Literature is the throbbing heart-beat of a civilization. There is not even a single civilization that thrived mainly on the military except for example the Mongols and the Huns. Every civilization which was a civilization in the truest sense always gave precedence to literature. Countries like France, England, Japan, United States of America, and Russia are not just military might but they are civilizations also because they have produced doyens and masters when it came to arts and literature.
Coming to Kashmir, we are proud of producing poets, and religious scholars like Ghani Kashmiri, Mehjoor, Abdul Ahad Azad, and Dina Nath Nadim. Abdul Rehman Rahi whom we lost recently was a poet of great repute. His talent was recognised by the government of India and was awarded country’s highest literary honours. Farooq Nazki, Rafiq Raaz, Noor Shah and Ali Mohammad Lone are some of the names that will be remembered for generations.
The sad fact remains that the current youth of Kashmir is moving away from literature. They read just to impress someone on the internet. Or just to take a selfie with a densely-written novel clutched in their hands. Ask them the name of one book written by Rehman Rahi or Dina Nath Nadim and there you will have all your answers. The big question remains that how can we motivate our youth to take interest in arts and literature? Well, one idea can be a young writer or young poet awards. Our business community can come forward to sponsor these events. Money can be a great motivator – sad but true. Unless there is a low-hanging heavy monetary award up for grabs the current Instagram and YouTube generation would not be interested. The administration can provide the logistics support like a meeting hall or performing theatre to this end. The cultural academy can provide manpower to judge the short stories, poems and pieces of art sent by these aspiring writers, poets and artists.
They say well begun is half done. We know there was a huge impasse in between but someone truly has to bell the cat. Someone has to spawn literary events in Kashmir so that our youth can aspire to be men of letters. We have produced masters of literature in the past. There is no reason we cannot produce them now.
