innocent request transformed her feelings about the post-1989 Kashmir (when Kashmiri Pandits actually began moving out) and inspired her quest to reconnect with her roots.
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I looked at Mastani with hatred, but he made every effort to make me comfortable and advised me not to move out after 6 pm. He brought a tawiz (talisman) for me from the Hazratbal shrine and said, ‘Didi, please come back... we need you. Kashmir is incomplete without Pandits' ," says Indu, who is among the growing number of Kashmiri Pandits trickling back to their motherland in search of an identity. An extended spell of calm and a dip in militant violence to an all-time low since the tumultuous years of terrorism have encouraged many like Indu to reach out to a homeland they loved and lost.
Mastani's innocence moved Indu and restored her faith in Kashmir's centuries-old and cherished composite culture — Kashmiriyat. "I realised Kashmiriyat wasn't completely dead," she says. "Our neighbours, who came to meet us when they heard that my mom and I were visiting Kashmir, said they missed us and wanted us back." The emotional outpouring came as a surprise for Indu, as she thought Muslims would have forgotten them. "This made me take a vow to visit my homeland regularly."
Indu encountered more bonhomie while surveying Kashmiri Pandit property and temples. "Muslims were managing temples at Gulmarg and Manasbal and a Muslim woman even looked after Bhagwan Gopinathji's ashram in Srinagar," she says, adding that she was greatly encouraged by this and it gave her the courage to visit Kashmir with her head held high. "I go there now wearing my dejihoor (ornament worn by married Pandit women) and bindi. I no longer cover my face, and feel at home in Kashmir. Even those who don't know me welcome me."
Lately, Indu's daughter has been accompanying her on their annual trips home. "She understands and speaks Kashmiri," she says, brimming with pride. The mother ensures that the daughter visits Pandit shrines like Kheer Bhawani and Muslims tombs like Makhdoom Sahib and Baba Rishi to pray and light a candle for Kashmir's peace. "I also treat her to wazwan and make her interact with my local friends, so that she gets a feel of our culture."
Kashmir's Pandits, a successful community that has always prided itself on its education and erudition, are slowly gathering the courage to trickle back and a handful — around 4,000 families — is ready to return permanently. There are efforts at reintegration being made everywhere. From the back lanes of Barbarshah in congested old Srinagar, often in the news for stonepelting protests, the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharash Samiti's Sanjay Tickoo has led a silent revolution reopening abandoned temples in an attempt to instill confidence in the community. The Samiti organised a mahayagya to mark the reopening of the once-abandoned Vichar Nag temple in Srinagar on June 5. The temple, famous as a centre for discourse and learning, was closed 20 years back. Apart from Vichar Nag, the Samiti has revived 38 temples since 2004.
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The Pandits who stayed back in Kashmir started organising themselves after 1994," says Tickoo, among a handful of Kashmiri Pandits who stayed back in the Valley. "Earlier, the focus was on security. We even used to hide our identity. The return of peace encouraged us to revive our heritage and organise ourselves." He says each time the Samiti revives a temple, it opens floodgates of emotions and memories. "Elderly Muslims become emotional as they remember their old friends and neighbours. They know most of our rituals. The Samiti has now decided to involve local Muslim communities to jointly manage the shrines. Many of these temples are located in areas where there's no Pandit population and we can't look after them 24x7. Thus, we suggested joint management."
The Samiti revived Puran Raj Bhavan Ashtapan, a Shiv temple, at Sazgaripora in downtown Srinagar in January, and entrusted local elders led by Ali Mohammad to manage the shrine. "We approach local masjid committees and also involve some of our people in managing these shrines. The same model would be followed in reviving other temples as well," Tickoo says. "In fact, local Muslims are approaching the Samiti for reviving other temples. These temples aren't just shrines, but peace and reconciliation centres. They also represent the revival of our syncretic and pluralistic culture."
It may take a while for the complete revival of Kashmir's composite culture, but the congregation of over 100,000 Pandits at the Kheer Bhawani shrine, 30 km from Srinagar, on June 19 holds out a lot of hope. The biggest gathering of Pandits in the Valley in two decades saw visibly moved people embracing their Muslim friends. The faithful gathered at the shrine, chanting hymns to the goddess of peace. The shrine itself has stood as an enduring symbol of Kashmiriyat that remained open to devotees even at the peak of militancy , which forced the exodus of around 200,000 Pandits. Kashmiri Muslims have traditionally facilitated the annual Zyeshth Ashtami congregation at the shrine.
Residents, this time too, lined up the road offering assistance to pilgrims coming in from all over the country.
J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah used the occasion to make an appeal to Pandits to return home and build a ‘New Kashmir' . The CM said, "An overwhelming majority of Kashmiris believe that the Valley is incomplete without its Pandit brethren. Your return would be an important milestone in the restoration of normalcy in the Valley."
If there is anxiety, there is also optimism. "It's palpable that my motherland has regained peace. The time has come to return," said Pune-based Ravinder Sadhu, 52, as he walked barefoot carrying flowers and earthenware lamps for the deity. On the same day, thousands of Pandits gathered at goddess Tripur Sundari and Rajnya Bhagwati's temples in south Kashmir.
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This was the first time in two decades that hawans, community kitchens and mass prayers were conducted to mark birth anniversaries of three Vaishnavite goddesses," said an organiser.
The efforts of activists like Tickoo seem to be bearing fruit. J&K relief and rehabilitation commissioner had till May this year received applications from 4,440 Kashmiri Pandit families wishing to return to the Valley. Around 38,000 families are registered as migrants across the country. Officials say Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's package announced last year, which promises Rs 750,000 for each Kashmiri Pandit family wanting to return, has encouraged the community to go back.
Abdullah said a multi-pronged strategy was in place to facilitate their smooth return. "They left because their security was snatched. Now we're trying to restore their sense of security," he said and added that the government is looking for their economic rehabilitation too. "Recently, 2,000 posts were filled under the Prime Minister's Reconstruction Plan. More posts are being created."
The CM has the onerous job of pulling this one off, but his lineage inspires some confidence. The young leader needs to take a leaf out of the book of his grandfather, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, who, as M J Akbar notes, "structured the resurrection of his people on Muslim-Hindu harmony, on the traditions of Nuruddin Rishi and Lal Ded, on the philosophy of Sufism, on non-violence and a mutually regenerative creativity".
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