Sat, 11 Jul 2026 10:03:39 +0100WeeblySat, 01 Jun 2019 07:00:00 GMThttps://www.poeticnoesis.com/articles/a-dying-beautyDuring my recent visit to Kashmir a few months ago, on the background of the high tourist influx during 2012, I was eager to revisit  Dal Lake after many years.  Like a teenage boy meeting his beautiful beloved after a long period, I left the United Kingdom (UK) with unquenchable curiosity to see the beauty of the Dal Lake. I was impatient to witness her glittering face with sun rays dancing on her surface and see the reflection of the moon, stars and surrounding mountains floating on her chest. I imagined for months to see my reflection in the eyes of my beloved Lake. I pictured myself swimming deep in her bosom, uncovering the secrets of her heart, sitting on the bank intoxicated by her mesmerising beauty and marvelling about God's creation.

I requested a friend drive me to my favourite lake. As we drove along the boulevard, it was initially difficult to appreciate her beauty due to the traffic jams, noise and huge number of tourists. Holding the illuminated face of my much-loved lake in my mind and heart over the oceans, I managed to leave behind human chaos to finally cast my longing eyes on her majestic beauty. But I struggled to see her inviting face as her guardians had hidden her behind a green veil.  As we continued our drive, I noticed that the overprotective custodians had covered her in a green garment to prevent me from looking at her divine countenance. I consoled my heart to be patient for a little while before deciding to uncover her beauty at a distance, from the garden of the hotel on Zabarwan Hill, away from her protectors.

As I stood with my longing eyes and fluttering heart in the garden of the hotel beholding Dal Lake, I was overcome by the extreme sorrow due to the condition of my beloved Lake. I was aghast to find that the thick green veil, which I believed was used by her protective guardians to hide her beauty, was the green burial shroud on the dying body of my admired lake. Her chaperons had turned into enemies against her beauty and were contriving innovative ways to intoxicate her with the poison produced in their households. It was a wretched sight to witness.

Before heading back to my abode, I wanted to say goodbye to my treasured lake. At a quiet place, I stood by the shore and extended my hands to touch her untimely ageing face which, in the past, would have enticed any onlooker. I was perturbed to wipe the bloody tears rising from her aching heart. I was frightened to see her heart turned dark by poisonous serpentine weed and her dying body shrouded in green garment weaved from our indifference. 

She whispered: “it is a curse fastened upon my forehead that my windy and empty guardians have taken it on themselves to kill me by unrelenting poisoning while following the gospel of individualism. They could not care less about my sordid fate. My cry for help, arising from my depths, is met with walls of silence and indifference. My filthy condition symbolises our society and its values.  I am an apogee of a diseased system.  I am an outcome of our national disease called corruption. They are masquerading the piles of squalor in my chest under the majestic words of paradise on earth. The sagacity of our moral pedagogues is unable to comfort my ignominious state due to their complicity. My conspicuous inescapable misfortune is a big ugly wart on their bald forehead.” 

I silently cried in my heart. No one heard me wailing.  No one felt my pain or noticed my pleading for help to save my adored lake. Tempest in my heart rages violently when I think about her decomposing body wrapped in the green burial shroud. Her keepers are remorselessly content with their lives and ready to blame unknown forces for my dying Lake. It is disquieting to watch her death at the hands of her custodians who have buried her in their forgetfulness. Lifting her eyes heavenward, she is awaiting the awakening of the guardians’ souls, whom she hopes will deliver her out from the jaws of death. She knows that God has poured light in their hearts that will eventually overcome the darkness currently encircling it. 

( This article was initially published in Greater Kashmir India)
]]>Wed, 01 May 2019 07:00:00 GMThttps://www.poeticnoesis.com/articles/power-of-silenceWe all know that our mother nature operates silently without much noise. We hardly notice a tree growing or river flowing towards a sea or our earth, sun and moon floating in their orbits. On the contrary, we humans are constantly besieged by our internal and external noise. On average a person gets over 70,000 automatic thoughts per day. This ceaseless internal dialogue in our minds and outer noise are the barriers to our integration to our self.  As Roman poet Horace wisely said, “that mind is at fault which never escapes from itself.” Out of the thousands of our usual activities, not a single one has anything to do with nourishing our self.  Our ability to slow down our assiduous mental chatterbox and block our external noise can lead to bliss, wisdom and self-actualization.

