A PEEP INTO FUTURE
It is to the credit of pandits that they did not relate to arms and create an unsocial mess as a reaction to having been brutally chased out of their mother land leaving their home and hearth to an unknown future.Having to live in completely new environment and without any resource except grit,determination to survive and their talent,ability, and education,they tried to maintain their sanity and equanimity to confront the great odds against their very existence and to concentrate on on building their next generation to enable them to compete in the wide world. That the genius of the pandits not only enabled them to survive but also to thrive and shine even when the going was tough is the story of the post_migration period. A new generation of technocrats, professionals (in all disciplines),scientists,etc. have thus sprung in the community,spread far and wide within and outside the country making waves wherever they are due to their dedication,earnestness,hard work and brilliance which is ingrained in their genes.
The younger generation has thus spread worldwide and made a niche for themselves and their own.The dispersal of the community in different corners of the globe in minscule groups will distance them from their home base,their native tongue ,culture and traditions inspite of efforts being made to sponsor periodic community meetings so as to acquaint the younger generation with their identity and culture. But with the passage of time it is bound to get diluted from generation to generation and ultimately submerged in the local cultures wherever they have settled. marriages outside the community coupled with gradual extinction of their mother tongue is bound to accelerate the process. The thinkers in the community are acutely aware of this eventuality in
such groups who are thinly distributed over large areas or spaces.
The efforts made to forestall such an eventuality as carried out at Jammu,Delhi,Kolkatta,Banglore ,Mumbai, Jaipur are being made in all earnest by formation of pandit sabhas and celebrating festivals and sponsoring conferences for awareness compaigns. Jammu is leading in this in view of sizeable population of pandits and thus duplicaing the valley for them in their living ethos and is perhaps the only place where the pandits will retain their culture and tradition in future with ease. A number of new localities have sprung up with predominantly with pandit dwellings who have settled here after their exodus from the valley.they have since duplicated their very frequented places of worship in the valley in Jammu. But persisting with speaking or spoken to in Kashmiri at home is not in vogue in the post exodus breed going to lead to loss of their mother tongue, kashmiri .
The steps being taken by the thinkers of the community to write books on kashmir shaivism,sharda script,various religious festivals of pandits ,their shrines, rituals ,symbols and taditions will be a treasure of knowledge for the coming generations wherever they are.It will ,as a collection, be an identity bank and language preserve . The need of the hour is to update the census of the community and collate the efforts already made in various cities and towns worldwide at one place to form a data bank centrally which is easily accessible online. The pandit way of life will unfortunately get gradually lost. The pandit symbols like DEJHORU( pandit mangal sutra) help even strangers idetify their mutal community kinship.
GOVT.'S EFFORTS TO RESETTLE PANDITS IN THE VALLEY
The state govt. has built (under the P.M.'s package) some tenements at different places in the valley for settling the returnees.This will result in ghottoisation of community in minscules.The state adminstration has to ensure the willing support and cooperation of the majority,such a move may not be fruitful. A better idea would be to resettle those who shall return at a single place to make their security easier.
The govt.must give them a political voice by reserving a seat in the assembly for them and grant them minority rights as a community.
The state govt's present arrangements are scheduled rightly for
resettlement of only a part of the community who have not been able to resettle on their own elsewhere all these years. As per sample survey refered earlier, we could expect only about 10% of the oustees to return to the valley, AND MORE THAN 75% OF KASHMIRI PANDITS WHO HAD TO LEAVE IN 1990S WILL LOSE THEIR LINKS TO THE VALLEY WITH PASSAGE OF TIME .
It is to the credit of pandits that they did not relate to arms and create an unsocial mess as a reaction to having been brutally chased out of their mother land leaving their home and hearth to an unknown future.Having to live in completely new environment and without any resource except grit,determination to survive and their talent,ability, and education,they tried to maintain their sanity and equanimity to confront the great odds against their very existence and to concentrate on on building their next generation to enable them to compete in the wide world. That the genius of the pandits not only enabled them to survive but also to thrive and shine even when the going was tough is the story of the post_migration period. A new generation of technocrats, professionals (in all disciplines),scientists,etc. have thus sprung in the community,spread far and wide within and outside the country making waves wherever they are due to their dedication,earnestness,hard work and brilliance which is ingrained in their genes.
The younger generation has thus spread worldwide and made a niche for themselves and their own.The dispersal of the community in different corners of the globe in minscule groups will distance them from their home base,their native tongue ,culture and traditions inspite of efforts being made to sponsor periodic community meetings so as to acquaint the younger generation with their identity and culture. But with the passage of time it is bound to get diluted from generation to generation and ultimately submerged in the local cultures wherever they have settled. marriages outside the community coupled with gradual extinction of their mother tongue is bound to accelerate the process. The thinkers in the community are acutely aware of this eventuality in
such groups who are thinly distributed over large areas or spaces.
The efforts made to forestall such an eventuality as carried out at Jammu,Delhi,Kolkatta,Banglore ,Mumbai, Jaipur are being made in all earnest by formation of pandit sabhas and celebrating festivals and sponsoring conferences for awareness compaigns. Jammu is leading in this in view of sizeable population of pandits and thus duplicaing the valley for them in their living ethos and is perhaps the only place where the pandits will retain their culture and tradition in future with ease. A number of new localities have sprung up with predominantly with pandit dwellings who have settled here after their exodus from the valley.they have since duplicated their very frequented places of worship in the valley in Jammu. But persisting with speaking or spoken to in Kashmiri at home is not in vogue in the post exodus breed going to lead to loss of their mother tongue, kashmiri .
The steps being taken by the thinkers of the community to write books on kashmir shaivism,sharda script,various religious festivals of pandits ,their shrines, rituals ,symbols and taditions will be a treasure of knowledge for the coming generations wherever they are.It will ,as a collection, be an identity bank and language preserve . The need of the hour is to update the census of the community and collate the efforts already made in various cities and towns worldwide at one place to form a data bank centrally which is easily accessible online. The pandit way of life will unfortunately get gradually lost. The pandit symbols like DEJHORU( pandit mangal sutra) help even strangers idetify their mutal community kinship.
GOVT.'S EFFORTS TO RESETTLE PANDITS IN THE VALLEY
The state govt. has built (under the P.M.'s package) some tenements at different places in the valley for settling the returnees.This will result in ghottoisation of community in minscules.The state adminstration has to ensure the willing support and cooperation of the majority,such a move may not be fruitful. A better idea would be to resettle those who shall return at a single place to make their security easier.
The govt.must give them a political voice by reserving a seat in the assembly for them and grant them minority rights as a community.
The state govt's present arrangements are scheduled rightly for
resettlement of only a part of the community who have not been able to resettle on their own elsewhere all these years. As per sample survey refered earlier, we could expect only about 10% of the oustees to return to the valley, AND MORE THAN 75% OF KASHMIRI PANDITS WHO HAD TO LEAVE IN 1990S WILL LOSE THEIR LINKS TO THE VALLEY WITH PASSAGE OF TIME .
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