Construction Of My Reality

We develop our personal beliefs about reality based on how we interpret the world around us according to our observations and experiences. All of us have incredible dreams in our life. As children there are no limits to our imagination. We want to become a doctor, engineer, professor, pilot etc. Then something strange happens, when we get a little older, dreams don’t seem to be so important and true.

When I look around today, I saw 'my reality' constructed by different things which include my family, religion, society, childhood, school and college mates etc.  It is obvious when we get little older, we get the influence of family because our basic learning starts from many informal situations that occur daily in the life of family such as getting dressed, talking over the day’s happenings, dealing with problems, interacting with people outside the family, and so forth.

From my childhood I had been strongly influenced by family members and religion. They strained me to offer daily five times prayers, reciting the holy Quran and insisted to obey and follow the other fundamentals of religious duties.  As we learn and grow, many of our former beliefs will no longer serve us and are no longer relevant.

Similarly, when I was in school, I used to spend most of my time in school playing and fighting with my friends. Most of the times I lived in other friends' home’s, this also influenced in construction of my reality. After passing my 9^th class exam, I was sent to Srinagar for study winter tuitions. I joined a coaching centre and got opportunity to interact with different teachers and students. I realized a big difference in education system there. I learned new ways of thinking, reading, learning and studying skills there. To pass the matriculation exams was a big bother during that time; I passed my matriculation exams with 50 percent marks. My parent’s aim about me was to become a doctor or engineer because their opinion was different. After my matriculation I joined higher secondary school with arts stream and passed 12^th class, it displeased them. But I know facts and my weakness because science education was not taught excellently in our school as teachers were not available. All of my relatives abhorred me, but I did not care.  It also influenced constructing of my reality.  

Living in a conservative society, listening to radio and watching television was a kind of “to cry for moon in the sky” for me. After my 12^th class I decided to go to Jammu for further studies, but my parents did not allow me due to religious and other reasons and asked me to join college in Srinagar.

We all have our own ideas, concepts and beliefs. Many of our beliefs were established in childhood and are left over from situations and circumstances. Similarly, things started to change as I joined college, now a new world seemed to appear before me. It was my last year in college during the year 2008-10 ‘unrest’ situation in Kashmir; I met a person named ‘Tanveer’. He was a very kind religious person.

 Due to the strike I used to stay in his house on rent. I was really impressed with him because he was my age. I used to listen to Hindi songs on radio before, but after meeting with him I would avoid music and other mundane things. I started to read Islamic books, literature, watching Islamic lectures and films accompanying with him.

Admission in the central university of Kashmir and joining journalism course opened a new door for me. Mass media effect on me was very less before. It again changed the construction of my reality. My idea was confined to textbooks only, now I read different books, novels, different newspapers and magazines of the world. So, it also develops my interest towards world history and politics.  Reading books like ‘Curfewed Night’ gave a glimpse of knowledge about Kashmir conflicts and another book ‘Listening To Grass Hopper’ increased my knowledge about demolition of Babri Masjid and Gujarat riots etc. All these phenomena changed my ideas, perception and experience.

                    ABDUL HUSSAIN MUNTAZREE

                      at Srinagar 13 August 2013

 

 

Historical Background of Kargil Ladakh

Ladakh it is bounded on the north & east by China, in the northwest by Gilgit & Skardu now occupied by Pakistan, in the western side Bara mullah, Srinagar & Annantnag district of Kashmir valley, while the state of Himachal Pradesh touches its borders.

Kargil is a small town located on the bank of Suru River. Its name is famous in the world by Kargil war 1999. ‘Actually, it was a big lake of ocean once. The lake once went all the way up to Lama Yuru and Khalsi. It was formed when a large boulder fell into the river Indus at Kachora in Baltistan. To this day there is alluvial soil on both sides of the Indus. This is said to be proof that a lake once existed there.’ This writes Parwez Diwan in his book ‘A History of Ladakh, Gilgit, and Baltistan’. He also writes that People began to settle in Kargil area after the water of the lake got drained off. The first settlers were the Dards and Indo Aryan, people from central Asia, who came through Gilgit. The Tibetans might have come even before, but they were nomads and were late in setting down. The Mons was the third group of settlers.

Area

About the area Prem Singh Jina writes in his book, ‘Ladakh: The land and the people’ that Ladakh had 95,876 square kilometers area before Independence and was divided in Leh, Kargil and Skardu Tehsil. After 1947, it lost Skardu and some of its parts in the east in Pakistan and Chinese aggression respectively.

It has now only 58321 square kilometers and is divided in two districts of Leh and Kargil. Leh has 39400 hectares and rest of the area comes under Kargil.