Solitude and silence have always been regarded highly by all major religions, mystics, thinkers, philosophers and even modern spiritual alchemists. Over the centuries, thinkers and mystics have gone as far as to claim that by inculcating state of mental stillness and silence we may be able to get access to unfathomable and unexplored energy within us. Many philosophers have gone into solitude to seek wisdom and tranquillity. Eminent French philosopher Montaigne recommended that “we should set aside for ourselves a room at the back of the shop” to go in solitude for spiritual withdrawal. These brief spells of self-searching can have a positive impact on our overall well being by becoming more aware of ourselves and learning to climb ourselves out of dark holes of bewilderment. Silence unveils our souls. Techniques to induce a state of silence in our ever active minds and lives can include meditation, prayer and spending time in the quietness of nature.

Meditation is one of the common self-employed methods to induce mental silence and relaxation. Various ways of meditation are useful not only in improving overall well being, happiness and contentment but have scientifically been shown beneficial in multiple mental and physical ailments including depression, anxiety, chronic pain, headache, hypertension and cancer. To induce mental and physical relaxation by meditation, people use various techniques including sitting quietly, taking deep breaths and relaxing, yoga, chanting or reciting. Scientific investigations have shown that relaxation by methods such as meditation can induce objective neurohormonal changes in the body.

The majority of religions advocate some form of prayer for its followers. Prayer is a meaningful way to induce internal silence by detachment and withdrawing from external noise. The ultimate goal of prayer in major religions is a connection with a higher power or god or universal consciousness. Prayer has been reported to have a positive impact on our health and wellbeing through various processes including relaxation, eliciting feelings of hope, contentment and compassion as well as through submission to God by which a person allows someone higher to take control of events or life.

We are all aware of the calming effects of nature on our minds. Just looking at nature can induce calmness, relaxation and self-reflection. Spending time regularly in the surrounding of nature can have an immediate relaxing effect on our constant internal dialogue. Studies have reported that just looking at mountains, landscapes or forests induce feelings of happiness by activation of parts of the brain responsible for a positive outlook and emotional stability. Various scientific studies have reported a positive impact of communing with nature on both mental and physical health by inducing a sense of calm, tranquility, gratitude and happiness via a reduction of the mental turbulence that is part of our daily lives in big cities.

By regularly hitting the pause button on our internal dialogue and over-wakefulness of mind, we can improve our health, contentment, inner knowing, intuition and spirituality. We have to brave the sea of silence where novel ideas or energy is in abundance. Otherwise, our contentment will remain trivial in character and transitory in effect. By practicing silence, we can sow the seeds of happiness and regularly water the tree of our souls. Silence helps us to venture into depths of our hidden self which can be life advancing. Silence helps to purge us of impatience, intolerance and stress.

​Silence may help us to discover that hidden spring of life within us that has been waiting to be discovered by our internal eye which is currently blinded by the veil of our mental and environmental bewilderment. In these periods of silence, our souls shall experience abundance and a homecoming.  Rumi, Sufi mystic and 13th-century poet, described as the most popular poet in America, said “You have no need to travel anywhere - journey within yourself.  Enter a mine of rubies and bathe in the splendour of your own light.” This discovery can lead to the rebirth of happiness. Silence helps to disentangle us from the bonds which distance us from ourselves. If we learn to listen to silence, it will reveal the secrets of the heart and disclose us to ourselves.  As Rumi said, “silence is the language of God, all else is a poor translation.”

(This article was initially published in Kashmir Monitor, India.)
]]>Mon, 01 Apr 2019 07:00:00 GMThttps://www.poeticnoesis.com/articles/violence-against-womenRape of a young student by five people in New Delhi, on 16th December 2012, has sparked outrage across India. Unprecedented public anger against this heinous crime has suddenly brought the attention of the entire nation to the decimal safety of women in India. This incident seems to have touched public conscience and has shaken up the soul of India. Around the world, people have suddenly woken up to the enduring scale of crime and cruelty against women in India. The tag of “largest democracy in the world” sounds like hot air in front of alarming figures of violence against women.

As per TrustLaw, a news agency run by Thomson Reuters, India is the worst G20 country in which to be a woman. I am not surprised by this revelation. But I was definitely surprised to find that India also has the distinction of being in the list of five most dangerous countries for women to live (also included in the list are Afghanistan, Congo, Pakistan and Somalia) due to staggering number of cases of  sexual harassment, domestic violence, rape and female infanticide and foeticide. Violence towards women raises essential questions about our values and attitudes towards women.

