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Everyone has that special something for their hometown. It's just that right now they want something more and don't want their wings to be clipped. We try and find out why youngsters don't mind a nice short stay in Jammu, but completely rule out settling down here. Is it merely a job compulsion or something else? Been there, done all that and now back to square one to initiate change! Sounds heroic indeed, but who will bell the cat, who will bugle the change and lack of job opportunities, lack of institutes for higher education, lack of good private hospitals, the lifestyle, the comfort and the list goes on……A teenager growing up in a small town, for sure, wants to get away from it all one day, to a big city, or abroad, anywhere but the boring old small town and its conservative culture, at least once to feel alive and experience life on his/her own terms. Reasons to migrate For some, there are too many reasons for migration of these sorts and job opportunities seem to be eating up the major chunk of the pie. Besides, there is still a decent chunk of youngsters, who come back to their hometown in search of government jobs and a more relaxed lifestyle, where they don't have to slog for hours and are closer to their family. But then staying with the family, holding the baton of family customs, rituals and be able to concentrate on work is quite a nightmare for others! “I do feel like packing my bags and coming home at times, but unfortunately I don't have many job options in Jammu. In my case since I am doing MD in surgery, so I would want to learn more and don't know about the future. So, I feel it's better for me to be here,” says Neha, who is studying at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. “These days it's an in thing to party in discothèques and in a place like Jammu there are no good party places when compared to Delhi, Mumbai or even Chandigarh for that matter, which is just nine hours away from here. Chandigarh, despite a small city still has a lot to offer,” says Dhyuti, a student at Rayat and Bahra Institute of Engineering and biotechnology near Chandigarh. And for others it's much beyond job compulsion, it's the freedom, lifestyle and, above all, the company and the society that matters the most. There are those who feel that they don't know what to talk to people after a point here, as they now belong to a different 'open culture'. “I feel that even after so many years, Jammu might have a McDonald’s today and a lot of money, but the society hasn't changed much. The thing that I miss the most here is having a good company and a meaningful conversation. Also, being a girl, an insecurity of being treated equally with men in small towns is always there,” says a leading corporate lawyer, presently working in Bombay. For many people who have stayed in Jammu for long and have moved out, they feel that this place is so cut off from the rest of the world, as if it lives in a cocoon. But the beauty of the place is that it's a warm and secure place,unlike the metros and it’s always nice to come back for a few days. “Personally, I love coming back home. It gives a much-needed break. Though college life is quite awesome, but there is a continuous pressure to excel. And no matter how much I like staying here, living in a town like Samba near Jammu for over a month is not beneficial, as there are no hobby classes out here which can make my short stay productive.” People gradually start loving their freedom and independence and find it annoying when someone interferes. Away from the family, you are independent, which also means seeking 'no permissions'. A few of my friends often complain about their families meddling in every other matter. Some get so attuned to this that they start considering responsibilities as a burden and don't wish to look back, feels Parth Gupta, an engineering student at IIT Roorkee. Lack of job opportunities The biggest hassle why people don't prefer to come back is lack of good job opportunities. Otherwise, it's one of the best places one can think of. There is no pollution and life is so calm and peaceful here. It does not have any infrastructure to either provide youngsters with good jobs or generate their own. There are hardly any industries and the ones that are there don't pay well.I am about to finish my PhD and would love tocome back to my native place. But I can't see any other job except for some sarkari naukri in a college or a university and that too isn't so easy to get due to limited seats. Is it really necessary to go far and wide. Life could have been so much easier if only one could find exciting and inspiring things within their hometown too. Hopefully, the authorities will bring that change sooner than later!
The Royal Flush ON a visit to England a few years ago we went to the Hevr Castle in Kent where, nearly 500 years ago, Anne Boleyn lived while she was being courted by Henry VIII, and while she still had her head attached securely to her shoulders. We were shown on the upper floors the suite where the suitor would be lodged. In one corner was the toilet built especially for him. It was a alcove in the wall in which rested a 3x3 feet board (he was a big man) with an opening in the middle. A curtain hung on a string in front, which was drawn by him to ensure privacy.
The seat was, I surmised, located directly above the moat surrounding the castle. This solved the plumbing problem. Moreover, the royal droppings would fall directly into the water several feet below and awareness of this hazard would definitely have acted as deterrent to any invaders wanting to swim across. The flip side was that in the winter any cold updraft arising from the ground may have caused acute discomfort to the exposed posterior of the sovereign. Even in basic human functions, royalty does get special treatment. It was the same when their majesties, King George V and Queen Mary came to India a hundred years ago. Important sidelights of the trip were lost in the descriptions of the pomp and pageantry. One of these has been recounted by Javier Moro in Passion India, a biography of Anita Delgado, a Spanish cabaret artiste who became Prem Kaur after she married Jagatjit Singh, the Raja of Kapurthala, in Punjab and became his fifth wife (but who, later, had an affair with her step son, got pregnant, was divorced and then banished from India). Moro says that their majesties went around several states in their Indian domain during the tour. At every location their quarters were suitably spruced up. The ‘thrones’ in the loos, too, had to be upgraded in a manner befitting the royal requirements. In circa 1911 in India even most princely residences would have had the good old thunder boxes – so called because the tiny, tinny receptacles resonated with high decibel sounds each time they were put to use.
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These were found unsuitable for the imperial bottoms as the mother country had switched over to the flush system. In one particular state in central India, a contraption where a chain had to be pulled to release the water, was hastily ordered by the local prince from London, as a special gesture of fealty to his liege. For those times this was avante garde stuff but, unfortunately, the technicians who could assemble the apparatus did not arrive in time. There was panic in the local palace because their majesties could not be expected to relieve themselves — horror of horrors — in the lowly commode or in a Henry VIII-style hole-in-the wall. Indian ingenuity saved the day. The cistern, it appears, was placed on the roof. And a hole was made in the wall. Men were placed in two strategic positions – one on the roof next to the cistern and another where he could observe through the opening. As soon as either of the majesties ended his or her performance and pulled the chain, the man watching through the hole gave a signal and the one on the roof poured water into the cistern, which went gurgling down into the potty, flushing its contents down the sewer. Prestige of the Empire was thus upheld even in the backwaters of feudal India.