On 12 March of this year, I got a telephonic call from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as Johnny William. He said he is an IPS ( Indian Police Service ) officer, a retired IGP ( Inspector General of Police ). He enquired if I would be available for an exclusive gathering in Jammu, on 15 March.
He informed me that he is organising an informal interaction, titled Celebrating Jammu, with select intellectuals ( writers, poets, painters, actors, bureaucrats, teachers, artists etcetera ) on 15 March, at Vintage Scottish Hall, Residency Road, Jammu. He would have appreciated my presence in this meeting that was being held under the aegis of Thinkers’ Club, he said. I was in Mumbai, I told him. Had I been in Jammu, I would have loved to join them, I added.
Instinctively, I recalled and mentioned Father William, the well known priest of our college times. He said he is Father William’s son ! Immediately, I remembered Johnny, the energetic and lanky fellow and his sister Usha, both my contemporaries, somewhat juniors in age. Their brother Leny, I recalled, had a somewhat mysterious demise.
I also remembered that in those days I dabbled in journalism and wrote regularly for national magazines like Femina, Youth Times, Thought, the Hindi magazine Sarika and others, in addition to the local Jammu based newspapers.
If I remember correctly, sometime in 1974, Femina asked me to write what the budding and brilliant Jammu girls thought of the current social scenarios. One of the girls I selected was Usha William.
Those days, co-education was non-existent beyond the school levels, in Jammu. Young girls and boys had literally no platform to meet and interact freely. My best bet to meet Usha was through her father who I knew well. Nobody had even thought of the mobile phone in that era. The landline phones too were in use only by a select few. I rang up Father William who asked me to have tea at his residence where I could speak with Usha. Femina carried my piece on Usha with a good display.
Johnny told me Usha is married now and lives in Kolkata. She is a practising counselor and a well known graphologist (one who infers character from your handwriting). She calls herself Usha William Banerjee.
Thinkers’ Club appears to be an interesting and inviting name. It sounds impressive and encouraging too, though I have not heard of any further interaction being organised. I have been in the city for over two months now.
This takes me back to the good old times of Jammu. I had heard from my father about the days when Jammu intelligentsia was animated, aware and responsive. Those days, Dogras formed the bulk of the population of Jammu city. The local newspapers and periodicals were mostly in Urdu or Hindi. The medium of instruction was either Urdu, English or Hindi ; not Dogri, mind you.
The Prince of Wales College, the alma mater of my father, was the premier educational institution of Jammu. It published a monthly magazine which had English, Hindi and Urdu sections, but, again, no Dogri section.
The college had an English Readers’ Forum, an Urdu Bazm and a Hindi Parishad. Periodical meetings were held by these societies where the professors and students read papers on literary subjects. There were no Dogri literary bodies in the city or the college.
In the good old city, there was a club known as the Prince of Wales College City Club. Lectures on subjects of literary, philosophical, historical, linguistic and scientific interests were periodically held by the Club. The venue for such interactions used to be the Ranbir High School hall.
Let us have a rundown about the kind of participants and speakers at this club. K.G. Saiyidain, the then State Director of Education and later Education Secretary, Government of India, would deliver a lecture on the educational philosophy of the Urdu poet Iqbal. Padma Bhushan recipient Dr. Siddeshwar Varma would enlighten the gathering with a talk on his linguistic hunt in the Himalayas.
The Hindi writer Shanti Priya Dwivedi could speak on some aspects of Hindi literature whilst Professsor Jayalal Kaul regaled his audience, with the love lyrics of Kashmir, in his inimitable style. Or, at other times, a senior state government officer may read a paper on the philosophy of Shakespeare’s plays. What a variety of meaningful subjects !
There was also a Hindi Parishad in the city. A number of teachers, students and citizens were its members. There were also literary groups of those interested in Urdu and Punjabi literatures. But, right up to 1944, there was no Dogri literary body in Jammu.
In this milieu of literary format, blossomed the generation called the midnight’s children. We, the post-partition generations, mirthfully followed the ones who were erudite and invested rich in the social makeup and intellectual upliftment.
