Archival Note: Ved Pal Deep, a prolific writer in several languages and known as the Ghalib of Dogri poetry and King of Dogri Ghazals, was a senior editor of Kashmir Times, where he worked from early 1970s till his death in 1995. Deep was a prolific writer in four languages – Hindi, Urdu, Dogri and English.
Ved Pal Deep*
They were compelled to leave Jammu about 39 years ago, but still remember the place of their birth, emotion and nostalgia. The Jammuites have settled down in various cities and towns of Pakistan and also across the actual Line of Control. But Lahore is the main centre of those who had migrated from Jammu city while still in teens. Now past middle age, they occasionally stray into the memory lane and revive sentimental rapport with this town.
I have before me the latest issue of Urdu weekly ‘Pasban’ published from Sialkot. The printer, publisher and editor is also an old Jammuite - M. Mairjudin Ahmed, who, before partition, published "Pasban" from Jammu. "Pasban" often gives vent to the suppressed feelings of Jammuites settled in various parts of Pakistan and Pak-administered Kashmir.
In the latest issue, it has published an article "Jammu ki yaad" (The memory of Jammu). In fact it constitutes a paper which was read out by Dr. Abdul Aziz Kaash in the meeting of Halqa-e-Ahbab, Jammu, the organisation of friends or lovers of Jammu).
Dr Kaash, also an old Jammuite, fondly remembered the town. The organisation regularly hold their meetings in which Jammuites gather and talk nostalgically. The meeting referred to here was held under the chairmanship of Brig. Bashir Ahmed, on July 7, 1986. The host was Nasir Ali Shah Qazmi. Both Jammuites.
The erstwhile headmaster of Ranbir High School, Jammu, Mr Abdul Aziz sitting at whose feet I had done my matriculation with distinction, also graced such meetings several times. He must now be somewhere between 85 and 90 years. He is the father of Mahoob-ul-Haq, the planning minister of Pakistan.
The main credit for arranging this meeting of Jammuites goes to Dr Kaash. He prepared an exhaustive list of Jammuites living not only in Lahore but also in other nearby towns, invites them for monthly meetings, and now it has become a regular feature. Dr. Kaash, along with his wife, visited Jammu a couple of years ago and, in a get-together, recited a few Dogri poems and folksongs. He said with a heavy heart that he missed his sweet language very much.
There are several old acquaintances of ours who relish the memory of Jammu. Sometimes we receive a letter from Abdul Rashid, who has retired from a gazetted post and settled in Karachi. He had left the town when its dimensions were only one square mile and its population between 30 to 40 thousand. He expressed happiness that Jammu has expanded to about six to seven square miles and now has a population of about three lakhs. It was his lifelong wish to visit the place of his birth again, he wrote.
Flowers in Wasteland
Jammu has various mountainous areas which have many scenic spots whose beauty is breathtaking, and the climate is enchantingly salubrious. It is not for nothing that Bhaderwah has earned the sobriquet of "mini-Kashmir". But there are a number of other hill resorts right from Dudu-Basantgarh to Bani (Basohli) on one side and from Mandi (Poonch) to Noori Chhamb on the other, though lesser known, if not totally obscure, which excite aesthetic pleasure and where the very environment is inebriating. Springs and brooks, meadows and pastures, greenery and flowers, birds, fruit and whatnot embellish these sanctuaries of nature.
But there is also the other side of the story. Large tracks of Jammu comprise of kandi, barren fallow land, which parches dry for want of a drop of water. Emaciated and withering bushes, debilitated Kikkar trees and worn-out indigenous cactus are all that constitute vegetation, which serve, as refuge for cobras and scorpions. The peasantry is entirely at the mercy of rain gods whose wrath spells doom.
But lack of nature's bounty has been compensated in more than one way. Sturdy, hard-working, and enduring people of Kandi belt bestowed the flattering title of "the martial race" on the entire community inhabiting Jammu.
But one thing that has been seldom highlighted is that beneath the hard and rugged exterior, the kandi has a reservoir of artistic aptitude which had been waiting for an opening to gush out. That hidden fountain has burst out through many fissures.
Had it not been so, we would not have amidst us today poets like Kehri Singh Sharma and Mohan Ram Lal Sharma and Singh, and sculptors and painters like Vidya Rattan Khajuria, apart from budding poets like T.R. Magotra, and others. The same is true regarding other kandi zones of Jammu. Roses are sprouting in the desert.
(The above two pieces are reproduced from the Kashmir Times, archives, September 21, 1986 and September 29, 1986.)
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