Literature in Exile

(Nostalgic outpouring)

By: Kanwal Krishan Lidhoo

Nissim Ezeikel had once said that the age of literature is dead. The statement must have been made in a vivid context, which is definitely pessimistic.  But little did Ezeikel know that  he will be proved wrong by a community who has the innate peculiarity to bounce back at any hit that gets punched on them. The contemporary definition of the term “Literature in Exile” may apply to those communities who suffer exodus en- mass on account of uprootment from their native place due to political, religious or other reasons. The opinion is still out and has not gathered due  attention of both the students and experts of literature, history, sociology and other disciplines the way it should have been.

The ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits makes an important case study even from the pedestrian point of view and may provide very important insights to the contemporary societies. This sub-genre in the world of literature has created a category of its own that is beginning to be understood and recognized. It may be predominantly full of wails and at times may justifiably appear to be dismissed as mob mentality or nostalgic imploring but it certainly does strike a chord. For the major part, it is an expression of pathos felt by an uprooted community, which claims to be the aborigines of Kashmir.

Its Place in Literature

No instruments of literary analysis can accord a place to it. It is unique and it already has garnered at least a modicum of justification to be accepted as such…… It is just “Literature in Exile”. Future, however, does  await its analysis. The way a miniscule population of Kashmiri Pandits which was already witness to the vicissitudes of history again got uprooted and was  thus concerned with the dire need to preserve its cultural and spiritual ethos and it is here that psychologically it got stuck in the  maze of nostalgia. The literature in exile is essentially nostalgic in expression. It is an entirely different matter that the contemporary realities have radically shifted at the place of their uprootment.  The minds of those who got caught in an alien culture and language environments coupled with the inability to accept fast paced and radical march of socio-political development in a country as diverse as India or elsewhere in the World could not relate to the changing realities, with the result a part of Kashmir remained frozen in their sub conscious, the one which refuses to go and finds vents  of release quite often.

Socio-Political Dimensions

Almost every month a book or two gets released or a musical or drama presentation is being staged in Jammu or Delhi or even in Mumbai and other cities by Kashmiri Pandits to press the need to deal with their existential questions and the language repertoire is also full. This expression has simultaneously  found release in Kashmiri, Urdu, Hindi, and English languages. This goes highly in favour of a community whose place and awareness about itself at this point in  history is being tested to the hilt. Even the academic as well as Cultural bodies and institutions have begun to accept this new genre, which will definitely have a significant contemporary and historical value. As already said it will provide very important insights for anthropologists, sociologists, historians and students of literature alike. Even though the critiques are of the opinion that major portions of this sub- genre are constituted by elements of Post Modernism, yet it has carved a niche for itself. The literary output is such that not a single name can be excluded. There is a voluminous list purporting to that. This is the portrayal of the human condition in a world where chances of its recurrence seem to grow.

The Potential to reflect the condition of Global Diaspora

As the new generation of Kashmiri Pandits are exploring the world without any primary belongingness to Kashmir, it has very little at the stake visa a Vis Kashmir. This group has already become a part of global culture and march but the need to get identified with their roots will always be there. This group’s own literary output and existential treatment of its condition   may primarily be centred around ambiguity and possibly confusion also. It can be prone to influences of all kinds proportionately in a much more radical way in comparison to other communities. This new generation of Kashmiri Pandits may redefine its traditions, a process it seems to have already set in motion. Similarly, another dimension to literature in exile can also be explored with  respect to  those Kashmiris who continued to stay put in Kashmir, which includes predominantly Muslims, Sikhs and left-over  Kashmiri Pandits. Their own treatment of the situation also calls for a detailed study.

Books in Exile

During the past over three decades, many books written by Kashmiri Pandit writers in exile have hit the stands. When Maharaj Krishan Bharat left Kashmir, he never knew that living in exile would turn him to literature to portray the grief and pathos and also his yearning to go back to his roots. Bharat has, by now, authored so many  books, including” Pheran Mein Chipayen Tiranga”, for which former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has written the foreword.

During the past 33 years, roughly around 500 books have been written by Kashmiri Pandit writers that depict either their longing to go back to their native land or cursing those bad moments when they had to leave their homes and hearths back in the valley.

Prior to the migration, there were very few writers amongst the community to add to the Kashmiri literature either through prose or poetry, but during the last over three decades, a number of promising writers have emerged, who mainly wrote the literature in exile.

The most noticeable feature has been that about a dozen female poets and writers have emerged during the period of exile. Prior to 1990, there were a few Pandit poetesses but now Sunita Raina Pandit, Bimla Raina, Girija Koul, Santosh Nadan, Bimla Aima, Dolly Tickoo Arrwal, Prabha Raina, Mohini Koul, Nancy Chetna  are some to name, who have already books, both in Nastaliq and Devnagri scripts, to their credit.

Former Head of Department of Hindi, Kashmir University, Dr Bhushan Lal Koul had written the foreword for most of these books. As is reflected in  these books, one can draw inference that most of the writers have touched the pain of migration in their poetry or prose.

Panun Kashmir leader and eminent poet, Dr Agnishekhar, has spoken his heart out in his book ``Mujh Se Cheen Li Gai Meri Nadi”. While Maharaj Krishan Santoshi has revealed pain and pathos in his book ``Yeh Samay Kavita Ka Nahin”, Arvind Gigoo has beautifully written “Ugly Kashmiri”.

Books written in Kashmiri by Arjan Dev Majboor, P N Shad, M L Kanwal,  Engineer Vinod Kumar and Brij Hali also hit the stands during 33 years of migration. Some of the books written by migrant Kashmiri writers could not find readers across the Jawahar Tunnel; the reason being that they were written only in the Devnagri script.,