Agriculture

The land of Kargil is too fertile, people grow Apricots, Apples, Grapes and Cherry. Potato, cabbage, onion, cauliflower, turnip, beans are the main vegetables. Barely, wheat, peas and maize are the main crops.

Culture

The district Kargil was once known as Purig. The region called 'Purig' included the area around Kargil town, the Suru Valley, Shakar Chiktan, Pashkyum, Bodh Kharbu and Mulbekh.

Parwez Dewan writes in his book that there are four theories about the name Purig itself. One is that it is a contraction of the Tibetan phrase ‘pot reeks’ which means ‘of Tibetan stocks. In that case, the name probably dates to the era when a Tibetans dynasty first established a govt. in most of Purig. The people of Purig are known as Purigpa. They speak a language that is closer to Tibetan than as the language of Leh district.

Purki is the daily use language of this region. The mother of this language is Tibetan, but later on it has been influenced by many other languages. Beside this Balti and Sheena language is also speak in many parts of district Kargil.

Dress

Guncha: a long woolen gown is a cultural dress of this region. The people prepare it at their local hand looms and use local breed sheep wool. Pabu, Kratpa are local foot wears made from domestic animal’s skin.

With the influence of modern culture now people prefer to use feather jacket, Coat paint, jeans and cotton clothes.

Transport

The people in this snow land were used to these animals like Horses, donkey, dzo (zo) and yak for carrying loads. However, on difficult passes local people carried loads on their back.

Now with a growth in development almost every village is connected by roads to its main districts. People use light vehicles like Tata mobiles in remote places and heavy vehicles like tipper, Truck in plain areas to carry loads.

Communication

Post system is avail in district Kargil. And there was only one telecommunication network i.e BSNL. Now Airtel network has also made its stand in district Kargil.

Festivals

In spite of its extreme weather condition and inadequate means of communication Ladakh has been a land of festivals and crowded fairs. Most of the festivals no doubt revolves round the religion theme.

Eid Nauroz, Eid ul Fitr, Eid Qurban and Eid Barat are celebrated every year with great zeal by the Muslim. This celebration begins with the extensive illumination of houses. The graveyards streets and main bazaar are thronged by small children’s and sweets are distributed among them.

Similarly, Losar ‘the new year day’ is the most well-known festival of the Buddhists’. The New Year celebration begins in the tenth month of the Buddhist calendar which fell sometime in December.

There are many other festivals which are celebrated by the people of Kargil like Harvesting festival, Archery festival etc.

                         Abdul Hussain Muntazree     (2014-15)                   

This write up is based on the books written

 by  P.S.Jina, Parvez Dewan and M. Amin Pandit

Asalamualykum
Humble and cordial request to all the people of sankoo valley please act and follw  the advise and instructions forwarded by the district authority and health department.
Please take care of your health and do care of others also
 Spent maximum time at your respective home and please donot gather at public places, masjid, play grounds and other gathering places like archery play.
Advice your respected small and young ones to stay at home and say no for outdoor games and gatherings.
one message to all youth members please avoid hanging out with friends on any time. It is time to be obedient with all that will definetly bring cherish and prosperity in coming days.
Thanks you all
stay healthy stay safe
20-03-2020

LET US SWEEP THE EVILS

An experience after the top 10 interview

Is it necessary or mandatory to speak in English?

