Friday, August 21, 2009

Dhoope ke Sikke and my home, lost home...


Never has a song really reminded me of my home, lost home. Never at least a bollywood song. Kashmir, which meant home till the first 9 months of my life has been in centre frame of my mind always. It has brought tears, longing along with imagination of my neighborhood, my garden back in the valley. My three storey house near the famous Dal Lake, which was filled mostly with old and new books. I’ve heard.

It would now be hard to trace the ashes of those old and new books on that barren land. They burned it all to the bottom.

धुप के सिक्के उठाकर गुनगुनाने दो उसे,
बैंगनी
कच्चे हथेली पर सजाने दो उसे!

भोली
भाली भोली भाली रहने दो

ज़िन्दगी
को ज़न्दगी को बहाने दो..!

Prasoon Joshi, famous lyricist has a magical gift of writing Hindi songs. After the much adored ‘Meri Ma’ from the film ‘Taree Zameen Par’, he has returned with yet another surreal ‘Dhoop Ke Sikke’ in the newly released film ‘Sikander’, which I’m told has an undercurrent of terrorism. I would refrain to comment on the film from what I’ve observed of it till now. No offence meant. I know at the most it would talk about the present locals of the valley (their suffering), or the army and the state. Peace would be its message. Though it would as always not touch me or my community. I’m still considered untouchable by our intellectuals. I’m not a revolutionary mass-murderer; I’m just a Kashmiri Pandit. The Pandits (Hindus) of Kashmir valley who were ethnically cleansed.


मगर धोके से तुने उसका बचपन भी तोह लूटा है,
ज़रा
देखो तोह उसकी आँख में वोह कबसे रूठा है!!

जुगनुओं की रौशनी में दिल लगाने दो उसे...

Sanjay Suri is my only hope for now. He plays a reformed terrorist in this film. Many rumours claim he is being portrayed as a mixture of Hurriyat's MirwaizUmar Farooq, JKLF's Yasin Malik and slain separatist Abdul Gani Lone. In real life, Virenderveer Suri, Sanjay's father was gunned down one morning in 1990. His only crime, being a 'Hindu' in a predominantly Muslim Kashmir. Sanjay may have been 19 then.

Today we complete 19 years in exile from our land. The above lines by Prasoon, made my mind travel, it reminded me of my pain. I'm missing my home that I've never seen. Perhaps, never will.

अकेले छोड़कर उसको क्या कहने चाह रहे है हम,
क्या कहना चाह रहे है हम!
एक गहरी नींद से हमको जगाने दो उसे!!

I've been alone in these gone years. I've been left alone..

7 comments:

CherishWomanhood said...

Can't agree more!

my heart sinks, when i remember my motherland!

Daisy said...

Life has never been the same since that fateful day we left our home, the real home. I have made my home elsewhere like so many or rather almost all of us Kashmiri Pandits but in my heart home is still where home really is... the place where I spent my childhood and learnt to live life without any compromises but the irony of it all is that now all we are doing is compromising.

Bingo said...

A very thought provoking comment.....seems to be the Kafkaesque struggle of finding something whose obtainment has an almost zero chance...but still the hope lies....

Pooja Shali said...

मगर धोके से तुने उसका बचपन भी तोह लूटा है,
ज़रा देखो तोह उसकी आँख में वोह कबसे रूठा है!!
जुगनुओं की रौशनी में दिल लगाने दो उसे...

Its really seems to be about you Aditya.

Let the pain make u strong, not pull you down.

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Sita said...

Hi, I don't understand much Hindi ,even less of its poetry;I could only read what you had written in English,that too only partly,Because,I could not read more.The tragedy is gut ripping;I may not have experienced your being uprooted physically,but I always share your angst and pain .I don't know why-Is it because I am also a Human;or because,I am a Hindu,or because I am an Indian.But I do. I can only pray that Kashmir becomes your home once more.

Sita said...

The most tragic part is that the media and so-called intelligentsia seem to have forgotten that Kashmir also belonged not only to The Pandits but to all Indians.When I say the Prayer "Namaste Sharade Devi Kashmira pura Vasini" I think of you all,and also pray that the Jihadis will be routed.