The Spring Faraway: Ashok Patwari – Deepak Budki

          

                The Spring Faraway: Ashok Patwari

                                      – Deepak Budki

 

The maiden English novel by Dr Ashok Patwari titled ‘The Spring Faraway’ is a saga of developments in the Kashmir valley over the past four decades. The State of Jammu and Kashmir has been a festering sore ever since its independence and has been aptly described by Lord Birdwood as a “geographical monstrosity”. India and Pakistan have fought four wars since 1947, so much so that it has adversely affected their economies. resulted in the separation of the Eastern Wing of Pakistan in 1971, the rise of militancy in the state and the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990. Against this background, Ashok Patwari has chronicled the events, fictionalised them and not only reflected the sentiments of the people of Kashmir but also refracted the ideologies of different stakeholders in the conflict.  

Dr Ashok Patwari is a well-known Urdu fiction writer with three collections of short stories, viz. Kuch Lamhe, Kuch Saye, Dastak and Silwatein, besides four books in English, Turquoise Tulips, Down Flows the Stream, Retreat and Other Stories, and Poster Boy and Other Stories. Born in Sopore, Kashmir, on 2 October 1948, he is a paediatrician based in Noida, Delhi NCR, after migrating from Kashmir. Dr Ashok is also a Research Professor of International Health at Boston. Patwaris have a rich tradition of literary accomplishments. In this novel, the author has chiefly focused on the characters who have been neighbours for ages in his homeland, Sopore, spanning three generations and representing antagonistic religious ideologies. Yet they believe in peaceful coexistence, called ‘Kashmiriyat’, a legacy handed down to Kashmiris by great Rishis such as Lal Ded and Nund Reshi. The two families symbolise their communities living peacefully in Kashmir. However, due to the circumstances created by regular conflict between Hindus and Muslims, fuelled by religious bigots and the neighbouring country, Pakistan, some of the younger members have become hardcore right-wing extremists. 

The author has picked up the thread from the partition of the country and the tribal invasion when many Kashmiri Pandits (Hindu Brahmins), nicknamed Bhattas, were rescued and saved from the onslaught of invading Tribal barbarians, including members of the family of Prithvi Nath Dhar, a school teacher and an Urdu-Persian scholar. Their parents, Shamboo Nath Dhar and Haji Ghulam Mohammad Dar, were colleagues as well as neighbours. It reinforced the belief in Kashmiriyat of that generation of Pandits and Muslims. The march of time eroded the secular fabric of the two families, and some of their children fell prey to the religious extremism honed by their personal experiences during the militancy in the Kashmir Valley after 1990. While Roshan Lal Dhar continued to believe in Prithvi Nath’s legacy of Kashmiriyat, even if his community had to be second-class citizens in J&K, Dr Surinder Dhar did not and joined a right-wing Hindu organisation in Delhi. However, no Pandit picked up arms despite the loss of land, property and livelihood due to migration. On the contrary, while elder Hajis were sympathetic to Pandit brethren, younger ones were not, and some even picked up the gun to free Kashmir from India. The events in the valley for the last four decades proved that they had local support, were provided with food and shelter, and local youth joined the ranks of terrorists.

The author has dwelt upon the behavioural aspects of different religious communities, the complexes developed by villagers vis-à-vis their Urban counterparts, as well as commitment to non-violence. The last trait is generally believed to be a result of the cowardice of Kashmiris, ignoring the stellar role played by the J&K Militia in the 1962 war, after which the force was incorporated as J&KLI in the Indian Army. The novel highlights subtle differences in the sensibilities of Muslims and Hindus. Muslims in general prefer Sharia law, orthodoxy, veiled women and affection for Pakistan. However, Kashmiri Pandits, being in a minuscule minority, have over the ages learnt how to adapt to the circumstances. After the migration, there was a change in the mindset of the younger generation, who expressed their happiness at the strict enforcement of the law, the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution, and the bifurcation of the J&K State into two UTs. Some Kashmiri Pandit organisations called for a separate land for them to be named ‘Panun Kashmir’, which concept seems to be impractical and ridiculous. Despite this, the migrant community miss their culture, climate, food and dress. 

The militancy in Kashmir started a few years before 1990 under a well-planned strategy, when it reached its peak on 19 January 1990, resulting in the mass migration of Kashmiri Pandits. There are two opinions about their migration, one sponsored by Terrorists and believed by the majority of Muslims in the valley, as well as sympathetic pseudo-secular media and the other held by Pandits themselves based on their personal experiences. On the other hand, many fatalities of Pandits were reported after the migration on account of unbearable climatic conditions. Pandits believe that Muslims invited the curse on themselves by taking up arms. Shockingly, the forcibly displaced Pandits are labelled as MIgrants, which reflects voluntariness rather than forced exile.

Nevertheless, they focused on their children's education, facing the vicissitudes of the climate, poverty, and insecurity, and often succeeded. The novel emphasises that not all Kashmiri Muslims were bad, but many sheltered and helped their Pandit brethren. Prithvi Nath Dhar and his wife stayed put in Sopore despite several requests by their children and were looked after by their friendly Muslim neighbours. However, most of the younger generation were committed to a religious crusade called Jehad, and many got trained across the border and returned to execute their plans as per the diktats of their handlers in POK. Aijaz, assisted by other terrorists, is ordered to abduct Prithvi Nath and his wife, who were provided shelter by his father, which stirs his conscience. Luckily, he can avoid the situation, but later on has to take school children as hostages, which renders him totally helpless. Far away across the oceans, the author finds two young men from the said neighbouring family, viz. Muqbil and Bhavishya are locking horns on the concept of the independence of Kashmir and the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, yet Bhavishya consoles Muqbil on the death of his grandfather.

While the author has taken pains to portray the excesses of the security forces upon the local Muslims, which resulted in further growth of terrorism, he has, however, conveniently overlooked the killings, abductions and other dastardly acts perpetrated by the terrorists upon the security forces for reasons best known to him. Maybe due to the author’s attempt to balance his narrative or his subconscious effort to eulogise Kashmiriyat and Secularism.

The novel also portrays a character, Gula, who is the son of a labourer killed in crossfire. Though it is normally expected that the employer would sympathise with the family and provide Gula a secure job, instead, he is inducted into terrorism by his employer in the name of Allah, assuring all help to his family. His house is also made into a hideout for a Pakistani terrorist who exploits the innocence of Gula’s sister, forces her to marry him and bear his child. Both Gula and his brother-in-law are ultimately eliminated. 

The novel has too many Urdu and Kashmiri words, some repeated, which could have been avoided, and their English equivalents used wherever available, except perhaps where they are used emphatically in the dialogue.

To sum up, the novel The Spring Faraway is both a historical document in the form of fiction and an eyewitness account of events in the Kashmir valley, free of prejudice or exaggeration. Ashok Patwari has indeed produced an interesting piece of fiction, which is praiseworthy. Readers who have not been through the events can visualise what must have happened, while those who have can feel the nostalgia behind every word in the novel.

*****