Please visit the below site.It has some breathtaking and very moving pictures of the valley as seen and felt by a photojournalist Ami Vitalie. They viewpoint may not be complete but it is worth a watch.
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/flash_point/kashmir/.
While going through the reactions to this video i came across the following comment by a certain Raju Indukuri
"The story of Kashmiri Pundits, the intellectual cream of the society, is another chapter of this same story. "
This is most probably a comment by a person who doesn't know much about Kashmir and has some interaction with a Kashmiri Pandit at university.But I have observed that this is not a one off case.I have heard this opinion often, even locally in Kashmir.
So is this the truth?If yes , why? And if not then what is?
I believe that pre-tehreek the Pandits were more aware and more attuned to the fact that education matters and there always had been a thrust on pushing them ahead post 1947 by the concerned authorities.The relative success that the Pundits have achieved in various fields outside the valley has been more pronounced in the era before the trouble started in Kashmir because at that point the Valley muslims hardly ventured out.But as more and more kashmiri muslims are moving out and pushed to prove their mettle the gap is being bridged.This tells me that the problem is not about intellectual capacity (which anyways varied individually) of a sect but the exposure they are subject to and also the direction they are shown.
I may be right and I know that my argument is not complete and the purpose of this post is to have your point of view, each one of you. So lets hear it !!!! Thanks
7 comments:
Thanks for sharing this. The photo essay was beautiful. No person can give a complete commentary on all the issues that affect us leave aside a journalist who has spend very little time there. What matters is the awareness. It sets in a dialogue which is very important for a solution and peace.
Coming to your question. I think Pandits were smart people but it does not mean muslims were not. As you implicitly said they grabbed the opportunities. "Give a man a horse He will ride...." was a poem that I read in my high school. I find it so true. It is all a matter of opportunities. Muslims were not encouraged to go to schools after a certain level during the rule of Maharajah so after his rule ended Muslims did start educating themselves. It takes time to change a nation. The generation after 1947 was the first generation among muslims to have higher education while for Pandits it was second or third in many cases. If you look at our generation most of the muslims are second generation muslims to have college degrees while if you look at pandit kids who went to school with us, theirs was third generation if not fourth. We were not on a level ground to compete with them. Awareness and opportunities are very important. Nobody can make any generalizations about the intellect of an entire nation because it is very difficult to prove it. My grandmother did not go to college but she was a very intelligent woman. Comparison of intellect should be on level grounds. In Kashmir it was always compared on the level of education and the jobs. Now that, as you pointed out, the situation is changing and muslims are seeking opportunities in education I don't think we are behind Pandits on this intellectual level at all. We don't have to compete with them, but rationally this argument about intellectual superiority does not make any sense at all.
I agree with Nayeem Bhai
Muslims from valley have proved their worth, I see them in all good colleges/universities/IIT/IIM and all big companies..
I have noted that Kashmiris (Muslim or Pandits) are sharp minded, just need oppurtunity to prove themselves...
Though it is true that number of Pandits is faar more in colleges, universities or companies outside Kashmir.
But Muslims are slowly coming in all fields.
Nayeem i think your information is incomplete and incorrect. It was the maharaja who actually abolished the 'begari' system and made it compulsary for the muslim children to attend school (hence the name jabri school - forced school). This was in fact a move that was disliked by kashmiri pandits. In fact the pundits opposed this move at that time citing reasons that this adds to the misery of the kashmiri muslims as their bread-earning members are being sent to school.(Most muslim children would do kaalbaaf kaem). Their main concern actually was that they maintained the upper hand in the society because they were educated and they did not want the others to 'encroach' what they thought was their property. I come from a school (New Era) whose founder made a pledge on a day in his life to work for education amongst muslims. The day when he was going to school in the shikara as a kid and a pundit saw them and when he came to know he was a muslim, he asked the boatman to turn it back and drop the kid back at his home. 'Gobrya, near masol masol kar, toti senakh aane chor' parith kya karakh'. These were his words. My grandfather when he graduated matriculation (those days punjab board) was one amongst just two muslims that had actually done that. When he became Inspector Schools, he said he used to take bags of chochewer to schools so that he could encourage muslim children to study. At the same time the pundits used to make sure their kids would get 'wazeefe' to be able to study. We as kashmiris were denied access to education. When you said the pundits were smart - yes they were, they knew that education was the key to rule and they made it sure that they would not give that power to us. But, alas! did they fail or what!! alhamdulillah!
Fasial, thanks for sharing the story. When I said 'Muslims were not encouraged to go to schools after a certain level during the rule of Maharajah so after his rule ended Muslims did start educating themselves........", I meant after 5th grade or something they still had to get in writing from their village head or someone important for education after that. I wasn't referring to school before that which I agree with you was part of jabri school. This means that the education was not really emcouraged. This is based on my personal interaction with some people of that era. I could be wrong.
Judging the intellectual capability of a race or nation and even determining the possibility of the action is a daunting task that I am not inclined to take on at the moment. Hell, in this case we would have to look at groupings within the same race!
The application of a group to academic pursuits however is easier to measure and evaluate. Kashmiri muslims have scored low on this scale for a while now. If discouragement from pandits has been the major reason, then that really does show poorly on the muslim population from the same race!
I agree that a man will learn to ride a horse that he is given; but sometimes he needs to obtain the horse to ride. Not being given the horse is not a blame; not trying hard enough to secure one is.
As stats change, so will the perceptions.
Suhail,your comment seems to hit on the fact that the Muslims have not done their part to come up. True.
But as you initially said , judging the intellectual capacity of a race or group is a daunting task.And that is exactly my point , the perception that the Kashmiri pandits are intellectually superior can be challenged on the same grounds.
Anyways we have a long way to go.
In our world the opening of one STD booth leads to a mushroom of many.Lets hope that we move in the similar direction on more constructive paths.
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