Earlier the top 10 interview I have faced two more interviews. My first interview was in Central university of Kashmir (CUK) and another interview was in Maulana Azad Urdu University (MANUU) Hyderabad.
By the grace of Almighty I got success in these two interviews. After the written test I also qualified personal interview in CUK and I got admission for post graduate course in Convergent Journalism (2011). In February 2015 I got selection for Civil Service Exam Coaching after qualifying written exam and interview in MANUU Hyderabad, but due to ill health I have to come back from there.
Similarly this time it was my debut interview in our own district Kargil and debut interview with the administrators of Kargil. My interview begins by a question posed by respected SP Kargil asking my good name and about my educational carrier.
Replying these questions to the interview panel which was comprised of four members, they came to know about me and my educational background.
Next question they asked me was about the optional subjects that need to choose for civil service exam, and my optional subjects were political science and Urdu.
Later many queries were posed me by these four panel members, many questions were like:
Role of ethics in media
‘Media regulators’
Role of social media, advantages and disadvantages of social media
Can media controlled or not?
All these questions and many other related queries were asked me by SP Kargil.
Further many questions like:
Role of print media
Significance of Urdu journalism
‘Digital divide media’
Asked me by Mr jaffar sir, Asst. professor sociology
More over some media related questions like:
What is entertainment media?
Scope of advertising and elements used for advertising
And few more questions are asked me by Ishtiyaq sir (KPS)
One more question about ‘yellow journalism’ asked me by the fourth panel members.
Few questions were asked from Indian polity, political thought and theory, international relation and questions were also asked about international border disputes. Few controversial articles like 32, 370 and 312 also heard from me.
In beginning answering these questions in English I also used Urdu language so I can reply comfortably, but the interview panel instructed me to reply in English saying that ‘you have to write exam in English, so you must speak in English’.
This ignited many questions in my mind, for a while I lost in thought. Simultaneously many questions are posed me by the interview panel members. I hold on Urdu language…. feeling disturbed….
Living in our own state where Urdu is the official language of our state why we can’t use Urdu language in interviews? Is it necessary or mandatory to speak in English for a civil service exam interview or an interview for any other service?
Of course if we have to face similar interview outside from our district or state we can’t compromise or raise an eye brow on this issue because English language is used as a bridge language to communicate with each other’s in others states of India.
In our state why we can’t use our official language i.e. Urdu or why we can’t use our mother tongue?
As in our Indian constitution article 29 which deals with the cultural rights which is also a fundamental right. So article 29(a) declare that ‘any section of the citizen residing in the territory of India having distinct languages, script, culture shall have the right to conserve the same’.
More over the eighth schedule of our constitution which deals with the list of 22 languages of India recognized by the constitution also didn’t include English as Indian language.
English is the language spoken in Great Britain, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia and many other countries. Its usage in India is a great impact of colonial rule.
As we know that India is a big country which comprised of multi culture and multi lingual spoken peoples. So abiding our own constitution in which article 29 deals with cultural right and also a fundamental right instruct for the promotion and conservation of our language and script, we have to preserve it but in this modern era we are doing the reciprocal of this fundamental right. Instead of
preserving our own culture and languages we are emphasizing on the utility of colonial languages. The utility of English language is spreading like a wild fire and it has a great dominance over other language, which shows that we have failed to preserve our own culture, language and script. Otherwise today we did not need to combat this lingual challenges. Which has become a great factor of discourage to us in matters like interviews, debate and discussions, otherwise that language has no any importance as per our constitutions.
At last for me the top 10 interview was like an academic interview because maximum questions were asked me from the media subjects and its background. And in civil service exam no subjects from media studies could be choose for an optional subject in civil service exam.
Abdul Hussain Muntazree
Chumikchan Sankoo Kargil
9469190765

How long we have to suffer

Histories, literatures and media are some of the reliable source that we can refer as witness or reference through which the people of Ladakh has highlighted their long pending issues before central government of India or its own state government.

In spite of incessant demanding and addressing their grievances from the Indian government the Ladakhi’s are still suffering a lot due to un-fulfilment of their same pre requisite demands for its development. More than 60 years passed on for India’s independence and many political parties ruled on this land but not a single party make such effort to resolve the immediate needs and developmental issues of Ladakh with strong firm and concrete vision.

That is why Ladakh is still far away from developmental scenario. As the issue of zojila tunnel is as white as snow. Zojila; which is the only pass that connect Ladakh with the outside world and this national highway passing through difficult hill terrain is vulnerable to snow blizzard and accidents. Due to deep pitches, potholes, side erosion developed on this road, the commuters face a lot of problems in negotiating the blind and treacherous curves.

As par every winter this long highway remain blocked for more than 4 or 5 months to traffic route. On the other hand Airport construction in kargil is another persistent demand of Ladakhi’s. Due to the absence of transport facility especially in winter months peoples have to suffer a lot.

AN32 courier or IL lift is just like a lottery system. More than of its fare or its double will have to spend for a single passenger to reach their destination. Absence of proper maintenance and air schedules, peoples have to combat a lot in winter season.

Not only this, the air fare of civil planes for Leh is also like a draining wealth system which is totally an unaffordable amount for a common man to travel. Beside these there are many other demands which are addressed by our Ladakhi leaders before its respective state government. So the state government is also failed to take a serious step to solve these issues.

If not whom we can blame for the un-fulfilment of our demands? Our own leaders, our state government or the government of India. After every election of five years new leaders come in fray and form government. Still we Ladakhi’s are combating for the same demands which are long pending from 1950s.

Recently during the short duration of governor rule imposed in Jammu and Kashmir, many delegation from Ladakh personally meet with the governor. More than thrice delegation from Ladakh called governor addressing their issues and demands.

