a tale of three cultures_aparajita tripathi

7/24/2019 A Tale of Three Cultures_Aparajita Tripathi

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A Tale of Three Cultures: All Exiled by Time

By: Aparajita Tripathi

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The only permanent thing about Time is its penchant for Change. Time that witnessesupheavals in generations also soothes the wounds of mental agony. As one moves on, one

tends to forget.

Perhaps, it is not always a good thing.

While most of us are caught in a maddening desire to get ahead of Time, there are others whohave been patiently enduring the winds of change in a bid to hold on to it. The more it passes,

the further away they will be from home.

In this battle of trying to sustain the relevance of memories against the eroding effect of Time,the latter is winning. For nothing erodes cultures as much as discontinuity does. Interfere with

the continuity in years, the uniformity of place, the cohabited geography and the homogeneityin demography, and you will end up with a distinct set of cultural systems.

With this recipe for cultural genocide as Dalai Lama once put it, two communities in Indiaare cooking away their cultural death. Ironically, one of them has come to us as a

shararnathi or a refugee group, theother is our home-grown castaway exiled in their ownland. Ironically again, while one state of India (J&K) is responsible for shunting awayKashmiri Pandits, the bordering state of Himachal Pradesh has welcomed Tibetanswithopen arms. Indeed, India is a country of diversity. Distinctive conscience within a matter ofsome miles.

Strategy Tibetans: Maintain Status Quo, Not Let Time Heal

India became a willing stakeholder in the Tibetan-Chinese conflict when it welcomed Dalai

Lama and 80,000 fellow exiles in 1950. For a country which had only recently gainedindependence, it was a mighty courageous move against the Mao-galvanized iron-fisted

Chinese, catapulting her into international media immediately. Nehru, a man of principles,left no stone unturned in offering them 27 settlements across India helping them retain theirTibetan identity. Over years as Tibetans have moved far and wide, the settlement in

McLeodganjhas become the central point of Tibetan administration, pivot for Free Tibetmovement and an exiled prototype of Tibetan culture. Without this, much of Tibet as known

to the older generation, is lost to the newer one.

The Free Tibet movement continues to gain international sympathy in its various forms

alongwith the almost universal love for Dalai Lama reflective in his admirers, sympathisersand Tibetophilia growing across the world. Almost at the same time, it is a perennial irritantin Chinas eyes which it keeps brushing off repeatedly only to find it resurfacingembarrassingly. Needless to say, its a thorn in India-China relations even as we assert ourbilateral exchanges while welcoming more exiles in our borders.

Tibetans have nothing else but hope. Their tryst against Time has been an inspiringstory. With no major money to fund their ventures, a deep-seated underlying belief in peaceful

negotiations which is both their USP and their curse, and little tangible support frominternational countries, they find their battle slowly fizzling out against the draconian Chinesewho are in no mood to relent.

The peaceful Buddhists, who have accepted the generosity of the same country that once gavethem their religion, are running out of ideas. Already, there is some dissent. And it comes from


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the young ones who have never seen their country, have been educated and brought up inIndia and yet are deeply entrenched in their Tibetan idea. They are young, do not have the

mountainous patience of Dalai Lama and are not willing to settle for autonomy.

Freedom is their war cry.

People like the young poet-warrior Tenzin Tsundue manage to send shivers of coldembarrassment down the expressionless faces of Chinese premiers especially when they visit

India. Despite police crackdown, he appeared out of nowhere in 2002 unfurling Free Tibetposters in front of Chinese PM Zhu Rongji, by climbing 22 floors of Taj in Mumbai. Herepeated these antics in IISC in 2005 against PM Wen Jiabao by hiding in the place for 2complete days prior to the event. In 2006, against Hu Jintao, his aides managed to setthemselves on fire each time gaining bad international press for the shamed premiers. After

witnessing such a magical spectacle, makes sense for them to be critical of the relatively softpolicing powers of India as compared to their native butchering ways!