Our predecessors, though born in an occupied country, were provided with a sound and firm foundation on which they could grow their intellectual firmament. They looked forward to a gainful and satisfying future. On the other hand, we were born in a free country that was in the process of finding her roots and write her own future. Everything for us was in fluid and transitory state as turmoil prevaled all around.
Friends, under these premises, as we look back, it clearly appears that the pre-partition era was the time of real intellectual and literary glory for Jammu and the Jammuites.
After the partition, when there was considerable growth in political and economic fields in Jammu and Kashmir, I think, there has been a slow and steady decline in the literary and intellectual activities in the state, especially in Jammu.
One of the reasons could be a morbid attention paid to the economic growth of the self. Over the years, money started ruling supreme in the society and became the sole scale to measure one’s worth. Ethics were ignored and morality perished.
Thanks to the ever growing greed for power and money in political field, there has always been a sense of indicisiveness, instability and ever-shifting positioning in the civil society. Regretfully, we forgot that, in the final analysis, it is arts, literature and aesthetics that add value to life ; like nothing else.
The society at large, and, especially, the youth, paid a devoted attention to career progression. Literature and the arts took a back seat. There were huge queues for admission to the science streams, which attracted the best talent. There were hardly any students to fill the vacancies in the arts streams, which were invariably their second or third preferences. Similar scenario was replicated in other parts of the country, too.
The arts occupied a back seat. I recall Jammu had some real good female singers. Barring two, the other good female voices of the Dograland stopped singing after they were married. For them, music remained a hobby for the rest of their married lives. Such has been our social milieu and the so called progressive thinking of the society at large.
Leave alone Jammu and Kashmir, there are rare career litterateur in our country. As far as Jammu is concerned, there are a few literary societies for Dogri, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu that I personally know of. Two of these literary bodies were established in the 1940s and are nearly 80 years old. But, I am told that neither of them can boast of a membership of even 50 ! The rest of them fare much worse. Lest you forget, today, Jammu boasts of a population of more than 70 lakhs,
As I probed into the causes of this disinterest in literature, free thinking, and intelligent discourse, I learn one of the literary bodies, strangely, does not want more members. Why ? Because, new members might invade the citadel of the current office bearers. So, why take a risk ?These self serving geniuses do not wish to vacate the seats they have been occupying for decades. The other literary organisation does not have enough members to fill in the positions of even the managing committee !
During the past about nine months’ time that I have spent in the city, not even one lecture, discourse or free thinking interaction of writers, artists, singers, painters, sculptors, dancers, musicians or poets has been held in the city, which boasts of a Thinkers’ Club, a State sponsored academy for art, culture and languages and a number of literary bodies registered for government funding. Mind you, Jammu today houses one Padma awardee for every 10 lakhs population, along with the richest crop of Sahitya Akademi awardees for a population of seven millions.
I know Johnny William and also know that he has a vision for Jammu. Besides, he is sincere and enthusiastic ; resourceful and honest. He is my fellow comrade-in-arms, too. I am confident he will honour my wish to continue his efforts to give more strength to his branchild, the Thinkers’ Club.
How I wish that the Thinkers’ Club holds regular and periodical gatherings with definite literary, intellectual or civic agenda, whereafter a summary of the interaction can be put out on the internet and also sent to the select crust of the society, through email and WhatsApp.
The gist of the interaction may also be shared to the Lieutenant Governor, the vice chancellors, and the heads of the educational institutes and the various administrative heads of the state, the bureaucrats. Similar activities can be undertaken at the level of the university of Jammu. I am confident that Professor Umesh Rai, the proactive vice chancellor of Jammu University will not shy away from this social responsibility.
Let us make the city vibrant, pregnant with progressive thoughts. Let us join hands to make our politicians and administrators responsible and accountable ; we owe it to ourselves as honorable citizens. Let us force our fellow citizens to be law abiding, incorruptible, upright and responsive to the social issues. A beginning has to be made. Let the charity begin at home !
I hereby beseech my fellow Jammuites, professionals, businessmen, academicians, students, artists and the youth to support him wholeheartedly. Those interested to join may please share their details on jammuthinkers@gmail.com
Lot many things need to be done to recharge the creative batteries of the martial race called Dogras ; the faster, the better. Let us put on our thinking caps, guys !
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