Binoo Joshi
January 2, 2018
The opening of 2018 has a promising note in it as the children of Kashmir have started realizing that their future lies in career building and the violence around them was the biggest hurdle in climbing to the peak of their ambitions . There is a race among the children to excel in academics and extra curricular activities that would help them become an integral part of the civilized world, where violence and brutalities have no place .
Certain things are obvious . The rush of the students to get into the special coaching classes for the civil services examinations in Kashmir is to be seen to be believed. The tales emanating from the Kashmiri children speak of their aspirations to make a niche for themselves in the world of competition and excellence .
Their minds have been impacted by the success of the men like Shah Faesal, the topper of the civil services examinations in 2010 and many others who have made to different ranks . They have created a world of their own. What has further inspired them is the result of the local Kashmir administrative Service examinations in which the boys and girls from Jammu hills- Anjum Bashir Khan Khattak of Surankote, Poonch, Aliya Tabassum Wani of Kishtwar and Fareed Ahmad of Bhaderwah – bagged the top three positions . The remoteness of their areas and challenging educational atmosphere of their lives has helped tell a story that nothing is impossible . This sense of possibility has inspired the youth across the state, particularly the Valley to see where their future lies.
There is a situation . It is a reality. But this reality is being injected by mythmaking by the ( mis) use of social media , then the children of the information age start distinguishing between the good and bad for them . Yes, there are elements of violence peppered all over , but the rise of the youth in the competitive world to become scientists , doctors, engineers and clamour for more colleges and universities show a different side of the Valley.
Examples rush in plenty. Kashmir is reeling under freezing temperatures. The schools have been closed . A middle-rung officer is in Jammu as he is working in a move office. He has got a comfortable place to live in , but his family has not joined him . “ The children are busy with coaching classes,” he explains why the family is in the Valley still and not sharing the comparative warmth in the temperatures in Jammu .. But there is a larger picture : That the children prefer to toil hard in the freezing temperatures looking forward to their future in careers . A strong foundation is needed for that and they are making every effort to make one .
They don’t want to be called children of nowhere and with no appetite for future. They want to be recognised in the world as the children who rose to heights in their careers despite the discouraging atmosphere . That shows the other side of Kashmir, there is a need to look at that.