And yet, the Tibetans are resolute even as Dalai Lamas peace overtures seem to get them

nowhere.Strategy Kashmiri Pandits: Accept the Present, Ride Time to Move on in Life

I cannot but help wonder if the Kashmiri Pandits do not secretly despise the nation for beinghypocritical about refugee-status. At one end is Indias generosity in handing over prime lands

and settlements to Tibetans so that they can preserve the sanctity of their culture, at other endis the complete shoddy treatment that has been meted out to her own citizens belonging to themajority religion of the country, of a caste considered elitistin India!

We think that Kashmiri Pandit migration began in the 1980s. Unfortunately, Time has anothertale to tell. Back in 1389, Sikandar Butshikhan has started the standard medieval history -which we otherwise glorify in our textbooks - custom of force population to convert or flee.

Much migration happened as early as that. Thanks to the relatively tolerant nature of Akbar,most of the Pandits happily thronged the valley engaging their time in writing religious texts.Then after the Mughal encroachment, Afghanis took over converting a large percentage of thePandits. Despite these barbaric interferences, the sect maintained its cultural prominence.

Years later, the tragedy of Ethnic Cleansingstarted by JLKF and Hizbul Mujahideenhasnot found its end-date yet. Authorities are divided on the number of people who had to flee

the Valley due to terrorist operations and yet it ranges between 100,000-350,000 . However,as a sterile nation watched this home-grown tragedy blow out into catastrophic proportions,it attributed it to terrorist fatwas.What one fails to narrate is the hand of some local Muslims

who played second fiddle to these militants. In the stories of Kashmiri Pandits, the personal

account is never brought to the surface. Neither seen are any media-hungry activists openlysupporting their cause a fact opposite in nature to the widespread sympathy for casesprevalent during Gujarat Riots. If at all the Pandits have got anything from the state-itsApathy.

Rahul Panditasextremely moving narrative of personally witnessed exile Our Moon HasBlood Clots can leave your blood cold. Despite the book having been written in a matter -of-fact manner, the gruesome misery brought by the fear of impending doom that haunted thePandits in the Valley shouts out at your conscience as you flip over pages.

It is my personal feeling as I read more on the subject that people do not leave their homelandunder any threat in such large number unless the danger appears to them in form of a

neighbour, an aunts son,or the local boy you hugged the other day. When the man one trustswith his or his loved ones life, turns away to expose the ugliest side of his bestial personality,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzin_Tsunduehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzin_Tsunduehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzin_Tsundue


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only then one believes that there is no point in staying back. Pick up any such account itsalways the closest whose Hyde-like turnover stabs the last ounce of your hope.

As Pandita writes, much of the new generation of the Pandits do not have linkages with theirmotherland, nor do they remember their rituals or cultural practices in great details. This is ageneration which remembers its roots once in a while when the subject is brought up or when

they look into their parents haunting eyes. A generation after that would have no memory ofanyKashmiriyatat all.

But despite the newly-found interest in Pandits return thanks to Modi government, most ofthe Pandits have settled in places around the country mingling with the rest of the populationtaking up jobs and in general moving on as if the exiled period was a bad break-up.

Can one successfully go back?

There is another community with whom the word persecution is attached naturally andwhich struggled for long to preserve the uniqueness of their identity fighting bitter anti-

Semitic sentiments all across the world. Their story stands in contrast to that of the Kashmiri

Pandits and the Tibetans for they have already finished their arduous struggle and have beenimmensely successful in establishing a homeland as they desired replete with tradition,culture and religious overtones right in the middle of hostile neighbours. Their story can verywell be called a Legend and I presume, would be narrated to every child growing up there. Itis for this reason that the next generation of Israeli children would not only be hugelynationalistic but also immensely proud of the survival spirit of their ancestors.

Their story showed the world that a returnis a theoretical and practical possibility.

However, while Tibetans and Jews had refused to trade the promise of a comfortable life inexchange for the Utopian hope of Return to homeland where they have the freedom topractise their culture, the Kashmiri Pandits have tried to make the best of the situation and

integrate with the rest of Indians.

