Jammu, November 11
The dream of union railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to transform the Railways into “aam admi ki rail” seems unrealistic at least when one visits the reservation counter of the railway station here.

Chaos prevails at the reservation building since no employee attends to inquiries of passengers,who allege that a majority of the staff remain busy meeting their “personal obligations” and people are forced to form long queues.

And despite a heavy rush,there are only a few counters which are functional, they add.

A special counter meant for women, senior citizens, journalists, MPs and MLAs remains non-functional most of the time and when it becomes operational, the public is entertained there ignoring all norms. The passengers also allege a reservation staff-tout nexus.

“I have been standing in the queue for the past two hours and I am shocked to see that a person took money from some passengers and got them tickets issued in no time," said Kumar Preetam, a passenger from Bihar.

He said: "The same fellow approached me and asked for Rs 200 extra to get me a ticket issued.”

The passengers also rue the indifferent attitude of the staff and allege shabby treatment and use of abusive language by them.

"We hope the railway minister would look into the matter and take steps to improve the attitude of the staff,” said Vijay Bharadwaj, a retired Army officer from New Delhi.

The woes of the passengers do not end here as the policeman at the entrance does not allow them to take their luggage inside.

"The theft of luggage has become a regular phenomenon here as many lonely passengers have to leave it outside the building," said a senior official.

Jammu, November 11
Come elections and campaign activities like the manufacture or putting up of banners, string flags and cut-outs boost employment opportunities.These days it holds true for the strife-torn state.

Right from the manufacturers of material for the campaign to painters, tailors, taxi drivers, drumbeaters, labourers and caterers,everyone is doing a brisk business across the region.

Owner of Chinab Printers Rajinder Verma said: “The printing industry of Jammu has an edge over the Kashmir valey which is why the city has nearly 100 printing units.We had to hire more workers and computer designers to meet the surplus demand. This is in spite of the fact that all parties prefer to bring the advertisement material from Delhi and we get only emergency orders.”.

Small-time painters like Vicky also earn Rs 350 daily for wall writing. However, he believes that with technological advancements, digital banners, flex hoardings, cut-outs and polythene buntings had cast a shadow on his business. Similarly, caterers are happy as apart from the ongoing marriage season, parties take their goods and electronic gadgets on hire from them.

"Finding a labourer is really hard these days as most of them are engaged by parties for putting up banners and posters, besides arranging venues for rallies," said a mason, Romesh, at Gole Market.

He maintained that labourers working at construction sites got Rs 150 each on a daily basis, but the parties gave them Rs 200 and some times even more along with food.

The elections have also brought a lot of business for taxi operators."It is very difficult to hire a taxi or a private commercial vehicle as it seems that a majority of them have been pressed into election campaign," said a commuter, Siddarth, at the Residency Road.

Shiva, a traditional drumbeater, is also reaping the benefits: "Whenever political parties take me to a rally site, they pay me between Rs 500 and Rs 700 and sometimes even more depending upon the availability of drumbeaters. I am also provided with meals and liquor," he quipped.

Jammu, November 11
The craft of pottery is dying a slow death in Jammu.The use of brassware, glassware and silverware has reduced dependence on earthenware which, in turn, has reduced the demand for these items.

Earlier, one could see at least two or three earthen pots called 'surahi', in every household.People also used earthen utensils for cooking and serving food, but referigerators changed the scenario.

Residing in Gharota village, 25 km from Jammu, most of the 20 potter families have switched over to other professions in the absence of any support from the government. Now, only three families are continuing with their traditional occupation.

"My family earns Rs 200 a day.How can we ask our children to continue the tradition under such circumstances," wonders Sevak Ram, whose family is among the three left in the profession. His wife and three daughters paint the dried earhtenware, besides making “surahis”.The major products which they make are “hadda”, “gaggar”, ”handi”, curd pot, milk pot, earthen lamp and flower pot.

No help has ever been given to them by the government for promoting their business, rues Sevak Ram.Though they can manufacture pots for the whole year,due to lack of infrastructure they do it for only three months during the summer and one month during the winter.

Kilns made of mud and bricks get damaged during the rainy season which restricts their production.Sevak Ram demanded that the government should provide them electric kilns free of cost and sheds for drying utensils so that they were able to continue with the production throughout the year.

Earlier, they procured clay free of cost from the wasteland and it was available in abundance, but now the land has shrunk , clay is not easily available and they are forcecd to purchase a trolley of the material for Rs 1,500 from the Mishriwala area after great efforts.

Usha Devi, daughter of Sevak Ram, said:"I am studying and after completing my education, I would go in for a government job as this work is not profitable and involves more hard work."

Banarsi Lal, a leader of the Kumhar community, demanded that four to six kanals might be earmarked by the government at any place in Jammu for enabling them to dig clay for making utensils.He also demanded that their children be provided training in painting ceramic utensils so that they were able to manufacture artefacts for better marketing of their products.

Jammu, November 11
In the process of adapting to the changed geographical, political and economic situation, the displaced community of Kashmiri Pandits has, without altering the traditional style of wedding feasts, adopted new practices.

