BY MOHAMMAD WASIM TELI
I am living in Howell surrounded by trees near at the embankment of River Jhelum. It was snowing and coldness was dispersed everywhere. One day my father got sick and our all relatives paid their visit to our Howell in order to know health condition of my father. After few days my father was feeling good and my grandmother scrolled her radio on and it was a Kashmiri programme called HELLO TAHANZ FARMAYISH which was being broadcasted by the director of that particular show and promptly they played a Kashmir song WUCHEKO DEDO MAHE RAMZAN (a kashmiri song related to the month of ramdhan). Suddenly my grandmother switched her radio off and started narrating the story of past earlier how they used to stay in the wealthy month of Ramadhan just in order to reveal her old days. Ramdhan which is supposed to be a month of prayer and in this month Muslims are offering salahs more and more so as to offer contrition (Toaba) for their sins. Earlier the beauty of Ramdhan was cherished by the women of Muslim community of the state Kashmir in India.
ROUF which is a folk dance and is being performed by the women’s in beautiful costume and in a characteristic music. In the ROUF women used to encourage, facilitate and inaugurate this month by admiring it with highly zeal, zest and passion. The dance is a simple footwork which is also called as CHAKAR. ROUF was performed after the time of IFTAAR (an evening meal for breaking fast). My mother being very fond of Rouf used to run at everyone’s door step so as to collect wives for Rouf. Peace was dispersed everywhere and in the everything.
Earlier people used to vist their neighbours House and interact with the guests if came so. They used to find happiness in small things and used to give more importance to the people. Earlier marriages were being performed with highly simplicity.
BANDPATHER was another traditional activity which was performed especially by the people of Gujjar community in the marriages. They used to play SHAMSHER BAZI so as to entertain people ,nowadays bandpather has been converted into highly instrumental bands. Earlier groom used to come on horses so as to take his bride in Doli ( It was used earlier for riding bridegroom during marriage ceremony for completing different rituals).Nowadays era has changed and Horse has been replaced by high class Mercedes.
DAMBUR which was a technical tool used for cooking food by letting wood into burn. Nowadays Dambur has changed into induction. Kashmir was very famous for its beauty and hospitality ( MEHMAN NAWAZI).But with the advancement of age and experience, everything in the universe has changed and has taken a new shape. The creatures especially humans have become self-centred and has buried their ancient cultures. Nowadays everything has gone opposite. Today people had let their walls up to that range so that other neighbour may not see their faces. Brother has become enemy of brother. Peace has got disturbed efficiently, everything has Deshaped. We had dumped our ancient culture into that grave which we had been dug by our own hands. Love ,affection , care was the ultimate source during early times. People used to be very poor but very lovable.
Why everything has changed and has Disturbed peace especially in the valley of Kashmir. As much as world is moving towards advancement people became beasts in the form of humans and these greedy humans has caused mutation to the phenotype of entire world. Why people has become cruel towards the human blood. Why Kashmir has lost its beauty .These are the challenging questions nowadays. My sentiments are not against the development, advancement but to the people. Why peace is disturbed. No matter how much world is moving fast towards advancement, the more people are losing their tradition as well. Language system has totally changed in this beautiful valley. A poet has said that” if you want to conquer any nation just snatch their language first.” It is a humble request to all those parents who are reading this write up to teach your kids Kashmiri language, give them knowledge about their ancient culture, show them beauty of Kashmir, let them visit at different museums so that they may also know how beautiful our culture was. Let us introduce rouf again so as to taste positive vibes of Ramadhan. Let us teach our children love, care respect to elders and kindness to younger ones. Stop looking for advancement in the world respect your culture, be loyal to your nation and make this Kashmir again more beautiful again.
Mohammad Waseem Teli is pursuing BSc