In their battle, the eroding effect of Time is most dominant. The native impressions we learnas kids soon dilute into brief interjections sometimes leading to permanent erasure as wedisengage from our native place. Often, like an epiphany, some words from our subconscious

appear like a bright lightening in a thunderstorm only to be washed away in the next few hours.This is exactly what happens when discontinuity sets in. Traditions suffer from oblivion,

native dressing adopts the Western garb, languages suffer an extinctionpossibility, and recipes lose their distinct local flavour.

And that is what cultural erosion is all about.

This is how, in matters of years, a whole nation/state gets lost. First from officialdocuments, then from maps, and slowly from public memory.

The same world which roots for Palestinian cause today considers Tibet an unsolvable issuegiven Chinas ever-growing Might, Muscle, Money and of course, Meanness. Our own countrygoes into a major self-offending tantrum when issues like national language are brought up

because we like to believe that we are neither hypocrites nor partisan. Tamil Nadu weepsbitterly for the cause of Tamil brethren in Sri Lanka arm-twisting central governments intorupturing their extremely important long-standing political relationship with Sri Lanka. Yet,no collective outrage is felt for the stranded Pandits. Even the cause of Naxalism, which despiteoriginal justifiable reasons turned into Indias biggest blood-shedding problem, draws a lot of

sympathisers. Yet, no outrage for Pandits.


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While googling for Kashmiri Pandits, I came across three articles. One stated 23years on,Kashmiri Pandits remain Refugees. Another read:24 years nothing has changed. Another

began 25years after exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. Going through the texts , one would realisethat each exodus anniversary a new article would come up adding a lost year to a number n.Slowly and steadily, n would be so large that we would have lost the battle against Time making

the return a hypothetical idea.

Probably, its the character of the persecuted that makes for some telling observations.Palestinians are violent, gun-toting, havoc-causing even if itsfor a justifiable cause. So are theNaxals. Even the Israelis took over a land by force. Hence, their issues become a cause ofconcern, a serpentine conundrum worthy of international interest.

Kashmiri Pandits are so passivethat there is not even a collective candlelight vigil to

highlight their problems. They are already trying to assimilate themselves into new culturesthat their problem does not even look like a problem anymore. Tibetans are made of

sturdier spirit.Despite having no means at their disposal, they keep up the protest and theissue alive in the media, often by random acts of peaceful demonstration embarrassing the

Chinese who like to pretend that they cannot see the problem through their small, close-seteyes. His Holiness the Dalai Lama does not even make a public statement when the premiersvisit our country, inspiring generations of Tibetans to hold on steadfastly all peacefully, allpatiently.

Probably thats whythese communities find themselves without a voice or any internationalconsensus.

Alas, in their battle against Time, I fear that when the Day of Reckoning comes to eachof them, the Pandits will find themselves without a reason to go back. If the cultural

ties do not pull them there, what else do they have to look for? For life goes on even in thebackyards of other states where they have friends, families, work, money, and most

importantly, Safety. Probably, here is where the dominant faith of Tibetans and Jews hassucceeded. They kept the culture in-toto, not allowing assimilation, refusing to trade in theirstatus quo. It worked well for the Jews. I doubt if it will work in favour of the Tibetans as Time

marches on and they find themselves without a nation, a land, a cultural linkage, and worse;without an identity, travelling the world with India-stamped yellow cards.

For with passage of Time, discontinuity steps in which buries cultures. Already in China-occupied Tibet, Han Chinese have made their way into much of Tibetan landscape altering thedemography dynamically rendering Tibetans a minority population in their own land. The

same had happened in North Eastern states where Bangladeshi immigration had tilted thedemography in favour of Muslims rendering the tribes a minority leading to a perennial strife-

laden environment. In Kashmir, I wonder if Pandits will find anything on going back apartfrom some vestiges of their self-respect. The language, the Kashmiriyat, the big bungalows,the interaction, the feeling of home all is lost thanks to infiltrators and sustained

Islamization of the area.