Now how much long we have to wait, so that our demands will get resolve and we can get rid of from these fed up issues. If elsewhere in the world far more complicated terrains can be connected or developed well, why this injustice is with Ladakh? As Pir Panjal is Indian longest transportation railway tunnel connecting Kashmir from outside world. So why Zojila tunnel work is delayed?

We hope this new government will fight for these problems on state level as well on central level. So we can enjoy a happy and prosperous life with a ‘mantra service’ in Ladakh.

ABDUL HUSSAIN MUNTAZREE

R/o Chumikchan Sankoo Kargil

DELHI IS NOT LADAKH

Ladakh is my home land: it is the place where I born. It is the place from where I got my primary education as well as the moral education. It is the place where I spent my child hood as well as adult hood.  I am proud to say that while I was born in Ladakh, I can speak my mother tongue, Purki. I am also well acquainted with our culture, tradition and customs.

 My loving parents educated me and the credit also goes to my respected teachers. My parents admitted me in a private school from where I completed my eighth standard, and after that I gained admission in a Government Higher Secondary School. For further studies I was sent to Srinagar, and I completed my graduation as well as my post graduation in Kashmir.

After completion of my post graduate studies I got an opportunity to visit our national capital i.e. New Delhi. There I met with some new friends from Ladakh and Kashmir. So it proved for me with a new kind of exposure and experience. After discussing and spending days with them I observed several things that I want to put in black and white.

 With due humility and reverence I want to set out some queries before Ladakhi parents, who send their loving sons and daughters outside their mother land, Ladakh, at very young age.

I hope that parents always ask their wards about their studies and education and, of course, it should be their prior question because parents spend a lot of their earnings purely for the education of their children. But, dear parents, do you ask also…

Do they eat food daily on time? What food do they eat?

Do they take Namkeen tea with baked oven bread as we do in Ladakh daily in the morning?

Do they drink cool and fresh water like we are blessed to have available in Ladakh?

How do they manage to live in a suffocating room in congested streets, where as in Ladakh we live with nature?

How much do they need to pay for one kilo of vegetables that in our home we have our own vegetable garden?

How much do they need to pay for one kilo of rice that in our home land we get it subsidized rates from govt. ration store?

In what temperature are they living compared with the cool and even weather we have in Ladakh?

So Delhi is not Ladakh where we get all those blessed facilities. If one bears all those struggles, it is because they have a hope that tomorrow they can serve their respected parents. They aspire to contribute to their society; they have to prove themselves a source of pride for their parents, society and nation.

Then I want to pose few questions to our respected leaders: the chair holders and to those who declare themselves the voice of the voiceless. Dear respected leaders…

Have you ever thought that our nation builders are away from their birth place?

Have you ever thought about those who had left their parents, home, and society purely and simply for their education?

And do you people give any thought to those degree holders who are now wandering here and there after completion of their degrees?

Dear respected leaders have you ever thought about the facts that we, the young Ladakhi’s leave everything, even having our loved ones near us, solely to obtain education from the outside world, spending many years doing so? 

 And God forbid that someone coming back home from the outside world has to face the dismal fact that their respected soul ‘parent’ has departed from this materialistic world. Or, in a similar way one has to shed their pearl tears when they experience that a loving ‘brother or sister’ has left this world. Or also that one did not get a chance to see the face of their loving grand mom, grandfather or their kith and kin during their last funeral rites.

As the children are sent outside Ladakh at very young age, our Ladakhi culture is subjugated by other cultures, trends and norms. In today’s era we hardly witness the use of our mother tongue such as Purki, Balti, Sheena, Bhoti etc by our young people.

Our traditional attire Goncha, Sulma, Papu or Kapsha has now become an item in literature. Not only that but also our traditional dishes: Thookpa, Paba, Marzan, Khulaq, Chaqa (curd) Mar (ghee) are rarely tasted by our youngsters due to the influence of modern culture. So collectively we have to save our culture which is our identity before we lose it.

With this write up I want to give a message to our legislatures, chair holders and guardians of our LAHDC Kargil and LAHDC Leh, that our youths are busy with their studies outside from our districts. They were burning candles at night to study and are living a life of hardship and struggle.

So you are the peoples that have to take care of them and to think for their future and most importantly, the future of Ladakh. The children need facilities in Ladakh so that they don’t need to leave their mother land for the sake of education at a very young age. The one’s who return home after completing their studies needs opportunities to show their talents and to work for the future of Ladakh. Now it is time to take a positive step before our youth become prey to unemployment. 

 Author:  Abdul Hussain Muntazree R/o Chumikchan Sankoo Kargil

published in Heritage Himaliyan Magzine