One can enjoy traditional Kashmiri dishes, including dam aloo, nadru yakhni (curry of lotus stem), yellow and red cheese, nadru plus spinach, sour brinjal, rajmash, knol-khol or Kashmiri saag, fried potato chips or fried nadru(nadr choorma), knol-khol pickle and plain rice during the feasts. However, during the last 20 years, the displaced families have added scores of non-Kashmiri dishes or courses. Roshan Lal, who is solemnising the wedding of his daughter, says: "I have to spend more on arranging non-Kashmiri dishes for my guests than I have to pay for getting traditional courses prepared."

He says "right from day one, I have been advised by my friends and relatives that the beauty of wedding feast lies in the number of stalls with a variety of non-Kashmiri dishes."

When Kashmiri Pandits introduced non-Kashmiri dishes, it was confined to aaloo tikki and dahi bhallas. Today, one finds eight to 10 stalls where guests can relish jalebees and gulab jaamuns. That’s not the end of the story. People have added noodles, cheese tikka, mushroom plus peas, chhole bhatures, gajjar ka halwa, potato and cheese balls, ice cream and coffee.

Prior to the migration of over 3.5 lakh Pandits from the valley in 1990, ice cream and coffee were a rarity. Even soft drinks were unheard of. It was because of the weather conditions. Once the Pandits settled in Jammu and in other states, they found they would be ridiculed if they did not serve coffee, ice cream and soft drinks at weddings.

Bansi Lal, who is to solemnise the wedding of his daughter in the last week of November, says "we have to make arrangements for serving ice cream, coffee, noodles, cheese tikka, jalebees, sweets and other preparations for non-Kashmiri guests." For him,the introduction of pappads, salaads, sweets, rice pulao, besides plain rice, naan and other items is an additional burden.What is surprising is that non-Kashmiri guests have evinced keen interest in eating traditional Kashmiri dishes while the people from the valley prefer non-Kashmiri dishes.

Jammu, November 11
With the beginning of the annual Darbar move in Jammu, Kashmir bakery items also find their way in local markets where these are very popular.

Items like“bakerkhani”, “chuchwaru”, “girda” and “lawas” which have many takers here are available in different varieties.

Bashir Din (42), a Srinagar baker, has been visiting Jammu for the past 18 years."Though I hail from Srinagar, I have been regularly visiting the city for the past 18 years to sell the products my wife and I make at a small bakery in a rented shop at the Gujjar Nagar locality.My sons and employees sell the items at various localities”, says Bashir,and adds local residents immensely love the Kashmir bakery products.

"In the morning, you can see a long queue of the locals outside my shop waiting for girdas and lawas which are part of their breakfast.They prefer to take “bakerkhani” and “chuchwaru” with their evening tea,"says Khatji, Bashir’s wife.

Ghulam Hassan (18), son of Bashir, who sells these products at Jewel Chowk in the heart of the city, says people show a lot of enthusiasm and eagerness to purchase the items. "In Kashmir, the competition is more as there are several bakeries.But here the case is different," he said.

The locals say they eagerly wait for the Darbar move so that the bakery products of Kashmir become available here. "Since our migration from the valley 20 years ago, we missed the items very much.But we were overjoyed when we first saw a Kashmir resident selling the bakery products here," said Ajay Ganjoo, a migrant.

"Their products are fresh and taste good.So, I love to eat them even though it is difficult to pronounce their names,” said Anil Mahajan, a local resident.

Jammu, November 11
Though a number of colonies have come up in and around Jammu,no provision seems to have been made for parks for children.

The Jammu Development Authority ( JDA) and the Housing Board which have developed certain residential colonies have not earmarked land with space for tiny tots. In some colonies where there is a provision for public parks, the land has been either turned into dumping ground or encroached upon.

Vice-chairman of JDA Pandurang.K.Pole admits that there are no exclusive parks for children and the existing ones in some colonies are ill-maintained.“We have asked reputed firms, institutions and government undertakings to repair and maintain parks at Roop Nagar, Rajinder Nagar, Janipur and at other places.The firms or institutions who adopt the parks, can display their hoardings on the boundary lines”, Pandurang said.Some firms could also be approached and asked to provide playing facilities once they started maintaining the parks.The JDA vice-chairman also blamed private colonisers for raising haphazard colonies in and around the city.

A bank had developed Iqbal Park at Srinagar which was in bad shape and converted it into a lush green zone, its spokesman said.The bank undertook another such experiment in Jammu where it established a children's park on the Canal Road.But the approach road is so congested that parents hesitate to send their wards there.In fact,it is the only park for children in the city. However, they have to pay an entry fee for access to swings and other attractions.

A majority of private schools have also created a mess with the open spaces they have gathered for their institutions.”Such educational institutions charge an annual games fund from kids and they don't have any playgrounds'', regretted a resident.

Soon, the people of Jammu and Kashmir will get a chance to elect representatives of their choice to run the government in the state. Though most of the parties have welcomed the holding of the assembly elections, the separatists have opposed them. The logic behind their boycott is that the elections cannot help resolve the crisis. Their decision to hold protests on polling days is unfortunate. Instead of staying away from the elections and declaring their intentions to disrupt the poll process, the separatists should have made efforts to make the democratic exercise a success by participating in the battle of the ballot. That is the only way to meet the aspirations of the people they claim to represent.

—A. Kumar, Jammu

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