The Uncanny Host

And in the middle of three stories similar in their thirst for return, different in strategy ofsurvival and varied in the amount of torture suffered, the one country that somehow uncannilyremains connected to all of them is India.

Besides the obvious association of Pandits and Tibetans to India, it is interesting to observethat the Jews who were persecuted all over the world had fled to India to escape oppressionelsewhere. Most of them had emigrated back to Israel (Aliyah) and now make up about 1% of
http://www.rediff.com/news/column/kashmiri-pandits-remain-refugees-in-their-own-nation/20120119.htmhttp://www.rediff.com/news/column/kashmiri-pandits-remain-refugees-in-their-own-nation/20120119.htmhttp://www.rediff.com/news/column/kashmiri-pandits-remain-refugees-in-their-own-nation/20120119.htmhttp://www.rediff.com/news/column/kashmiri-pandits-remain-refugees-in-their-own-nation/20120119.htmhttp://www.rediff.com/news/column/kashmiri-pandits-remain-refugees-in-their-own-nation/20120119.htmhttp://hinduexistence.org/2014/01/20/kashmir-pandit-hindus-exodus-day-24-years-on-nothing-has-changed-for-the-exile/http://hinduexistence.org/2014/01/20/kashmir-pandit-hindus-exodus-day-24-years-on-nothing-has-changed-for-the-exile/http://hinduexistence.org/2014/01/20/kashmir-pandit-hindus-exodus-day-24-years-on-nothing-has-changed-for-the-exile/http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/kashmiri-pandits-25-years-of-exile-no-hope-of-return-to-the-valley-475372http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/kashmiri-pandits-25-years-of-exile-no-hope-of-return-to-the-valley-475372http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/kashmiri-pandits-25-years-of-exile-no-hope-of-return-to-the-valley-475372http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/kashmiri-pandits-25-years-of-exile-no-hope-of-return-to-the-valley-475372http://hinduexistence.org/2014/01/20/kashmir-pandit-hindus-exodus-day-24-years-on-nothing-has-changed-for-the-exile/http://www.rediff.com/news/column/kashmiri-pandits-remain-refugees-in-their-own-nation/20120119.htmhttp://www.rediff.com/news/column/kashmiri-pandits-remain-refugees-in-their-own-nation/20120119.htm


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their population. In fact, like Hinduism, Judaism is described more as a way of life thana hard-core religion. The great philosopher Aristotle believed that Jews came from India.

This makes India the official and unofficial incenter of these three persecuted communitieswhich increases its burden while it interacts with the rest of the world differently polarised.Probably, now the two communities need to race against Time and with their genesis in India

compel the country and international arena to attend to their cause.

For what is not acquired by peace, some time in history gets snatched by force. If History is a teacher, let us not let ULFA, Naxals pass by without us learning anything. AsTenzin Tsunduehad told the journalist Akash Bannerjee, Till Dalai Lama is there, we cantthink of anything but peace. But after him, who knows suggesting that thedesperate Tibetansmight find violence as their last option.

And then they have the Jews to learn from. The once-persecuted group terrifies the spirits outof most countries of the world. Even as a collective force, the Arabs cannot unnerve theinspiring tenacity of the Israeli spirit. Yes, they battled Time to prevent their culture from

extinction even as they went about fleeing to different parts of the globe. Yes, they came backvictorious, deservedly so. But, then they also underwent the Holocaust.

Fortunately, that was the western world. Germany had to own up to its crimes againsthumanity and paid bitterly with its post-war conditions and a scarred conscience. Holocaustwas depicted in movies inspiring dissemination of literature. The Tibetans have no suchadvantage. The Govt-in-Exile at McLeodganj fights Chinese propaganda machine by itsold-

world, short-wave radio transmissionto natives in Tibet. Kashmiri Pandits have hardly anytangible collectible referenced work showing the horrors inflicted on them.

Its only a matter of Time.

The World Forgetting, By the World Forgot.
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a tale of three cultures_aparajita tripathi

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