TALES OF TRAVESTY
DR. JITENDRA SINGH
Narrating the saga of Julius Ceasar, Shakespeare writes, ‘‘Men are at some time masters of their fate. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars ’’.
Indeed so…. for the hapless but self-respecting people of Jammu who modestly curse their fate when stars elude them even though often the fault is not with stars but with the overzealous chicanery of their high profile crusaders who accomplish self-serving designs in the garb of pleading the cause of innocent masses.
Incessant conditioning by successive years of discrimination and subjugation has inadvertantly given birth to a subconscious slavishness among the people of Jammu and ironically this helpless state of mind is subject to exploitation equally as much by their own protagonists from Jammu. As the common man looks forward to Jammu’s political and social leaders for redemption from Kashmir -centric ruling polity, he is appalled and consequently confused to find a large majority of Jammu’s socalled crusaders themselves paying shameless obeisance to their masters from across, for petty gains like a wine shop license or a B. Ed college permission or a club membership.
Destiny they say has two ways of crushing us… by refusing our wishes or by fulfilling them. The tragedy of Jammuites is that destiny crushed them by refusing their wishes. And the “wiser” among them turned to smart means of personal gratification by singing the swan song of Jammu cause and simultaneously chanting hymns to eulogise the mighty monarchs from across the Pir Panchal.
The peculiar story of several Jammu based political or semi- political or trade organisations and the apparently Jammu-centric activists is that they are retentlessly and tirelessly engaged in mutually fighting each other and pulling each other’s leg but the moment they confront a chief minister or a minister from Kashmir, most of them hurriedly huddle together to raise a ‘‘Zindabad’’, host a reception or present a momento.
This leads to one final question. Is there any prospect of deliverance for such defeatist community ? For as long as Jammu is content to play a second fiddle, it will continue to receive the kind of leadership it deserves. The common man needs to understand that those who are content to lick the shoe are destined to receive the kick. Umapathy reiterates this point with a Momin verse ‘‘Na Karte Uski B-rang-e-Hina Jo Paboosi, To Yoon Shakl-e-B-rang-e-Hina Na Pisa Karte Hum’’!
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