Rape cases registered a 9.2% rise over the previous year with over 24,000 cases in 2011. A recent survey by a leading Indian newspaper, Hindustan Times, revealed that 78% of women were sexually harassed in 2012 in capital New Delhi. Even a simple stroll outside their homes has become a humiliating experience. This sexual harassment can vary in severity from sexually suggestive remarks, winking, brushing in public places and catcalls to outright groping. We hardly notice any of these men being castigated by people or authorities.

On the contrary, we indulge in moral recrimination of our girls! We arraign and accuse our women of not dressing modestly or not putting their gaze down! This repulsive view of things acts as a maintaining factor for this behaviour.
It is heartbreaking to know the repulsive situation of the majority of women in India. According to the United Nation Population Fund Report, around two-thirds of married Indian women are victims of domestic violence. A study conducted nine years ago in 2003, sponsored by the State Women Commission, revealed that 30 per cent women in Kashmir were physically abused by husbands. However, experts claim that the figures have already reached over 40 per cent and are increasing alarmingly. Ironically women from “largest democracy” are living in “sempiternal hell” within their closed walls. It is disturbing to find the scale of this dehumanising behaviour towards our female population in all communities of India.

​Causes of domestic violence in our society can vary from dowry, interference from in-laws, misunderstandings, giving birth to female babies, jealousy, to cooking a bad meal. We were brought up in a society that encourages gender bias, the powerlessness of women, suffocating idealised concepts of family life and power imbalance in our patriarchal culture resulting in over-inflated ego of being a man. Institutional and legal factors such as inadequate or unclear policies can also maintain this menace. Victims of domestic violence can develop a psychological phenomenon called learned helplessness where people exposed to unpredictable and inescapable negative stimuli may become passive and unable to protect their lives.

According to a report by UNICEF, 50 million girls are missing from the population of India due to systemic gender discrimination. As per the provisional data released by the census office in 2011, national child gender ratio (0-6 years) has declined to 914 girls for every 1,000 boys as compared to 927 in 2001. Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the worst decline, where the ratio plunged to 859 girls for every 1,000 boys in the 0-6 age group, down by 82 points from 10 years ago, making it the third worst state after Haryana and Punjab! A study published in leading medical journal “Lancet” in 2010, found girls in India (aged one month to 5 years) were dying at a rate that is 4-5 times higher than boys that age due to pneumonia and diarrhoea. This study highlighted social bigotry as the cause of the skewed survival rate of girls in our virtuous society. While the world around us is discarding primitive traditions, India seems to be contriving new path of gender discrimination.

Some of the explanations for this silent genocide include: women being perceived as inferior to men in a patriarchal society; sons being considered an “asset” who have the potential to earn and contribute to family fortunes; daughters being perceived as a “liability” as she is going to marry off to another family and not contribute to family fortunes; a belief that sons extend the lineage; the burden of raising a dowry for daughters marriages; sons being a means of support to ageing parents; easy availability of sex determination tests including ultrasound; and unethical medical professionals who have made it easy to determine foetal sex and provide selective abortion. It is estimated that this unethical medical practice has grown into a US$ 244 million industry in India.

There is growing anger that reports of crimes against women are not taken seriously and conviction rates are meagre. It is encouraging to see the level of outrage and condemnation by all sections of the society against the acid attack on a woman in Srinagar and newspaper reports of incidents of rape in Kashmir. Public demand for changes to the laws on violence against women has rightly become nosier. Role of authorities especially police have been highly criticised due to their resistance to register complaints and provide timely help to victims. Charities working for women’s welfare need to lobby for strong legislation against these menaces and pursue individual cases with authorities.

​Setting up of Women's Helpline and Women Police stations have been advocated as effective measures to curb sexual harassment. People are demanding that men charged with domestic violence should be terminated from their jobs to send a strong signal to these perpetrators. The setting up of Refuge Shelters and counselling centres for victims of domestic violence have been found effective in developed nations. Authorities should also provide free legal aid to unemployed victims of domestic violence to help them to pursue abusers through the legal system. There is an immediate need to raise awareness in people about the attributes of a civilised citizen in the 21st century. This awareness needs to be imparted in all settings including family, schools, community centres, religious centres and work places. Our unconscious resistance to gender equality is promoting this decadence in our society. 

