Adarsh Ajit
Manmohan’s comment that ‘Wherever we may be, we are, and remain, the children of Danow’ shows determined and delinked continuity of the love of the land which Kashmiri Pandits belonged to. The background is the x-ray of a community which has been living in exile for twenty-six years now. Unfortunately, there are neither regrets nor is there any shame on the part of those who hounded out the community. The irresponsible behaviour of different governments and establishments towards the community, from time to time, is a scar on the face of independent India. The exodus of Pandits is the biggest tragedy in the modern history. Despite being an established educationist in exile, Manmohan still receives pricks of nostalgic pain from the scenic landscape of his ancestral village Danow and feels that he is a living wandering soul.
It is true that the compiler must have faced tremendous difficulties in arranging the bio-data, historical past, social status, economical standards and the connectivity as Pandits are scattered all over, but he promises to come out with the next edition with renewed efforts. Though the historical puns, and ravines through which Pandits have gone through, have completely turned turtle the dreams, yet Manmohan is committed to stand upon like a rock for the survival and for keeping up the faith in the seers and saints.
Giving the geo-historical status Manmohan confesses that Danow was not and is not a bustling mega polis but the aroma coming from the honey of buzzing honeybees in the valley of flowers still can be felt and the music produced from the strings of the guitar can still be heard relieving the pain of unabated separation from the land of birth, though the tragedy, which befell on the community, would never be compensated, in any form. The reminiscences of the Ganesh temple, dharamsal and annual yagnya still haunt him. Giving the photo of Swarg Ashram, another community rendezvous, Manmohan says that it was calm and blissful having attractive blooming buds of different colours and the murmuring flow of Naran-kol was giving soothing touches to everyone without any bias.
Farming, handicrafts, cottage industry, cattle feeding, were the main occupation of people of Danow. Education was and has been everybody’s urge in which many have excelled and mostly the Pandits gave their best in every field. But the medical facilities were provided by Pandits not only to people of Danow but to the neighbouring villages also.
The turbulence of 1990 has roots in Danow vandalism of 1986 which was a signal to the community for forthcoming warp and woes. The rumour-mongers had added to the fire and as per the compiler of the book administrative set up of the state at that time made no attempts to stop that. Consequently the houses and shops were looted and temples and idols were damaged and desecrated. Manmohan supplements his arguments with some eyewitnesses. He also gives a detailed account of the conditions compelling the exodus of the minority community from Danow also like that of whole community from the valley in 1990.
Manmohan has worked tough on the compilation process of telephone numbers, addresses and names of exiled Pandits of his village. This effort shows his commitment and the wish in uniting disfigured and dispersed people in reinforced structure and in all odds. About twenty-three pages of the book consist of Kashmiri leela written in Devnagri of late Sham Lal Dhar which is a devotional outflow in honour of Lord Krishna. The leela consists of 108 quatrains having om namo bhagwate vasudevaaye as refrain. The Krishna Leela fits in the context of exodus and the struggle for the Pandit rights.
The little effort of Manmohan giving the backdrop in which Kashmiri Pandits had to leave is an answer to those who term KPs as ‘Bhagodas’ (fugitives). It is also an answer to those who say Pandits have lost the enthusiasm and depth of love for their homeland. It is also an answer to those who say Kashmiri Pandits are living lavishly and need not return. It is also the answer to those who do not fix responsibility on their shoulders for their follies. It is also the answer to those who say Kashmiri Pandits have become fundamentalists in exile and have lost the warmth of universal brotherhood. On the contrary it is a question mark to the community leadership in the backdrop of disunity.
The photographs showing encroachment of KP land, debris of KP houses and setting up of the Purkhoo camp give a multi-dimensional insight that open the wounds and fix the responsibly on those who are at the helm of affairs. These photographs can be useful for the historian in future although their quality is not up to the mark.
Manmohan ends the booklet with a verse: ‘kabhie phooloon ki tarah mat jeena/jis din khilogay toot kar bikhar jaogay (Forget the life of blooming buds, they open and the petals fall down). It seems that he has written the book Sumran in haste. It could have been compiled in a better way and improved upon.
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