On Bhaderwah

 

On Bhaderwah

It was a routine transfer in the department of higher education that I was posted at Bhaderwah, a sub-district within Doda. It is a very old town as old as Harrapan civilizations. History has it that during the beginning of 19^th century Bhaderwah was fighting its own battle to accede with Jammu and Kashmir. Its people defeated the Chamba rulers from Himachal and acceded happily with Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1854. It is called mini Kashmir, not only of its picturesque beauty but its history resembles with Kashmir. It had floods, battles and misfortunes like Kashmir. Its old hero Jimat Vahan; a king sacrificed himself before Garura (Carrier of Lord Shiva) to end an old battle between Nagas and Garudas. Jimat vihan lived during the time when Lord Shiva resided in Kailash Mountain. In June 2022 someone desecrated the idol of Shiva in those mountains, and we witnessed clashes on the streets. Religious sentiment runs deep among the people.

There is no end to the breathtaking landscape, challenging terrain, and awesome scenes. When Sunlight peeks through pine in the morning, it creates an eye for the artist. It has almost no plains, unlike Kashmir. But like Kashmir, it has both mountainous and steep hilly roads which reach to untrodden destinations like Chamba in Himachal and if you drive through its boundaries you are swinging in the lap of the Himalayas. If you want to do the penance and evolve spiritually, it has Khanqas and a Kalaish mountain where the journey of the soul turns into salvation. All the sages and seers would love this place for being so serene and calm. The post-modern cosmopolitan guy bored with the noise of engines may find solace in these mountains.

Bhaderwah is a culturally rich, multi-cultural, and multi-religious society. It has temples and mosques dotted everywhere.  Vasuk Nag temple and Jamia Masjid are thronged by devotees. It celebrates diverse festivals; from Eid to Diwali to Holi, and local festivals.   People are well-built, strong, smart, and beautiful. Its feminity is like Kashmir. Its population migrated from Kashmir have redeemed the redness of cheeks. The outlook of the people is modern in the town and if we drive a few kilometers through rural Bhaderwah we may find a huge difference in lifestyle and earning livelihoods.

 People in the town are residents in huge houses. Its class outlook is capitalistic. It has a very poor rural area and a very rich town.   It has no apples and less rice. It grows pulses and walnuts but not in abundance to make ends meet. It has almost no industry, shops are fewer, and infrastructure is poor. But still, then people in towns have luxurious cars, and if one has to do ultrasonography he has to drive into blind curves for 35 km to Doda. The tough terrain is no respect for human life, and so do politicians. Light can go off for days with no protest, patients suffer and poor people who come from distant places like Thanla are yet to arrive in life. Bhaderwah has a vegetarian food lab but not a single sophisticated non-veg restaurant except for that Saaz which is situated In the midst of a weak networking area.

The place has schools, a college, and a university campus. Its people may appear very modern in outlook but its lacks education and health facilities, and basic necessities of life. It may offer you very few choices to think of a good future except for that serenity and calmness it provides during the summer. It has suffered a brain drain like Kashmir. Its people live in three places at the same time, Bhaderwah, Jammu, and Kashmir.  In summer they live in Bhaderwah; during the winter they inundate Jammu and lack of health and education forces them to drive to Kashmir.   

The money and modern outlook the place has acquired is its connection with Jammu and rest of the India. People travel a lot and maximum houses migrate to Jammu during winter. If one talks to shopkeepers, they will resent that there is less money that circulates within the town; all the money is spent in Jammu. Political interest in the place is very less. There is hardly any political discussion on streets, shop fronts, and colleges. However, there is a religious consciousness and sentiment that runs deep in Chenab valley because Muslims and Hindus share borders, walls, flats, and workplaces. They share the love and hate relationship because of socio-economic aspirations and the competition to be in power. The communal bond is both thin and strong. They greet, hug, and share food with each other but at times fight to the level that the administration imposes a curfew to avoid the rattle.

The place has immense potential to grow as a tourist destination. Jammu attracts apparently fewer tourists than Kashmir but its religious tourism attracts more people than Kashmir. Katra a religious destiny is thronged by millions every year. Religious tourism in Bhaderwah can add glory to the industry. The places like Gatha, Nalthi, Bheja, Nagar, and others are sacred sites. The temple at Gatha is believed to be 2500 years old. The drive to Chamba through Padri pass 10000 ft higher above sea level and looks like Switzerland during summer. Bhaderwah is now trying to shape itself into a tourist destination with certain places yet to be explored like Noori Hanga and others. Life is difficult during winters but if the terrain is brought down into tunnels and the Kashtiward road that crosses the Simthan pass is made easy Bhaderwah can explode as a great tourist destination in the Jammu division.

Recently we saw cameras and a crew of Bollywood floating into this valley. The role of cinematography is crucial in developing tourism but cinema picturizes it as Kashmir as we saw in the recent web series Tanaw. The scenes were shot in Bhaderwah but imagined in Kashmir, the stories, places, and characters were taken from Kashmir.  Its identity has been kept below par. This is a major reason of the angst they have for Kashmir. The people in Chenab Valley have grudges for the Kashmiri politicians; they feel victimized which is very true to the core. Life starts here hundreds of miles away from Srinagar and Jammu cities; it has some seventy miles zigzag journey through the lifeless mountains.  It has sharp and blind curves prone to accidents. Every year people mourn their dear ones lost into the Chenab, they fell from thousand feet above and at times it is difficult for the administration to fish the bodies from the waters.  People like me who work here find it very difficult to connect with their homes.

Place can be summed as both beautiful and difficult as very rose has thorn with it same is the case with Bhaderwah. It is Beauty and the beast together.