( This article was originally published in Rising Kashmir India)
]]>Fri, 01 Mar 2019 08:00:00 GMThttps://www.poeticnoesis.com/articles/unleashing-the-dog-terrorDespite currently living overseas, it is difficult not to feel touched by the poignant and heartbreaking pictures of our children mutilated by the stray dogs. People are expressing helplessness to this dog terror and are incensed by the pervasive neglect by our comatose state machinery. Ever since the period of decadence began in our society two decades ago, people have been subjected to humiliations, abuses and violation of basic human rights in the form of massacres, rapes, disappearances, cold blooded murders, arrests and mass graves.  They haven’t seen a willing hand helping them come out of their despair and darkness. Their quest for a peaceful and secure daily living is being defeated by the very authorities meant to provide them a sense of security. It is astonishing and nauseating to witness sheer apathy of the State regarding the sufferings of our children due to dog terror particularly when the Indian External minister and Prime minister recently issued regular statements about the custody of an Indian child in Norway entangled in a family dispute, even though the child was being looked after by the Norwegian Government!
Estimates show the number of stray dogs in Kashmir to have crossed a one million mark. State government has confirmed the presence of about 100,000 dogs in Srinagar city alone. Dog terror has become a threat to the people and is having a significant impact on physical, social and psychological well being of the whole population. Various factors contributing to the abundance of stray dogs include war or civil conflicts, migration, urban decay, easy availability of food for dogs to sustain on and absence of official methods of control. Media has reported that civil society has threatened to undertake dog culling themselves if the government fails to protect people and control this menace.

Media reports confirm more than 10,000 dog bite cases registered in Srinagar city alone during the last couple of years. and at least 25 to 30 dog bites, mostly school children, are being received and treated only at the SMHS hospital daily. Some of the canine attacks have even resulted in deaths of the victims. People are incensed due to contentment of rulers with their power and silence of city authorities over this issue. Besides physical injuries, there are psychological implications including development of phobias, anxiety and PTSD in victims and potential victims. People are living in constant fear for their safety and welfare which is having an impact on their routine social chores, including attending prayers in the early hours of the morning. 

Psychologically people of Kashmir have been struggling at the bottom of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for last two decades. Maslow's theory suggests that the most basic level of needs (food, shelter and safety) must be fulfilled before the individual will strongly desire (or focus to achieve) the higher level needs like community work, lack of prejudice, respect for others and self-actualisation to reach their full potential as a human being.

I did some research on the topic and also liaised with Dog Trust, a UK based charity, for their advice. Controlling population of stray dogs is important for both human and animal welfare. Dog welfare is likely to be poor if their population is not controlled. Spread of diseases to local population is a particular problem where high densities of dogs and humans live in close association and rabies is a major concern. Almost all human cases of this fatal disease (99%) are transmitted in the saliva of infected dog bites. Additional ethical problems can arise if it is decided that intervention is necessary. The most fundamental is whether numbers should be controlled by killing or birth control. In many cities around the world, killing of the dogs has been seen as the intervention of choice.

However, I was surprised to find out that The World Health Organization (WHO) now recognizes that culling of dogs often produces only a short term effect and even maximal catching rates (up to 24% of dog population per year) make no significant impact. Studies show that this method doesn’t work as a long term strategy for dog population control because it is not possible to eliminate all the dogs, and that other dogs soon re-populate cleared areas, worsening the spread of diseases such as rabies.

Studies advocate habitat control and control of the birth rate by surgical neutering. Animal Birth Control (ABC) programs have been promoted as a humane method of stabilizing the dog population and rabies control. To be effective in that, the work has to be intensive – 70% of the dogs should be neutered during one breeding cycle, that is during six months. Scientific studies have demonstrated success of ABC program in controlling the stray dog population in India (Totton et al, 2010; Reece and Chawla, 2006).

According to experts, street dogs are not reproductively capable of maintaining their population density unless food and harbourage is provided by man. Responsible civic attitudes and behaviours by public and timely garbage collection by municipality will go a long way in reducing available food for survival of these stray dogs. In the west stray dogs would not survive on the roads on their own because there are no open garbage bins!

In the UK, charities like Dog Trust have built hundreds of centres to look after stray dogs abandoned by their owners where they are neutered, vaccinated and then re-homed. Dog Trust UK is also currently funding a training centre in Ooty (Tamil Nadu) for vets to learn about dog population control and  are also holding a conference in Chennai later this year (September or December) to promote dog safety in India which our concerned authorities can also attend to learn lessons from. 

