COLONEL VINOD SINGH NEGI
With the onset of the ‘Yatra’ season, the newspapers in the Valley are full of coverage of this annual pilgrimage . The new records to be created in terms of number, weather predictions, visit of Governor, preparations by SASB, heavy rush, death of pilgrims, size of the lingam and altercation between ponywallahs and security forces hogged the headlines.
Not one of the religious kinds, but definitely believing in ‘jindagi na milegee dobara’ and ‘thousand things to see/do before I die’ and moreover serving in close proximity to the ‘yatra route’ made me take the ‘plunge’ recently.
As you head for the Yatra route the security arrangements enroute as also ‘Yatra’ shivirs impress you. Reach Baltal by evening and you come across the festive fervour. Well lit and decorated ‘langars’ with loudspeakers blaring bhajans greet you. The lost and found announcements also add to the festivities and are abuzz with guddu from delhi looking for pappu. But what amazes you is the sea of humanity. Men, women, children, old, physically challenged, porters, ponywallahs of various hues and colours mixing around heading for a single cause ie ‘the yatra’. Privileged like us moving around in a AC veh while you pass by men, women in saris ( a rare sight in Kashmir) and children with baggage on their heads looking for a resting place before its dark. Rich, poor all are here and a single thing which draws them together to this place is ‘faith’. I am sure GOD will bless those who ‘rough it out’ in trains, buses, mini buses, temporary tents etc and not all arranged for VIPs like us.
In Kashmir where everything gets linked to religion, or vested interest seek refuge of religion to justify their acts it is fascinating to find the ‘Yatra’ as a symbol of immense communal harmony. If on given day there are 25,000 Hindu, Sikh & other yatries doing ‘darshan’, there are at least 10 to 15 thousand Muslim porters, ponywallahs or shopkeepers facilitating their cause. I think there are no Hindu, Muslim or Sikhs here only HUMAN BEINGS and a display of HUMANITY. The same gets reflected in the familiar sight of Hindu child clinging on the shoulders of a ‘muslim pithu’, an old ‘Yatri’ in Sari on a ‘Palki’ lifted by four muslim brothers and yatries on ponies lead by khan dress wearing, bearded muslims with chiseled bodies and uncombed hairs from Kangan, Ganderbal, Srinagar or Poonch- Rajouri. The treachrous route to the holy cave is abuzz with Yatris chanting ‘Jai Bole’ and our muslim brothers join the chorus while simultaneously advising pedestrians trains to stick to the hill end and not move on the valley end lest they fall down. Enroute you also find Javed Tea Stall with photographs of bholenath on the hoarding of his shop.
Reach below the holy cave and there is a full fledged market run by muslims selling ‘Puja Samagari’ & other stuff. You pass through and they call out ‘Bhole Puja ka saman le lo, nahane ka Garam pani free, Saman rakhna free’. Ah ! good GOD isn’t this a real show of communal harmony, with watery eyes I walk upto the cave, and pray to ‘Bholenath’ to shower his choicest blessings on these muslim brothers who make it happen us all ‘Yatries’.
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