By M.K. Santoshi
"On the shores
of the Vitasta" is a collection of four novels about Kashmiri women by
Parneeta Khar. The novelist was born and brought up in Kashmir and completed her
education there itself.
The present
collection is the testimony of her deeprooted love for Kashmir, deepened further
after the eruption of militancy in the Valley. The theme of her present literary
work is not current political upheavals in Kashmir but the changing psyche of
its people. The novelist has selected early fiftees as the period for her four
novellas. The writer’s aim seems to be to highlight the changing times and
women’s role in it. It goes to the credit of Parneeta Khar that she has cast her
women characters in these four novellas in challenging circumstances and
exhibited their courage and wisdom. The sociological study of her community with
all its negativity has really helped the novelist in her descriptions.
The feudal
outlook of Kashmiri people has been dilated in these four novellas. But the main
aim seems to be to highlight the role of women in social and domestic prosperity
against male dominance.
In the story
‘Pamposh’ one of the leading characters Shyama voices the concern of the
novelist in these words- “women are no more the unclaimed-slaves of men. Women
will have to come free of these shackles and progress by their own efforts.”
There were times when morsels of women were grudged, when in a husband’s house
she was never served a curry to wet her rice. When they were taught to curb
their desires, when they had to learn obedience so that they would not revolt
under oppressive conditions. ‘Umavati’ the grandmother in the story ‘Pamposh’
represents the old social order but her daughter-in-law Shyama is total negation
of the the traditional thinking. She brings up her children in the unorthodox
manner.
The caste
restrictions are still followed among Kashmiri Pandits but not with such
intensity as is followed in other communities. But a few decades ago slackness
in caste considerations was not acceptable. Bulbul of the story ‘the gap and the
bridge’ becomes the worst victim of caste barriers. This story can indeed be
called a love story. The novelist has chosen a Pujari boy as its hero and the
daughter of a family proud of its name in the society as its heroine. The new
upliftment of the pujari family upsets Sunderlal (father of Bulbul). He could
not reconcile how a boy whose forefathers had survived on the charity and alms
of Sunderlal’s forefathers. Father a pujari and son an engineer, this
social-imbalance is going to cause havoc; thought Sunderlal. But Bulbul partly
to rectify his father’s attitude and partly to console herself, implores upon
Lassa the son of a pujari and her old time lover to give his name to her child
who henceforth shall be called neither by Vasant Razdan nor Vasant Koul bu
Vasant Sharma. The novelist truly disapproves of caste-consciousness and
advocates a more progressive attitude in our social relations.
‘Ruby among
Pearls’ is a story par excellence. It exposes the pseudoasceticsm of our society
as a blot on the name of our pious-heritage. It ridicules those who use Swamis
as a camouflage to conceal their illusions.
All the four
novellas in this collection are domestic in their structure. They reveal as such
the domestic-parodoxes of our society but without going satirical. Infact the
novelist has surprisingly avoided satrical utterances. In the novellas, there
come many such occasions, when she could use satire like a whip but she chooses
to let it go. Sometimes such gentleness of a writer is not appreciated by the
readers. But Parneeta Khar’s success in writing these novellas is to bring to
focus those times when in
Kashmir
new thinking was taking shape particularly among women. Bulbul, Chuni or Keshani
represent this new thinking. In trying circumstances her representative female
characters with all their novel thoughts emerge victorious. The gender
consciousness of the novelist seems to be the motivating force of these stories.
The behaviour psychology of Kashmiri people has found a genuine place in this
book and then love for exhibitionism and worldly excellence are also focussed
at.
Parneeta Khar
has a flowing style and easy vocabulary. She does not mean to impress the
reader with her knowledge of the English language but uses it as a medium of
her expression to reach to those people who live in diaspora. She is here
different from those-exile writers of
Kashmir
who have not yet overcome their nostalgia. Parneeta Khar shares no such
nostalgia with these writers. She has depicted those times when Kashmiri women
were fighting for a new identity and a new place in the society. The book as
such has a sociological relevance. The usage of ethnic words have found liberal
place in these novellas. A good list of such words can be presented. A few of
such ethnic words are-Pheran, Gobra, Atgath, Khos, Dejhour and Dongas. Its usage
can not be irksome even to those readers who are non-Kashmiris as their English
translation is kept attached. It will instead definitely enrich their
vocabulary. On the ‘shores of the vitasta’ is a literary piece of writing where
in there are no guns, no terrorists, no violence, no crackdowns, no refugees’
camps no hatred, nothing of the sort. It takes us to those times when our
mothers were struggling hard to prove their worth. A good sociological reading
apart from its literary merits.
The writer is a
well-known Hindi poet and a short-story writer.
‘ON THE
SHORES OF THE VITASTA’--
Writer Parineeta Kour,
Publish By: Writers Workshop 162/92 Lake Gardens, Calcutta-700045.
*Price- Rs 150/- (Hard Bound),
Rs 100/- (Popular Edition)
