When I moved to Chandigarh, it was the very first time that I actually got to know what 'inside' people feel about the 'outside' Jammu and Kashmir. And let me tell you, majority of the people were wrong. Not just about the Kashmir part but also about its capital, Jammu. I remember learning during my childhood from my grandfather that India was infamous in the outer world for being the land of snake charmers and poverty. Presently, similar comparisons are drawn for this State as well. You see, India in those days suffered because the third world countries were devoid of any platform to communicate. Likewise, its deja vu all over again for the so-called disturbed state.
Often when I was bombarded with what I concluded were stupid questions about Jammu & Kashmir (J&K),two thoughts would cross my mind. First was that how can people be so ignorant and that also about something that IS an integral part of their country. And the second would be that am I the only one who has observed the trend that people are all but correct about J&K! And so I checked with my other migrated friends who have crossed the Lakhanpur border. It was then that I realised that each one (literally) had gone through the same thing.
Since a long time, I wanted to highlight these myths about my city . But something was holding me back. Now that today again the same questions were asked to me by a friend from Delhi, I decided to take my blog as the platform and disseminate accurate information to 'all Indians who are my brothers and sisters' about 'a country within the country'.
Vela(y) thought
Jammu &Kashmir is no doubt a single unit. Having said that, it is important to mention that the state is not entirely a valley. Jammu city is cosily placed in the foothills of Himalayas and quite far away from Kashmir Valley. Would you believe that the distance between the two capitals of the state is approximately 300 kms! Yes, 300. Hence the demographics also differ.
Snowfall! Where?, When?
No people, It doesn't snow here in Jammu. Guess what, It never has! Twenty revolutions around the sun completed but, believe you me I have never seen nor heard from my forefathers about snowfall in Jammu. I fail to understand the relationship between Kashmir's 'real' snowfall and Jammu's alleged. Its certainly not a complementary thing.
Dangerous place
Stop for a minute. Remember the last time you were out and how crowded the market was. Jammu is no different. Terrorists equipped with guns DONOT patrol the streets here. Fact of the matter is they donot even exist here. And about the security angle. Its as safe as any other city in India. Yes, agreed its sensitive to communal issues. But tell me which place in India isn't.
Media has played a significant role in injecting these myths in the minds of Indians. I have many a times seen seasoned journalists referring to Jammu city as the valley. Also, the government has to also share the blame. All you Jammuites let me ask you a question. Have you ever seen a tableau showcasing Jammu's culture. The answer to this question would highlight how ignorant the State government has been towards its winter capital.
XD ... This reminded me of all the explaining I had to do throughout my first year of college. Being the only "alien" from J&K in my college in Sikkim, I constantly had to clarify the same things you mentioned over here, repeatedly, till they got a good grasp of how it ACTUALLY is! :D
ReplyDeleteAlso, Well written :) .....
Explaining the actualities is indeed difficult. Thankyou Sakshi for the appreciation
DeleteThank you Sumedha, this explains a lot.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to correct people from my limited knowledge but next time, i'll just share your post.
And yes, you need to carry this post forward. Write a sequel, maybe make a series out of it because there are many more misconceptions that need to be explained in greater detail.
I will for sure do a sequel to this post. Thankyou Brandy.
DeleteAs far as writing is concerned, its far better than good enough. You always have that in you to write better and better. Now lets come to the content part.
ReplyDeleteSee there are always two ways the mind work while we write something. One what actually we wanted to say and second what we end up writing due to thought process running in subconscious simultaneously. And a true journalist never let his sub play any role in rationality of his active thinking.
1. You started with what people feel about jammu & kashmir outside and end up crticising about their weak General knowledge. 2. India being called a country of snake charmers is nowhere to compare with J&K for being called a disturbed state. Even you know very well how much % square KMs are peacefull and people can roam free and sing Vande matram there. A state is ofcourse a disturbed state when more than 60% area comes under that. Even there have been two terror strikes in last few months on national highway in Jammu province only.
3. how can people be so ignorant and that also about something that IS an integral part of their country. --- I know how it feels when someone always have to keep reminding us that we belong to a part which is an integral part of the country. (That can form base of your article someday), but being ignorant got nothing to do with it. Most of the people in east west and south think every one living in punjab is a sikh and all punjabis drink and eat chicken. Even we north Indians dont know the difference between a Tamilian and a Telugu...so what. Whats that got to do with a state being integral part of India. Everyone dont even know we drink H2O.
4. Yes demographic, security and snowfall things are fine that people dont know about J&K and believe me people dont know so many things about so many states and that as a reader i would like to know as an informative article not like a critical piece on lack of knowledge.
5. Media has played a significant role in injecting these myths in the minds of Indians. -----. These are not myths injected by anyone. These are plain simple things which everyone dont know. There are such things in every state.
6. You are very right in last few lines about cultural identity of Jammu province and that could be the base of your another article.
Its always encouraging when someone takes out time to review a post and discuss it at length. Thankyou for that. Coming to the points you have raised I would like to clear myself on some.
Delete1. Perception is an integral part of our knowledge about the surroundings
2. Nowhere have I compared India as a snake charmers nation and J& K - the disturbed state. Instead I have tried to bring out the stereotypes which exist. Also, terror attacks are in no way a qualifying pre-condition of a disturbed state. That is exactly what I want to say. Two terror attacks do not make Jammu& Kashmir a disturbed state. If you disagree, you may want to look at terror attacks which keep happening across the country irrespective of its status of disturbed state.
3. &.4. I agree on the points raised. I cant really blame anyone directly. I was just carried away by my emotions. Apologies. And yes, an informative series will follow.
5. I disagree. Media does have a role to play. It is their ethical duty to cross check their facts and not always live by word of mouth. For them excuses don't exist because they can't afford to transmit inaccurate information among the masses.
I dint say two terror attacks make it a disturbed state. It is a disturbed state because of majority of area doesn't fall under normal living area like rest part of India.
ReplyDeleteYou dont need to apologise for anything dear, and thats what i had started with. (Subconscious mind working simultaneously). You named it your emotions.
I didnt say media dont have a role to play. Ofcourse quality of journalism has fallen up to great extant.
All the best. Wish you be a true journo and show them what Media should stand for.
Disturbed state is a debatable issue. Lets leave it for an exclusive post.
DeleteThank you once again Arsh.
Great Post. I too faced the same situation when I started studying in Mumbai.
ReplyDelete