A Response to Tejnath Dhar's Book Titled Under The
Shadow Of Militancy: The Dairy of an Unknown Kashmiri
By A.N.
Dhar
This
short write-up is not meant to serve the purpose of a critical review of the
book in question when, within the space of a year only, as many as 23 reviews on
it have already appeared in various journals and newspapers published in the
country’. They include the latest one by Ravinder Kaul published in the December
2003 issue of the Koshur Samachar (having earlier appeared in the Daily Excelsior, Jammu).
What I am going to present briefly is a point of view on an important aspect of
the book which, as far as I am aware, has not been specifically discussed or
touched upon in any of the reviews so far. My stand-point has somehow a bearing
on what the author himself has maintained in response to some of the
observations on the book contained in the review that was carried by the
Daily Excelsior; Tajnath Dhar rebutted these observations in a
subsequent issue of the same daily. Most reviews on the book have been positive
and some of them very favourable, including Ravinder Kaul's. A thousand copies
of the book, I am told, have been sold within a year of its publication. This
indicates that the book has well-nigh turned out to be a best-seller.
During
the past 13 years or so much has been written on the subject of militancy in the
Valley
of Kashmir and the resultant turmoil there. The displacement of our community
from the land of our birth, almost en-masse, has been a pervasive theme in a
number of literary works produced by our writers in Kashmiri, Hindi and English
(prose as well as verse). The recently published work in Hindi titled
Sahitya Aur Visthapan: Sandharb Kashmir, authored by the erudite
scholar, Prof. Bhushan Lal Kaul, that is focussed on the literary works of Khema
Kaul, Rattanlal Shant, Arjandev Majboor, Motilal Kemu and Prem Nath Shad, offers
an interesting and intelligent appraisal of their contents. The volume, in fact,
examines in depth and detail the displacement of about half a million Kashmiri
Pandits, who got uprooted from the Valley.
Prof.
Tejnath Dhar's book is a welcome addition to the literature of exile that has
steadily grown up in bulk in recent years and is now engaging the attention of
many critics and literatures, especially those from among the Kashmiri Pandits.
The author is a well-known scholar of English, a researcher of note an expert in
English fiction. With the publication of the present book, he had made his debut
as a creative writer. Through the literary device of the Diary, he means to
present a fictionalised version of the ethnic cleansing of a large number of
Kashmiri Pandits and the consequent exodus of the community from Kashmir. The
targeting of the minuscule community is seen as a pre-planned conspiracy by the
diarist; the fear of the fugitives, especially as it grips their psyche, comes
alive in the pages of the Diary. The book immediately reminds us here of another
creative volume - the well-known book of poems titled of Men, Militants
and Gods authored by Dr KL Chowdhary.
The
volume Under the Shadow of Militancy consists of two parts - a
short Introduction by the author and the Diary written by the “unknown
Kashmiri”. The Diary consists of 67 units; how the author came by it, is
explained in some detail in the Introduction. Interspersed with anecdotes and
intellectual analyses of happenings, the Diary records how, with the outbreak of
militancy, turmoil grew up in the Valley during the initial period (1989-90).
The account given broadly tallies with what was reported in the local and
national newspapers. The contents of the Diary are, on the whole, readable and
absorbing, in spite of the unpleasant and gruesome-happenings recorded. The
narrative grips the reader’s attention enlivened as it is by the many anecdotes
and some diverting incidents that are not necessarily centered on the theme of
militancy.
The
Diary lays bare the psyche of the sensitive and thoughtful narrator, who as well
performs the role of the protagonist. Till he meets his end, he is haunted by
the prospect of his leaving the Valley, his homeland. Yet he is aware throughout
of the prevailing ethos of peace between the Kashmiri Muslims and the Pandits.
Many nostalgic references are made by the protagonist to the mutual amity that
existed traditionally between the two communities in the Valley. Nowhere does
the diarist express any bitterness against his Muslim friends, whom he continues
to hold in esteem in view of their human and moral qualities.
One
important feature of the book that has escaped the critical attention of most
reviewers is: the technical device of the author’s distancing himself from the
narrative and bringing in the diarist. It is relevant to mention here that the
reader is likely to raise questions such as these here: (i) Are the events
narrated in the Diary to be taken as true and authentic? (ii) how far has the
author succeeded in distancing himself from the events narrated in the Dairy?
(iii) does the Dairy pass for a piece of fiction? Yet the reader cannot dispute
the fact that the author has succeeded in investing the narrative with an aura
of topicality and contemporary relevance. Ravinder Kaul observes in his review
of the book that the "Dairy is an important chronicle of its time". In my view,
the diarist serves not only as the protagonist but also as the author’s
mouthpiece. Significantly, the words of Andre Brook quoted in the Diary seem to
specify the author’s own intention of writing about himself both as an
individual and as a member of the community he belongs to. He has obviously
attempted to distance himself from what is recorded in the Diary and, therefore,
it is not fair on the part of a reviewer to question him for what is said about
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah or Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad (based on hearsay). At the
same time, the illusion of the author’s being distinct from the diarist has
perhaps not been fully sustained. However, in no case can it be maintained that
the book is in any way flawed on that account. It is very readable and has sold
well as a creative piece and as a "chronicle" or our time.
The sad
story of the displaced Kashmiris presented in the fictional garb - a welcome
book.
Source: Kashmir
Sentinel
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