The apt title ‘Hamare Ishwar ko tairna nahi aata’ literally meaning ‘our lord doesn’t know how to swim’ poignantly betrays the feeling of helplessness and subjugation to the ordained fate which the stories in the book talk about.directly or indirectly. Comprising of thirteen stories revolving around author’s constant yearning for Kashmir, it makes a thought provoking and emotionally charged reading.
Having read earlier hindi poems by Santoshi and finding them intense and extremely stimulating it was with a feeling of excitement and curiosity that we started reading this book of short stories.. Every writer has a personal style, concerns and issues which are close to his heart and these get betrayed in all his artistic and literary productions regardless of the medium, however possessing flair for writing both excellent poetry and prose is a rare quality primarily because both demand a completely different manner of expression. In case of Santoshi an accomplished poet it is the lost land of Kashmir which hovers over every poem, every story that he writes. Whether it is a poem ‘Vitasta ka teesra kinara’ or the stories ‘Ghar devta’, ‘Akanandun’ etc it is the feeling of loss that characterizes the writing. This loss is contrasted with the narratives about the initial trying years spent in Jammu,and facing problems like harsh weather, indifferent beaviour,uncertain future ghettoization and petty politics, all these toghether becoming points of torture for his soul…a soul which keeps wondering what went wrong…why did our deities forsake us..why did they play a mute spectator when we were thrown out of our houses..It is in short a silent cry of a sensitive but helpless author to whom words and appropriate phrases come naturally..
Use of metaphors to enhance the quality of writing and to emphasize a certain point is a common practice but to use an actual incident and see it as a metaphor or as a premonition for future days to come is an interesting approach used by the author in the story ‘Ladai’. The story is about two fighting bulls belonging to pandit and a muslim family respectively. The intolerance of the majority community and violent reaction to the winning of the bull belonging to a pandit is deeply significant of the pent up anger and hatred that was unleashed completely in 1990’s . The words “to win you have to make your bull stronger” said in jest by the author to his muslim friend actually became a reality and then as most of us witnessed there was no stopping the bull…. The pain of exile comes across strongly in stories like ‘Bicchu ghass’ and ‘Aayenge lautkar ham ae vatan’ which are more of personal memoirs of early days of exodus. Yet in these emotional outpourings and other stories he manages to raise extremely important questions regarding who has benefited from this large scale exodus Are KM’s any better off without KP’s around?…Can suffering be only on one side and other side go completely unaffected?….Is the price that KM’s have paid in terms of their life and honor worth what they have today?…questions .which have no one answer but which makes us think about the absurdity and futility of violence. ‘Kokh’, one such story about three muslim mothers who lost their sons in different manners to this madness is heart wrenching and problematizes the whole issue of aazadi.
What is noteworthy is that the stories narrated are not lopsided. They give a fair view of the situation.They do talk about timidness of Kashmiri Pandits, pain of muslim mothers who lost their sons to mindless jihad, and muslims who felt things weren’t right but could not speak out for the fear of the gun. Repeatedly he stresses on his friendship with Kashmiri muslims but also talks about the mistrust and hatred they harbor as a group…his intense words to a KM friend ‘ bheed me tum vahshi ho jaate ho” expresses it all.It hints at the common culture of friendship, brotherhood and camaraderie, a great binding force till religion and faith does them part. ‘Apharan’ is one such story where these ironical feelings find a complete expression.
In Santoshi’s hands all these different issues connected with a common thread ,are deftly woven into sensitive stories to which anyone can react. Nowhere the writing is contrived or affected. It just flows like a steady river gaining weight and meaning as it proceedes and by the end it leaves your eyes tearful and yet there lingers a smile on your lips. Not only did these stories left me and my husband mesmerized but were read and enjoyed by my mother in law as well as my maid, a young girl from Orissa. We even read few of the stories to our four year old daughter who listens to everything about Kashmir with rapt attention and awe as if listening to a fairy tale.This is the magic of simple lucid yet forceful and emphatic writing which crosses the barriers of age, region and religion, touching hearts and stimulating the readers mind.
Book Details:
Hamare Ishwar ko tairna nahi aata
Maharaj Krishan Santoshi
Published by Unistar Books Pvt.Ltd.S.C.O 26-27,Sector 34 A, Chandigarh- 160022, India
Price Rs 150/-
Number of pages 92
ISBN 81-7142-939-4
