In my previous write-up on “short story writing”, I revealed the summary of that interview which Dr. Abid Ahmad Sahib had from me and published in ‘Greater Kashmir’. It was with this intention to give a bird’s eye view to the readers regarding my perception about the life.
To one of Abid Sahib’s questions, “Writers in Kashmir-What is your impression?”, I, while replying elaborately to this question, told him that a great damage to Kashmiri artists was the closing of the Coffee House at Residency Road, Srinagar. What I have written, I owe to that place. That place chiseled my art and craft. Intellectuals would meet there and discuss everything threadbare. To sit there for a while was like catharsis. My all pain would melt once I would be there. Whether it is my short stories, poetry or plays, my theme is always pain in its comprehensive sense. Pain is the canvass on which I paint. Each individual soul seems pain incarnate to me. Every laughter to me is fraught with vestiges of agony. Man’s laughter seems insincere while his crying genuine. I think I have seen life raw. Even birds and flowers to me seem writhing with angst. When a flower boosts its colour that is basically a posture to hide its pain. So far I have penetrated human psychology; I feel human weaknesses, pride, laughter, dressing, and every aspect of human personality as an effort to mitigate that pain. Whether he is conscious or unconscious if it. Anyone who refutes me is not saying truth. I see life only in three perspectives- “Dagg, Phuhun, Tatur”. Religion mitigates this pain and sense of suffering. If religion were negated, this pain would be perpetual. People are generally sadists or masochists. They either inflict pain on themselves or on others. But the aim in both these cases is self-gratification.
Today, the Kashmiri short story writer wants to bring freshness in his short stories and he seems very much conscious of swiftly changing the world scenario in terms of values, and politics also. Human problems and sensibilities are handled very successfully in the short stories and the craft of writing a short story in Kashmiri is improving. But, there is of course a dearth of matured critics who could reasonably evaluate the works brought out in Kashmir.
What happened or happens outside the world in terms of political turmoil, human rights violations, or the degradation of spiritual and moral values, leave a great effect on the psychology of writers living in this part of land also, and they also get influenced by the writings of western literati.
I’ve been frequently telling it that there is an abundance of talent in Kashmir but the lack of support from governmental agencies and the public contributes to the suppression of talent where it exists. So, the persistently parroted homily that our writers are not up to international standards sounds irrelevant. I have expressed these feelings in one of my publications also. As I believe, many organizations were brought to existence with certain aims and objectives which included creating awareness among our youth and strengthening our sense of identity. These could have played a vital role in integrating Kashmiri fiction into the world-class literary architecture, had wisdom been genuinely utilized. These organizations have an immense potential to grow and give the literary field of Kashmir a real boost, provided they wake up from the slumber of apathy and do not remain bent upon the line of mock exercises and highlighting only a selected group of writers. They should comply with the norms judiciously. There are some souls which react against the ill functioning of these organizations while there are many which pocket it mutely. The system needs a radical treatment. Grievances ventilated by writers need not a Knee-jerk reaction but a mature response. Sensibilities of writers get hurt when they see their scripts submitted for subsidy gathering dust for years.
Ironically, we have been aping the west only in fashion, not in their policies of promoting human values and literature in their countries.
Publication of glossy pamphlets and holding purposeless functions are mere window dressing. I feel something perceptible needs to be done and I wish that the high ups should endeavour progress in such a way that our intellectuals feel that they are not disrespected. Otherwise, (as a thinker has rightly said) if you continue to make the wolf and the lamb lie down together, and expect to grow a strong and healthy ram, it is tantamount to stupidity! A lily can’t grow if placed in the desert.
I request that the authorities, who might feel fingers pointed towards them in this regard, not dismiss my allegations as a pedantic quibble but rather consider what has caused me to nourish this grouse against them. Be it noted, I need not any favours, but only wish that all genuine writers be allowed to emerge. Because I believe that it is genuine literature which gives meaning to life.
Critical success is a different thing, and financial rewards a separate issue. Some of the best books ever written have never enjoyed commercial success. William Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience…’ for instance, sold only five copies during his lifetime.
A thinker has well said that it is a tragedy that in our age we study machinery not men. In old times people studied men, as a result they brought their art to much perfection, as we have done with our wonders in computer and electronics.
What I said in the previous article about the ‘writing and understanding short story’, and my belief that the art of writing is God-given, is very much true. It is not something that can be acquired. Even a labourer can be a writer. It is not the privilege of any particular class. Yet some happenings do help this otherwise hidden talent to come out. But, this all need to be understood in the context of A. Einstein’ s quotation, “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”.
Some researchers held the opinion that the short story emerged in the Kashmiri language in 1950 as a literary form distinct from the centuries, old folk tale, fable and parable. It has been accepting the influence of all the experiments in the technique of the shorter fiction. Nine hundred years ago a remarkable collection of stories called ‘Katha Sarit Sagara’, the ‘’Ocean of Stories”, was produced in Kashmir. Soma Deva, its author, is said to have included in this tome many stories which he had heard from others and which, in fact, had their origin in folk-literature.
Today, there is a long list of short story writers in Kashmir but I’ve the honour to be contemporary of Jenab Akhter Mohidin, Jenab Amin Kaamil, Hirday Koul Bharati, Hari Krishen Koul, Ratan Lal Shant, Bansi Nirdoush, Somenath Sadhu, Avtar Krishen Rehbar and other well known writers. They liked my writings; although I am younger in age to them.
I would like to end this piece with Joseph O’Connor’s views (a prominent writer) wherein he observes that a short story writer is a priest of art? A wounded soul who can’t understand the real world and thus feels a need to re-invent it? A moralist? A Spinner of yarns? An entertainer? A prophet? Probably all of these things. Possibly none.
He adds: The single fact I can be sure about is this: writers are watchers. The one and only thing they have in common is an ability to look at the everyday world and be knocked out by it. Stopped in their tracks. Startled. Gobsmacked.
Nazir Jahangir is a freelance writer and columnist.