​With so much talk about India’s economic progress, why can’t our state and national governments promote setting up similar NGOs, which will not only make our streets safe for humans to venture out but also improve welfare of animals? In any civilized society, it is the responsibility of the State to provide safe atmosphere to its people as well as to animals in its jurisdiction. Our authorities are failing in both of these obligations. Over the centuries, human race progressed so that it does not have to worry about beasts while performing daily activities, but unfortunately it does not apply to our Kashmir.

​( This article was originally published in Greater Kashmir India)
]]>Wed, 13 Feb 2019 20:49:45 GMThttps://www.poeticnoesis.com/articles/the-plight-of-forgotten-peopleOverlooking the mist-veiled Nigeen Lake in the garden of the revered Hazratbal Shrine, on a warm winters day, there were several poor dwellers from the valley inundated with pain and suffering. Carrying the weight of fetters of poverty, they had descended from various corners of the valley to lighten their agony in the vicinity of the holy shrine where worshipers regularly beseech the mercy of heavens.

A thirty-year-old widow, with a veil of poverty over her face, bespoke the battle to meet her ends ever since her husband became a victim during the epoch of political conflict. With her sorrowful eyes brimming with tears of blood, she whispered that she and her two children have no one to support them in their seasonless lives. Due to poverty, she is unable to fully feed her children and buy them warm garments for the winter to cover their emaciated bodies. She painfully remembers when her husband’s family drove her out of the house six months after her husband was killed. To support her children she, along with her children, begged for alms near the shrine. Sitting next to their mother, they looked stealthily at the nearby candy seller who was surrounded by children buying candy. While lamenting her loss her children, fettered by starvation and poverty, greedily ate dry bread kneaded with tears and sweat of a widow and orphans.

Sitting a few yards away was an elderly couple who, worn out by age and poverty, lost their only child to an endless era of bloodshed and fratricide. Their tears bespoke their sorrow. With deep pain and tears glistening in their eyes, they remember the moment when the bullet-ridden body of their only son was delivered to them on a day that would change their lives forever and make them vulnerable for rest of their lives. Now, during the winter of their lives, they feel alone, unvisited and unsupported. Their frail bodies are shadowed by wings of poverty and their inflamed hearts filled with the agony of loss. Their overflowing cup of sorrow is consuming their strength and hopes.

Not far from them was a 13-year-old orphan boy whose parents died a few years ago. Like a bird with broken wings, he now lives in a local orphanage along with other orphans, with their childhood crowned by poverty and installed on the throne of suffering. Without parental guidance, their lives have become like a ship without a rudder. Due to the death of their parents, they will spend the springtime of their lives with insecurity sowed in their hearts. Their childhoods have been stolen by the wave of death engulfing the valley. The orphan’s sorrowful eyes and tattered garments reflect the hardships his budding soul has witnessed. The cutting truth of his orphaned life and the veil of anxiety covering his innocence will quiver anyone left with a shred of conscience. Emptiness filling his heart was overflowing through his eyes.

Wounded by the arrows of adversities, there are thousands of such victims of inclement political weather of the valley. The drudgery of everyday life has placed a crown of thorns on their heads. Their fall into the bottomless abyss of poverty and despair is the result of the apathy prevailing in our society. Their plight undermines humanity as they find no willing hand to help them. The cries of these orphans, widows and other victims, created by the conflict, fall on walls of silence and indifference. A mist of indifference has blurred our senses to see the suffering around us. We seem to have deserted the notion of sympathy as we yet have to imbibe the virtue of compassion from the afflictions surrounding us.

These wounded souls are disappointed with their politicians who have mastered the craft of double-dealing, corruption and lying; a legion of pygmies promising much but delivering next to nothing. They pity their priests who sell prayers for money and insinuate that their suffering is the curse fastened on them from the heavens as a result of their sins. Prayers of these cobweb spinners and empty tin-pots do not ascend beyond the black clouds of ignorance and false reverence.

