Arshid Malik
There are some things about Kashmir and Kashmiri people that I have never been able to comprehend. For instance, I have noted all along, Kashmiri people are generally never into work, which is to mean that we usually shrink away from it. Workaholics are a rare species in our region. And as soon as you cross the Jawahar Tunnel or fly out things take on a different shade; there is something in the air that drives you ahead, pushes you to your limits.
I have been putting up outside the Valley for the past six or seven months and the comparisons in terms of human work potential stare you in the face. Jammu, for instance, which sits pocketed in close proximity to Kashmir, has people who have completely different lifestyles. Most Jammu people I know are complete workaholics and they never shy away from walking the extra mile.
Jammu is coming up as a mini metropolis and I think it is all because people are always busy here, doing their things, absorbed completely. In comparison, Kashmir is sickening when you measure the pace of life down there. Kashmir is somehow shrinking back into a monolithic social unit with little signs of progress. A friend of mine attributes this to what he loves to call “poppy in the air”.
He says that since there are poppy fields in Kashmir, the juices of this plant float in the air and eventually get to people’s heads and hence everyone in Kashmir is droopy and sleepy all the time. This is a joke between us but I somehow subscribe to this “wild theory” as I do not have any circumstantial or direct evidence which would contribute to my understanding of the slow-paced life of Kashmir.
One point of concern that always hits me hard is that many of my friends who run their own businesses back in Kashmir always complain that as soon as they leave the Valley, even for a few days, entrusting their businesses to their employees all they collect upon their arrival are losses.
I have hardly met a businessman who would tell me that he is free to go around as his employees take good care of business once he is out. What happens is that as soon as pressure subsides on their employees they turn lax and as a result there are losses. This is lethargy and nothing else.
I am of the opinion that these employees are not intentionally contributing to losses but because of their general attitude towards life they are not able to do much. This is the scene or almost every plane in Kashmir, be it government run offices, health care centres, schools or universities. On the contrary, elsewhere in the country I know people who go out leaving their employees to tend to their businesses and return to find work done and things pretty tided up.
There has to be something about Kashmir and Kashmiris, which slows things down. It could be the turmoil which has been boiling down our backs for decades now. There are also certain political designs which have been keeping Kashmiri people from attaining their best. Or perhaps, Kashmir is only a sleepy village which does not want to be shaken wide awake by the currents of contemporaneousness.
