Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The durbar has moved. Come April-end and Jammu and Kashmir8217;s historic durbar move8217; begins to inch towards the State8217;s summer capital, Srinagar. One of the few things in the State that have survived inclement weather, change of Governments, Governor8217;s rule and militancy, the durbar8217; has kept moving from the winter capital, Jammu, to Srinagar and back ever since the grand durbar8217; days of the Dogra rule in the state.
The ritual began during the reign of Maharaja Pratap Singh in the 1920s and recent efforts to scuttle it have proved an exercise in futility. As offices in Jammu close down to reopen again a week later in Srinagar, the picturesque, zig-zag, 300-km long Jammu-Srinagar highway is abuzz with people and horns. Lorries, buses, cars and taxis move at a snail8217;s pace carrying officers, their families, their belongings, orderlies and office files. The earlier route followed was via Murrie Muzaffarabad, Sialkot and Lahore in Pakistan until the Maharaja got the J-K highway constructed.
For the locals and durbaris from the State, too, it8217;s an annual feature and so, not very exciting. They prefer to sleep all the way, only to wake up when the bus stops for tea at Udhampur or Patni Top, lunch at Batote or Ramban, evening tea at Qazigund, or to replace a deflated tyre or two. But for the first-timer, it8217;s 12 to 14 hours of nature, thrill, excitement and a galloping heart rate.
One moment you are up there among the clouds at Patni Top, for instance, looking down from those dizzy heights at villages and tiny hutments along the meandering Chenab and wondering what would happen if the driver failed to negotiate the sharp curve ahead. The next moment you8217;re travelling alongside the river, relieved and thanking heavens for the safe landing, till the driver again hits the accelerator to climb once more.
The five-minute stretch through the dark Jawahar Tunnel at Banihal, out of it and lo, into the paradise below. All hurdles crossed and on the final descent now, the durbaris can relax, take in the next 90 km of the Valley8217;s fresh air, lush, green paddy fields and poplars, or close their eyes and ponder over incomplete files.
It8217;s a pity, however, that what used to be pomp and gaiety in transit in more peaceful times, has turned into a highly-guarded convoy with Army Gypsies stationed at the front, middle and rear of the convoy. Several eyes closely follow the path the convoy takes those shielding the convoy, those watching it pass by and, of course, those whose cases or complaints are pending in one of those Government files in transit. Some of the last even followed the durbar when it moved to Jammu October last, registered their haziri umpteen times during the six-month period, and are now determined to pick up the threads the day the offices reopen in Srinagar.
Eagerly awaiting the reopening of the Civil Secretariat are also numerous militant outfits who respond with hartals and bandhs or by organising protest demonstrations and issuing threats. The Chief Minister, his Ministerial colleagues, officials and migrant employees, obviously, have to be transported from their guarded Government accommodation and hotels to the Civil Secretariat and back under tight security, which includes curbs on public and vehicular movement. So, while the durbaris are on the move 8212; from 9 or 9.30 in the morning to 4.30 pm everything else comes to a standstill.