​As the holy relic of the prophet in the shrine is displayed at noontide, these wounded souls raise their withered hands heavenward with eyes welled up with tears, in supplication to beseech the heavens to relieve their suffering.  Their sighs would even quiver the soul of stone. With every prayer rising from the bottom of their bruised hearts, they invoke God to induce awakenings in the hearts of their brothers who have become heedless to heart’s whisper and blind to their poverty. While praying, they are burning their soul as frankincense for His mercy to deliver them from the weary ceaseless turbulence of existence. They are hoping their prayers will evoke compassion among the people, priests and politicians, which will deliver them from a life of destitution, emptiness and loneliness. At the venerated Hazratbal shrine they are sowing new seeds of hope in their hearts, hoping for the upcoming spring to bring a fresh breeze in their seasonless garden carrying the fragrance of compassion that will soothe their wounds.

( This article was initially published in the Rising Kashmir, India)

]]>Fri, 01 Feb 2019 08:00:00 GMThttps://www.poeticnoesis.com/articles/tackling-corruptionJammu and Kashmir has the dubious distinction of being the second most corrupt state in India. Corruption in our state has spread to the extent that there is a general belief among people that it is an immutable phenomenon. So deeply ingrained in our psyche it has almost become blasphemous to talk about the rampant corruption in our state. People who have courage to stand up against corruption are labelled as heretics. 

Different people have diverse explanations for the causes of corruption in our state. Ruling class exploits the current political conflict to engage in fraudulent practices in all areas of public governance; there is no culture of accountability and transparency in any of the state affairs. Separatists believe the Kashmir conflict in providing an ideal atmosphere for India to sow the seeds of corruption through its puppets i.e. mainstream politicians. Ruled class i.e. the general public blames everyone, including politicians, India, Kashmir conflict and even the West. Religious preachers claim corruption to be a form of punishment from God for not being religious enough. 

In psychology there is a defence mechanism called “Projection”, where a person projects his dark self on to other person.  In Kashmir we seem to be displaying the phenomenon of “collective projection” where everyone is calling others corrupt, except themselves. The corrupt project their unscrupulous self not only on the few honest people in our state but also on those who have never worked in Kashmir. This may be due to the fact that these hard working and honest people remind them of their incompetence as law abiding and civilised citizens. 

Over the years moral or ethical concepts have evolved in our state for people from all walks of life. Social conditioning has made corruption an acceptable and a respectable way of making a living in our society, and is currently reinforced by either being indifferent to the whole issue or by not making it act of shame or punishable crime. Morality of self glorification and opportunism is exalted as good by both political class and the ruled class. Our political class and public have jointly constructed a new mutated ethical code, allowing opportunism and corruption as acceptable practices and virtues for all. Both rulers and those ruled have mutated the ethical theory by agreeing on a new virtue of corruption. This new virtue has resulted in our rulers being secretly worshiped by people but openly abhorred (collective projection) as they seem to be enjoying the status quo. This new symbiosis has created a “new zoological terror”. 

Presently there is a lack of yearning for change. People seem to have craving only to engage in corruption. Civil society groups need to rise up against this menace and demand transparency, accountability and punishment of this zoological terror. Media and civil society pressure groups need to be persistent in highlighting corruption in print and electronic media including social networks, which would act as a deterrent for these corrupt people. 

Public needs to make use of the RTI Act which can be an effective tool to promote accountability and transparency. Government should set up complaints cells with clear complaint policies in all departments to address public grievances. All government employees, legislatures and ministers should be asked to declare their financial assets before joining their jobs. 

Swift and merciless penalties against corrupt people, including introduction of mandatory imprisonment, is very important. The corrupt should be treated as social outcastes by boycotting social ties with them, refusing to marry their children, refusing to pray in the same places of worship, and boycotting their social events. 

( This article was originally published in Greater Kashmir India)]]>Tue, 01 Jan 2019 08:00:00 GMThttps://www.poeticnoesis.com/articles/the-question-of-caste​Racism or caste system is a crime in anyone’s language. Most of us have a perception that racism or caste system is a phenomenon exclusive to western countries or other parts of India and cannot exist in places like Kashmir where majority are followers of a monotheistic faith. Discussing the topic of caste system (Kashmiri equivalent of racism?) is uncomfortable for many and may even raise eyebrows in some sections of the society, particularly those who are indulging in this discriminatory behaviour themselves. 

People talk unlimited to hammer the point that caste system or racism does not exist among Muslims as it is against the tenets of Islam which emphasizes justice and equality to all irrespective of caste, colour and creed. Selection of slave Bilal by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to become the Muezzin of Medina due to his devotion and beauty of voice is an important example of how Islam promotes justice and equality. Unfortunately culture and traditions have overpowered faith and humanity in our society, making us embodiment of all unholiness.  

