Visiting old memories

 Yesterday I visited Patiala to pay obeisance at a temple in the city. I have connection to this town dating back to early fifties. In fact the family moved to this princely city in 1950 when I was about 7 years old. I went to school and college there before joining Medical College at Srinagar in J&K. After staying in the city for 2-3 years the family relocated to a village which was somewhat midway between Patiala and Rajpura town. The village was called Kauli. Incidentally kauli or katori , called a pannikin in English language, is something we use on the dinning table. I have no idea how this place came to be known as such. But this is the place where I grew up and most of my memories of early childhood and adolescence pertain to this place only. 

My father came to this village to manage a big agricultural farm. The road from Patiala to Rajpura passed through the farm. And there was a small railway station, too, known by the same name as the village. We lived on the premises of the farm. It was quite a spacious house built of mortar and bricks with basic amenities like clean water and electricity. It was a carefree living with open space to move around and plenty of fresh vegetables and pure milk for nourishment. Adulteration of food articles was unheard of in those good old days. The time not spent in studies was used to play "Gulli-danda" with boys of my age, riding a bicycle which, incidentally, was my favourite pastime. As I grew up I learned to drive a tractor, and sometimes plough the fields with it. My first driving license was for a tractor ! I learnt a little bit about farming  practices too.  The time spent at the farm is part of golden years of my life. Then in 1962 I bid adieu to this place and moved to Srinagar to study medicine . But  I would visit my parents there during the winter breaks. Then my parents moved to our home town Nalagarh in Himachal in 1971 and I lost touch with Kauli.

As the road that I took to visit Patiala passed through Kauli, I decided to look up the place. As is the case with every village, town and city in our country, a lot of construction has taken place, some times at the cost of existing structures. The imposing buildings at the farm, like offices, carpentry and storerooms, garages for farm machinery, bins for the farm produce had been razed with no sign left of having any of them being there. In the absence  of these landmarks it was with some difficulty that I located the place. The farm had long since been sold there were precious little memories that I could revisit. But luckily for me the house in which I lived and grew up in was still there though with some additions and alterations. I took out my mobile and clicked a picture of the house. 

Kauli Rail Station (inside)

Next I visited the Kauli rail station where I would frequently go with my elder brother to watch the trains come and go and sometimes travel in them too. In those days there was only on big imposing building which housed the Station Master's office and the ticket-office and a small waiting room. But I was shocked to see that structure had been demolished to make way for a spanking new rail station. I was told by the Station Master that the old building was constructed in 1895. It could have been preserved as a heritage building ! But alas !! So there was precious little left of the memories of the place that I could revisit ! With a heavy heart I resumed my journey. Those buildings, those structures may be gone for ever but the memories of my childhood spent at Kauli will always remain with me. I can take comfort in that.

The house where I grew up

Kauli Rail Station (outside)

THEN AND NOW

I grew up in a liberal milieu prevalent in our home. We were taught to be respectful towards our elders and respect religious feelings of others. India had recently become independent from the foreign rule. My parents had lived in a mixed society before independence and  there was an atmosphere of bonhomie amongst the communities. It was but natural that I was free from any religionistic baggage. Then in 1962 I went to Srinagar in J&K to study  Medicine at Medical College there. Srinagar and the valley, though beautiful, was unlike my own. The language and the culture was different from in which I grew up. Even the Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits), though coreligionist, had different customs and cultural practices. But it didn't take much time for me to assimilate in that milieu. I made friends with fellow students from both Hindu and Muslim sects. Things were much better in those days with no overt conflict between the two communities. The customs and culture of the two were different but the common language and centuries of living together bound them. Consequent upon the partition of the country based on two nation theory and the manner of the  Jammu and Kashmir state's accession to the Indian Union , political undercurrents were present but in social and cultural interaction between the communities there was harmony. Tourists from other parts of the country and from foreign land would flock to the valley during the summers contributing to the economy of the state. Also there was massive aid coming to J&K from the Union government the state's own resources being meagre. The younger generation had opportunities to go for higher and professional studies, both in the state and other parts of the country. Students from poor socio-economic background were provided with loans by the state government to pursue higher education in general as well as professional streams. After all  takes a massive monetary investment by the state to provide professional education and this bill is footed by every tax payer of the country, that is India. The recipients of higher education are expected to repay in some measure to the society by serving them in some way. A large number of  students from the majority community of my alma mater, after obtaining specialization in their chosen fields, left for foreign shores for better life and for pursuing still higher studies They were supposed to serve the people of the state and provide them with better medical care after completion of their studies. Some did return but most of them chose to stay back. By virtue of the good professional education that they received courtesy the taxpayers of this country, they have made big in those foreign lands. Surely they achieved this by dint of hard work and good professional acumen, but they did abandon their own people. Sadly these days I come across  posts by some of these worthies on the social media describing themselves as slaves of the Indian state. Slaves who received good education paid for by the Indian taxpayers that enabled them to earn riches in foreign lands, live a comfortable life, live in palatial houses and build luxurious houses back home and yet they call themselves slaves! Things started to deteriorate in J&K in the 70s. The mutual distrust between the two communities increased, aided ably by the disgruntled politicians and our neighbour to the west. And then 1990 happened ! Hapless Kashmiri Pundits were forced to flee their hearth and home and forced to become refugees, euphemistically called 'migrants', in their own country. It was a well orchestrated effort at the ethnic cleansing of the Pundit community from the valley. These so called 'slaves' were complicit in this nefarious plan. None of these worthies have the courage to come forward and denounce what happened to the Kashmiri Pundit brethren. They have proved themselves to be cowards and lacking in moral courage to speak about, and condemn the unspeakable atrocities committed on the Pundit community. While they moan about conditions prevalent presently in the valley, there is hardly any thought for the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits. They seem to suffer from mass amnesia. They behave as if the Pandit community never existed. The minority community, that is, Pundits, has suffered tremendously. The majority community of the valley is complicit by choosing to remain silent, not speaking out. They should realize that Kashmir and Kashmiriyat is incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits. One can't think of Kashmir without Kashmiri Pandits. The famed 'Jannat on earth' will always be incomplete without them.