Hi there,
Its more than one month since I wrote last time, today is a special day as it snowed here and our Christian brothers and sisters are having a white Christmas eve and tomorrow being Christmas. So I would like to extend my warm wishes to all the friends for a blessed and a compassionate Christmas all across the world.
World has really gone into turmoil since the arrival of Covid-19 and now the deadly Omicron? It appears that Covid-19 and its affiliates will continue to remain in the world for some years more and people are very much concern about it, which is natural.
Here in Leh too Covid is on the rise so far no new variant has surfaced but numbers have been on the rise. About 220 persons have died so far mostly in Leh district. The rate of recovery is 98.2% approximately people are following c.a.b (covid appropriate behavior) norms.
Ladakh with two districts has a population of three hundred thousand. The Kargil district has more population than Leh district. Leh is a Buddhist dominated district while Kargil Shia Muslims of several kinds also few Sunnite numbers.
The people of Leh profess Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist tradition with ancient monastery as old as 10th century. In Kargil most people have been influenced by message of Khomeni of Iran hence they have become more orthodox in recent times after the coming of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni in the year 1980s in Iran.
However, both would face indifference once arriving in the Kashmir valley in the past because of racial traits and would be referred to as Bhatta or Bhot by the local Kashmiri children in and around the rural areas by shouting, “Bhatta Kanaspo Tsa walli Tso” once on enquiry I asked what it meant?
So a senior Ladakhi explained to me actually they are trying to speak Ladakhi or this phrase became main streamed in Kashmir valley meaning, “ Bhatta or Bhot Ka Ne Yongs Pin or Bhatta or Bhot where have you come from?”
Really any Ladakhi whether Buddhist, Christian or Muslim would be referred to as one i.e Bhatta or Bhot once they crossed the famous Zojila pass and arrive in the Paradise valley!
The Kashmiris never assimilated the minorities into their lives as equals though they profess to have socialistic tenets in their religion. So much so they literally forced the Kashmiri Pandits out of Kashmir who they would regard as their Guru in the past.
I don’t know why they did which had come to such a pass? I remember while studying there for nine years 1969 to 1977 which was the golden age of Kashmiri progress and achievements!
In a matter of ten years they lost everything that they had built showcasing tourism, handicrafts horticulture and modern education in which they were second to none. They always have this strange fear of others coming into their lives and they would be finished? So what have they achieved nothing?
When Sheikh Mohd Abdullah was freed from his long detention he immediately went into a ‘Naya Jammu and Kashmir’ slogan in which he made equal representation of all the three regions of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir. For Shere e Kashmir this was his last presence on the pitch of life and all eagerly watched what he was doing?
I remember he organized a sound and light programme on the Hari Parbat hill where we have the ancient Dogra fort. And he highlighted the history and cultural heritage of Kashmir.
A brief story on the contribution of the most famous King of Kashmir Yosuf Shah Chak later became famous by the name of Badshah also about Haba Khatoon the night angle of Kashmir and Nand Reshi and so forth.
I didn’t understand anything then but today it comes to my mind what he was trying to show case to the Kashmiri intelligentia i.e of brotherhood of mankind and futility of un-called for political demands and wild ambitions which he had learnt in his 22 years of house arrest in Almorah and Nainital.
The year was around 1976 or so just two years of foreign tourism in Ladakh. My only regret is that Jammu and Kashmir could never integrate as a genuine State, contrary it went on doing unimaginable mistakes not learning from history? Bye for now