Akhnoor. August,2013.
In monsoon when Chenab is in spate, on a flooded ghat can be found a young man trying to make some money by reeling in driftwood logs and a drift trees.
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Driftwood Catcher
Manja Makers
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| Jammu. July 2013. |
My first experience with kites was in Srinagar. It was a failed experiment. I tied a pangot thread to a kanni and ran around, pretending it was flying. That was the last summer.
I really learnt the art in Jammu. But it was a different art. In Srinagar, it was a leisurely sport. You just tried to fly it high. But in Jammu, kite flying was like learning to fight a war. The art of this war required you scream, run, fight and capture. You need the right weapons. The perfect threads. The Manja of rough thread with the sharpest of glass. For short plays. You could even make it at home, powdered glass, glue and flour. Or you could use thread with more smoothness. Surtis. For longer plays. You need the perfect kite. A tactical Guddi. Or a mighty Gudda. A bhoot is perfect. You need to learn to read the cane backbone of the kite. Is it hard? Is it soft? Should the thread be tied near or a bit further down. You need the perfect crew. Someone to give the perfect Kanni. You need to learn to read the wind. You need to learn read the signal’s from your enemies. Is he challenging you? You need to know when to pull the thread and when to let go. You need to burn the skin. Blend in. Sweat it out. Watch the skies. It is all an art. The only real art I know.
In fact, I even mastered the highest level of it. At the peak of my prowess, I could even lapet-in a lost kati patang. Sometimes two.
And I did it all but never ever even buying a Manja. My Manja was always put together from the threads that came in with the kites I looted. A Manja both Smooth and Sharp. With threads of colours red and greens. And blue and grey. And yellow and white…
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Rituals in Death
I picked lot of things from my grandfather, including a love for books. In death, he offered me some bits about the death rituals of Kashmiri Pandits. He also gave me a fear. Although he read a lot, he remembered little. And in the end he forgot everything. Because I too forget, I write…
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| Daddy and Badi Mummy clearing snow. Winter 1988. Srinagar. |
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| With his youngest daughter-in-law and youngest grandchild. 21, July 2013. Jammu |
Mourning: the house is essential divided into two parts. One section for women and one for men. Frequent wailing sounds can be heard for women’s side. In the men side there is mostly talk of bitter sweet past, sorry present and doomed future.
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| 5th August. 2013. Shakti Nagar Cremation Ground, Jammu. |
5th day
We go to the cremation ground to collect his bones and ashes. Among the bones is a bone known among Pandits as Porush (Man). It is part of upper vertebral column. The bone holds a special meaning as in its shape it is said to resemble a sleeping man, a symbol of departed body. While placing the body on pyre special care is taken by putting in in right posture to ensure that the Porush remains intact after burning.
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| Cleaning of the spot by sons |
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| The spot as it is left by locals of Jammu – the Hindu Dogras |
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| The spot as it is left by Pandits. Honey, sweets and candy is left (possibly so that ants can do rest of the cleaning) |
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| White radish or Mooli is an absolute essential part of the 5th day ceremony and is a must offering for the departed on this day. |
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| Mahakal Bhairava and his dog (s) at Cremation Ground |
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| Still Day 5. Ghat on Chenab river. Akhnoor. Site for immersing the ashes. In older times, in Kashmir, ashes were sometimes kept buried in a wall of the house till they could be immensed at Gangbal Lake in September. Or, at Shadipur. |
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| Pandit ji is a lot miffed when he finds out one of the daughter-in-laws is also present for the ceremony. It is pointed out to him that she took care of him like a daughter. He says Kashmiri women come from the clan of Nagas, the snakes. Hence that headdress. Hence the separation. Father and uncles remember Pandit ji as a haughty little kid growing up in lanes around Habba Kadal. Of course, his indignations are ignored. He believes in rules of Manu. He believes Kashmiris may be Jews, may be even Russian. He believes. |
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| Prasadh at the end of the ceremony. Walnut. |
Day 10.
The departed is a Preta till it becomes a Pitr on completion of all the rites and joins the realm of previous Pitrs. A process that takes a year. The main rituals last for 13 days. There are talks among Kashmiri Pandits that 13 is becoming too difficult to manage. Working people can’t be home for 13 days, that it should be reduced to 4. But the old guards and priests don’t agree.
Garuda Purana is remembered and recited.
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| Hindu afterlife Punishments given in Garuda Purana. A poster found at a little shop in Jammu. Febuary 2012. Mother tells me punishment for those who waste salt is that they pick you up by your eyelashes. |
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An interesting custom on this day has the sons walking in between rows of relatives lined up on two sides. The relatives are supposed to put money in their pockets discreetly as they walk past. In a way they help them bear the cost of feast for relatives that follows the next day.
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The cook was earlier worried because a relative of his was badly injured in a recent earthquake in his hometown Kistwar. By the end of the day, he is worried because there is news of communal disturbances in his town. By evening the disturbance spreads to Jammu. Mahaul goes Kharaab. In evening I go out to city to get some more Mooli from Mandi but return back half way because there are gangs on bikes roaming around with knives.