Discriminations based on ancestry, caste, surnames and even geographical origin in Kashmir come in different guises, and have negative consequences on individuals, families and society at large. It has a detrimental effect on our educated youth who are struggling to find right matrimonial matches due to these prejudices. We have to learn to overcome our internal and external demons which are holding us back to reach the full potential of dignified human beings. My major concerns regarding caste system in our society are: are the practices of caste system in Kashmir identical to the phenomenon of racism? Do these phenomena (caste system and racism) have similar features of segregation and discrimination? Why is our learning from the outside world developments so abysmal? 

Racism is a belief that some races or ethnic groups are superior to others, and justify actions that create inequality between racial groups. Just like racism in some parts of west, caste system in Kashmiris is used to stratify society into various groups, depending on certain factors including their ancestry, surnames, jobs or geographical locations, which gives rise to discrimination. Experts consider caste system at par with racism on the basis of segregation and discrimination caused by them. Racism or caste system is a social process associated with “overt and covert forceful establishment and maintenance of power by one social group over another” 

Caste system may have origins in experiences derived from, what is known in analytical psychology as, “the personal and collective unconscious.”  The personal unconscious arises from the lifetime experiences of the individual.  This is distinct from the “collective unconscious”, which is described to represent a form of the unconscious common to mankind as a whole and originating in the inherited structure of the brain. This contains inherited primitive cultural, traditional and racial elements.  Both the personal and collective unconscious, made from our individual and ancestral experiences respectively, may account for the manifestation of caste system in our society today. Discrimination against members of a social group may persist because of its deep entrenchment within our society by the personal and collective unconscious that has become the automatic response even when no conscious intent is present. 

Like a mutated virus, caste system has evolved into a new form that is difficult to recognise and harder to combat. As blatant forms of prejudices become extinguished, particularly in the current climate of political correctness, unconscious biases in subtle forms are appearing.  This can occur in people who possess strong egalitarian values, and who believe they are not prejudiced but have negative racial or caste based feelings and beliefs that they are unaware of.  These feelings and beliefs are rooted in the normal psychological processes of social categorization, satisfaction of basic needs for power and control, and socio-cultural influences. 

People from so called lower castes are discriminated against and marginalized in our society. We all carry these different “chips on our shoulders”. On the surface we may breathe heavy on religious vapours but we indulge in overt or covert racial behaviour in our conversations, or when looking for potential partners, neighbours or social acquaintances. I personally know many educated and well mannered women and men in their 30’s and 40’s from both strata of the society who’re struggling to find suitable partners due to the bigotry prevalent in our society. Discrimination can appear to be hidden when it is covert, although it is not usually hidden from the person who is subjected to it. Discrimination damages both those discriminated against and those doing the discrimination. This caste system acts as a chronic and acute stressor on the individual with loss of confidence, humiliation and low morale. The implications of caste system in our society are currently no different from race-based social stratification and discrimination systems in other parts of world. 

Legislation can only fight discrimination at workplaces. It requires public awakening to eliminate discrimination and promote equal opportunities. Even people with strong motivation to avoid it are subject to automatic cognitive activation of stereotypes, which can unconsciously influence behaviour, making non-discrimination policies relatively ineffective. To have a new generation of global citizens, who have better values of social justice and equality, we need to actively promote inter-caste marriages. Otherwise we will end up having another generation of bigots and segregationists, as bigotry begets bigotry! 

The most important part of the solution is education and raising awareness. Teaching on equality and universal human values should be incorporated into academic curriculum.  However, of greater significance is recognizing our own personal prejudices at an early stage so that biases harboured inside us are challenged within ourselves. As someone rightly said, “The hardest attitude to change is the one you don’t know you have”. 

We need new approaches to eradicate the problem. Younger generation should take the lead by breaking unholy traditions which will reflect their belief in universal values of equality and justice. We need new role models who will burrow down into the heart of these biases and release our society from this menace, which is not only against our faith but also against human values. Youth have to blaze a new and better path based on universal human values. Many countries and cultures have made significant progress in all areas of social justice and equality, but unfortunately we are regressing to primitive customs! Let us not be slaves to prejudices and castes. Let us not make morality immoral due to our practices and prejudices.

( This article was originally published in Greater Kashmir India) 
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