Friends conversion: From recruitment to love

                                                                             ***
Come here beta Tabassum,
'Mom, I am busy'
'with whom beta?
It is my childhood friend 'Joseph'
Joseph? ''mom in a fit of rage"
Is it that psychotic one who changed his religion, thence changed his name from Javid to Joseph.
Tabassum, Ji mom, 'croon'
Mom, staring at Joseph, then Me, Me, then Joseph!
'From the anger of my mom, it looks like 'my friend, Joseph had helped Bin-Ladin in attacking 'The Twin Towers of World Trade Centre' and Me! as a chief planner.'
What are you discussing? she said.
Nothing special. Just recollecting our childhood memories. We both said.
Oh! that sucks. Mom nodded, smirked and come out of my room.

Sorry my dear Friend Joseph, Tabassum said. “My mom is a zealot.” I am joking. Haha

In the meantime, knock at the door, tuk tuk…

‘Hold on a second’, will see who is there?

OMG Usman! Can’t believe on my eyes. Is it you!

‘Come Inside, see, Javid here, sorry, Joseph here’

Handshakes, hugs …

‘Usman, my friend, much water has flown under the bridge’ giggle.  You look, still 18.’

Yes, Yes, Usman replied.

Before he could say more, Tahira entered. 

'Asalam u Alaikum, Tahira Aunty,' Usman said.

Before he answered the wish, Tahira softened her tune and said, 'Usman is pious, Jiger Mera. ‘Pressing his cheeks’. He is not like the one who changes religion for Angrez Koor. Stares Joseph


. 

Sit dear son, I will bring three cups of hot kahwah for you.

Tahira left. uff... Joseph takes a sigh of relief...

Usman to Joseph, why you got converted, Asshole...punches him...

close the door, I will tell you, said Joseph. Sigh.

Tell, Drama Bazz

Listen, I have already told Tabassum, He will tell you. Joseph shrugged.

No, said Usman. I want to listen to you.

Tahira from Kitchen, Tabassum, Tabassum beta. 

                                          Kahwah tayaar hai Aa ky lye javoo...

Ok mom, happily he goes to the kitchen. Their, mom gave a happy giggle. 'Tabassum, tell your Joseph, Tahira Aunty still loves you".

Kahwah is tasty, smacks his lips,  said Joseph.

Ya Yaa, Tahira Aunty tusi great hoo, yelled Usman.

'if you would not tell me the whole shit, I will f*,'  Usman to Joseph. 

Hey, Pious! don't abuse. Tahira Aunty just praised you. Joseph said.

hahaha laughed, Tabassum.

Tell him, why you got converted, Tabassum to Joseph

Just a second. 

As you know, I was born in a distantly rugged village "Al heaven"  in north Kashmir's Baramulla district at the time of the outbreak of militancy in Kashmir. My village had everything-lush green meadows, gushing waterways, simple houses but politically minded elders, kram/clan divided kids. 

Ahm Ahmm...clearing his throat...

                      He takes a large swig from the glass tumbler, close his eyes for a while.

Sigh! 

         wonderful was my village, my friends, neighbours. 

Our's too are. murmured Usman.

                                        Silence for a moment.

Albeit, Qazi Sahab and Mir sahab did not treat me well. Even they hate me. Once Mir Sahab called me "ill-omened Javid"

But why? said Usman.

Something was wrong in my birth, giggled, Ya, son of Qazi Sahab, who was reading with me, said me one day.

O! have you verified.  Then.

Ya, I said one day to my lovely mom about my birth, she responded with an angelic smile "My dear, you are a saviour for your Abba. In that very night, when I was facing the labour pain, the elder members of the village, influenced by Jamaties (Mir Sahab, Qazi etc), although illiterates, assembled inside the Mosque decided your Abbas and the other educated peoples future of crossing border via Gulmarg route, in order to become a trained militants. When all was settled inside Mosque, I heard the holy slogans 

                                   'Allah u Akbar, Allah u Akbar' Hum Kya chahtee, Azadii. 

                                             Azadi ka Matlab kya LAILAHA ILLAHA. 

                                                             Pakistan Zindabad 

And when you Abba returned from that very mosque, I was all lost, not because of the pain You gave me, My son. But by the decision of your Abba, as I heard all this from your Uncle, who was also present there. My son, You saved me, as well. You are a Saviour." 

 How is this related to your conversion? questioned Usman.

Have patience ...

                                                                        ***

Continue...

Preface of my recently published book "Kashmir 1586:Annexation Atrocities and Aspirations

Kashmir has been for centuries a place of attraction for all types of men. It has fascinated kings, conquerors, scholars, mystics and above all, men gifted with creative imagination. The unending varieties of its landscape, the magic of its natural scenery, the glistening glaciers and the rushing torrents are at once its strength and weakness, and the source of its triumph and tragedy. It has inspired alike marauders, who plundered it again and again, and poets and man of imagination who use all the ingenuity and sophistication at their command to describe its charm and prettiness. The people of such a blessed place had been victimised by the mighty rulers of adjoining regions by fair or foul means, since the dawn of Lidder Valley civilization. These rulers were alien and mostly from Central Asia or India. They ruled with the iron fist and subjugated the hapless masses to their whims. The immortal word of Kalhan, the illustrious historian of Kashmir, elaborates the crisis as “this land after having been virtuous women, has fallen like a prostitute into the arms of the insolent. Henceforth, whoever knows how to succeed by mere intrigue will aspire to that kingdom, whose power has gone”.

            Kashmir’s independence was challenged in the second decade of the eleventh century, by Mahmood of Ghazni. Although, he was unsuccessful because of the internal stability and well preparedness of the rulers who took much care to keep a strong hold upon the entrances and roads leading into it. It was, however, the Mughals of Central Asia who after suffering several reverses, annexed this ‘isolated mountainous bowl’ a sovereign country, by deceit and by their wily tricks, merged it with their larger Mughal Indian Empire, thenceforth the affairs were conducted from Delhi, Lahore or Agra. Thereafter, the political and economic aspirations of the masses were made subservient to the rulers of alien lands. What was worse, Kashmir was placed at the mercy of short-lived Governors and deputy-Governors, who lacked administrative experience, were mostly ignorant of local conditions, customs and traditions, as Walter Lawrence noted, they “looked upon Kashmir in the same light as that in which the Roman proconsuls regarded Africa”. They exploited their subjects and treated them inhumanely and utilized their services almost without remuneration and with force if necessary. They were squeezed by the illegal cesses, exorbitant taxes, and the unjust demands of the ‘rulers on spot’ who went beyond the procedures set by the Mughal Emperors. As the process of exploitation, by different means continued, the masses had to adjust their meagre means to satisfy their bare essentials of life. They were driven from pillar to post by the whimsical behaviour of the higher-ups. About the amount of atrocities Kashmiris have undergone over the ages, Tyndale Biscoe in his book, ‘Kashmir in Sunlight and Shade’ observes that, if the British had faced the same, they would have lost their manhood!

During the long Mughal era (1586-1753), people were killed without thought, oppression was indiscriminate and the sectarian clashes rampant. Many of the governors deliberately created a baffling religious climate that revived sectarian syndrome, resulted in inter-clan and inter-religious skirmishes; eventually, the so-called ‘terrestrial paradise' engulfed in Sunni-Shia insurgency in which considerable loss of life and property took place. This all created an idiosyncratic psycho-social trait of cowardliness and fear psychosis which within a period of time became the preponderant features of Kashmiri personality, which even today is not absent. Perhaps one of the reasons for the present upsurge is associated with this perceived loss of identity, which started in Mughal era.