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| Evening feast. The Pandit ji also eats meat. |
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| Day 11. Army is out on the streets. The cook doesn’t come. Aunts take charge of cooking. |
The news in local paper is confusing. All it talks about is ‘majority community’ and ‘minority community’. If you don’t know the demographics of the area, you are forced to imagine who killed whom.
When the last ceremony is over and the Pandit ji leaves, a token pebble is thrown at him as he crossed the main gate…probably so that he does not return soon.
In none of these ceremonies is my grandmother involved. She was married to the man for about 64 years.
Day 12.
The entire city is shut. Early morning, I start out on a long walk to airport with father to catch my flight out of a trishanku’ian town.
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January 17, 2014
It’s been six months. Today, we cook fish in dinner, offer it to the dead and feast. Pandits call it the day of ‘till‘.
M.K. Raina’s Badshah Pather
This one is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’.
Bhand Pather performed at IGNCA on 7/4/2013.
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Untitled Post
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| Self. 20th August. 2012. |
Talle mere phatte de’n, par ghar mere Dilli’n
I’m in rags, but I hail from Delhi
~ A Dogri saying. Came across it in ‘Tales from The Tawi: a collection of Dogri Folk Tales’ by Suman K.Sharma.
Kashmir in Kochi
I was in Kochi last week to set-up a company with some friends. From Kashmir to Kerala, the irony wasn’t lost on me. My Christian friend from Kerala doesn’t worry much about history or politics but then he need not be, Kerala is not a conflict zone. Fortunately, I can’t enjoy that freedom. Only people of conflict entertain themselves watching Owl of Minerva in flight and occasionally shooing the owl into flight. So I know a bit about caste, class and religion based politics of Kerala. There are some parallels between political history of Kashmir and that of Kerala but with Five major differences: One, Kashmir is a conflict zone. Two, politics never really took root in Kashmir. Three, Communism in Kerala was not something that only inspired populist laws and literature, it changed a lot of things on ground and then in turn the Congress lead forces (under Nehru/Indira) that opposed it (with the backing of Christians) also found a political space leading to a heavily contested state where economic prosperity of castes and religious groups got spread out, leading to a state where a Nair would vote for Communist party while a Christian would vote for Congress. A state where Muslims would align with ‘who-so-ever’ powers who would take care of their interests. Four, Kerala is protected by sea, there was no post-partition effect, no Pakistan next to it. Five, population number of the minorities in the state was substantial enough to encourage this kind of politics…No there are actually six major differences. Number six,…everything is different.
Inane meanderings of people of conflict. On the ground it is all the same: Student wing of CPI(M) having street fights with RSS people. Young people thinking BJP rule, or a Jam-ath rule, will be a good experience. Some old things: Muslims, bachelors, ‘girls-in-shorts’ and Film-wallas and their troubles finding rented accommodation in a society run by association of Family-wallas. But somehow there is peace. Normality. Calmness.
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| Cherai Beach |
Staring at the Arabian sea, I wondered about the sheer number of Kashmiri folktales (compiled by Rev. J. Hinton Knowles in late 1800s) centered around ‘sea voyage’. Why were Kashmiri telling stories of sea? Why was the hero running to the sea? How would they know what sea smells like. Vastness of Himalayas and of the Vastness of sea are poles apart. Kashmir and sea are poles apart.
And yet, I did find Kashmir in Kochi.
At least half of it. In an indifferent map.
And in fantasies. Lavish, beautiful and morbid.
What am I doing here?
But then accidently I found some fellow Kashmiris too. They too traveling for rozi-roti. At a place that long ago provided refugee to another set of Pardesi, foreign immigrants.
At Mattancherry, Jew Town, for lunch my friends walked into a restaurant that turned out to be run by a Kashmiri family. Of all the places. I had my first formal conversation in Kashimiri with a stranger in Kerala! They opened up their kitchen for me and I was able to peek inside. Typical Kashmiri set-up.
‘Takhtaa Mondhur‘, the wooden log traditionally used for cutting meat, brought all the way from Kashmir. We ordered two pieces of Gostaba, four bowls of Rista with two piece each and rice for four.
Ejaz opened up the place around 25 days back. I noticed that Rista had a more soupy feel to it and a different taste. Ejaz mentioned that here they add extra saffron to everything, apparently the foreign tourists love it, so all the traditional recipes have been modified. Bill was around Rs.1000. Meat is a lot costly in Kerala while cheaper options are fish (available obviously in plenty), beef (a good decent plate of fry for breakfast can cost as little as Rs. 40. Most of the cattle is imported from T.N) and chicken (available universally).
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Zov Tcharaan
Zov Tcharaan. Picking lice in warmth of winter sun.
December 2012. Jammu.
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Faces. Again.
Travelling Kashmiri Shawl Sellers
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| Kashmiri Shawl merchant in Simla. From Volume 4 of ‘The people of India : a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan’ (1868) |
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| A shawl seller at Qazigund bus stand, Kashmir. 2008. |
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| Travelling Kashmiri Shawl sellers in Gurgaon. 2012. Still a regular winter phenomena in North India. In fact, I have come across them down as far as Nagpur too. |
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Untitled Post
Padhna Likhna Seekho
Gujjar House
12th Sept.2012. Jammu.
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