Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani

CP, New Delhi
January 21,2008


"A Kashmiri Muslim is always suspected of being a terrorist”, bemoans a middle aged man with whitish complexion. This 35-year-old man alongwith his parents and brother, once lived in a huge house in Kashmir. Aijaz Ahmed Khan, is one those hundreds of thousands of people whose homes were burnt to ashes. From living in a plush 12-room house to living in a one room flat with five people, the transition has not been smooth. However, he had to come to Delhi to earn his livelihood. He came in 1992 and since then has been working as a guide. Although, he has been working in Delhi for the past 15 years, he is still looked down by the people as ‘someone who does not belong to India’. Being a Kashmiri is tough but being a Kashmiri Muslim is tougher. The police keeps harassing them and they are constantly stopped, checked and questioned. “We pay rs.1000/month to the police for just talking to the tourists and we are always threatened”, says Aijaz. However, life is still better here in Delhi than in Kashmir.There, the soldiers would torture them and force them to confess that they are terrorists. “I was hanged on bamboo stick and beaten. For 3 weeks I could not walk”, laments the distraught migrant. He alleges that the Indian government and the army have created more problems for them than the militants. Inside him, there is hatred not for the militants but for the ministers and the army. He feels that the ministers take away all the money and little is spent on the rehabilitation of those who lost their homes.However, despite the day-to-day hardships, he still says with a smile, “I love my motherland. Jahan main paida hua, main wahin rehna chahta hu…”

6 comments:

scintilla said...

Pls write ur experience...i'll be looking forward to that one. As for this...no comments!

DEVesh said...

End is gud!! though gets boring smwhr in between!!!

Apni bhaasha mein kaha jaye toh(nt agn...hehe)lekhika ne prastut gadyansh mein ek kashmiri nav yuwak ko hone waali pareshaaniyon ka sajeev chitran kiya hai...

gadyansh ka anth kaafi bhawuk hai jo nayak ki manodasha ka bayaan karta hai...

All in all, a gud write,,.gud flow...n especially d title.

Nikita Garia said...

@aditi: u mean 'daaat' experience!;) it vl take tym dear :P bt i din xpct 'no comment' on this 4m u :(

Nikita Garia said...

@devesh: thx..ill work on not makin it boring;)..actually couldnt put 2much emotions coz it was suppossed to be a report...n yeah i know u got d highest in hindi. now stop flaunting it!! :P i hafta read it lyk 3 times to understand wt u want to say;)jus kidding dear :) ..i lyk it

saket said...

i hope its not true and just a piece of literature...honestly speaking if its not true then i request u not to post such fictional incidents..it humiliates our army and if it is true then i will confess that its too bitter and i m feeling a little nauseated......!! neways...well written once again...

Nikita Garia said...

@saket: see, i cant assure you abt the veracity of this kashmiri guy's statement but this is NOT a piece of fiction.
Actually, its was part of a lil assignment where i had to go2CP n interview sm1 and i have just written what he told me.
But personally, i feel he's not lying coz such things do happen...