Permamove or Permacrisis. It is the chicken and the egg story.

Who came first?

Who caused the stir?

Was it the movement of human race in search of progress or was the social, political or environmental calamity; that caused them to move?

This is the story of the Early man, the Progressed man and now Harassed Man. Desperate to find a place they can call home. A discernable and permanent circular casualty in the world order.

I often wonder at the application forms that applicants have to fill, mentioning their – current address, permanent address and correspondence address. In most case they don’t match and in some cases it is ‘same as the above’. Now it gets me to wonder further, who are the chosen few who prosper in the joy of living in the same neighbourhood their entire life. Who are those who regale in the happiness of retelling tales of their childhood to their progenies; of the many sibling fights, the running between the narrow lanes and by-lanes, the piqued role-plays, the rooms that smelt of their baby days, the oil stain on the kitchen walls and the memories of the bygone moments?

Human race is churning. There is crisis all around. Under the shadow of fear, millions of mass movements are happening across the globe. Displacements, migrations, uprooting are terms in common parlance now.  Ethnicity, individuality, traditions and nativity are fancied now. Human dignity, self-respect and cultural honour are misplaced in the humdrum now.

Play of geo-politics has caused enough and more upheaval. Compromised wave of immigrants travelled form Middle-eastern countries towards eastern Europe. They are since eternity fighting the battle of ownership. Another wave of harassed indigenous people are homeless in the transcontinental region between Asia and Europe and are looking for safer havens. African countries have been the top country of birth of immigrants since times unmemorable. South and North America has since when been witnessing hordes of families and communities moving from one end to the other.

Indian subcontinent has since inception been at the receiving end –millions of people have travelled through mountain ways, water ways and desert ways to walk on the Indian soil. The story of the benevolent king from Sanjan in Gujrat, who gave shelter to the Parsis, a Zorastrian community is of common knowledge. After the Islamist conquest of Persia (ancient Iran) they were being persecuted by the new rulers and therefore they sought refuge somewhere else. Since 1300 years, generations of Parsis have lived in India, contributing to the economy and growth of their adopted home. Everyone is living in peace and mutual respect. Their inculcation has given a new diversity to the already vibrant Indian cultural fabric.

But, their people who have lived on this land, will they address themselves as Parsis or Indians? Will their ethnicity get diluted in the diversity of India or will their new generation consider this separation from the homeland as opportunity for resurrection and restoration of their Parsi culture? It is all very complex.

Migrants who leave their native places in a planned manner looking for greener pastures and economic prosperity, are confident of an entire ecosystem of their culture; thriving and flourishing under the guidance of their brethren who are left behind. But those entire communities and populace who have fled and escaped from their own home and hearth because of looming threat from extremist and radicals; have to create their own and new universe – in a distant land.

Do cultures and sub-cultures get created by the amalgamation of many migrant and indigenous stories? Or is it because of the resistance to outsiders, that the culture in urban areas is stifled and forever jostling in the chaos? Or is the resistance important for people to knit a third dimension to the story of their native culture?

The intangible memories, emotions, attachments, stories, anecdotes and experiences travel many miles along with the migrant. What the harassed soul leaves behind is the comfort and the security of the hearth. The safety of the bricks and mortals, he called as home.

Such is my story too. A new category of people displaced internally. New Delhi, became the new home for many of us. She accepted all with warmth, but with occasional lambasting for the complains about the weather, compressed living spaces and the food items. Soon INA market became the tryst for every Kashmiri Pandit. Our greens, spices, sundry for festivities and religious events became OTC items. The non-garlic and non-onion recipes became a hit with our Jaini neighbours and friends, but our Sunday ritual of Roghanjosh-for-lunch could not be fathomed by our vegetarian counterparts. They were introduced to a confused yet accomplished concoction of Saatvit and Taamsik cuisine.

The entire community of around 4 lakh people, ranging from a newborn to a nonagenarian got into the job of living Life 2.0; outside of the native land. Existential and survival challenges took the prime of many young immigrants, who spent all their faculties at providing for school, college, food, shelter, medicine, health care and safe neighbourhood for their uprooted wives, children and aging parents. The social cohesiveness and coziness, philosophical and intellectual dialogues, poetry and humour in the native language, salubrious climatic, processing of thoughts and ideas, freedom of interaction and independently moving around in the land of their ancestors; the harmonious balance of life was missing at the adopted home.

It’s only fair to raise a question on culture here. A community butchered and exiled: should they be preserving their cultural obligations first or should they be focusing on roti, kapda and makaan? The answer may be obvious, but then who should be held responsible for the restoration of the soft history? Perhaps, the answer lies in understanding that there was no returning to the homeland and it was about time that the imposing Ancient Kashmiri culture and history be resurrected.

Available data reflects that the average years for exiled communities to work on their cultural restoration ranged from 5 years to 250 years, from the date of their fleeing their native land. Factors like education, political awareness, social institutions, etc.may have contributed to the early dawn in few successful cases. Cultural and intellectual renaissance of the native music, dance, food, art, literature, fashion and theatre may have taken approximately 250 years for the African-American, 10-20 years for the Armenian who survived the Ottoman genocide and 5-10 years for the Jewish diaspora. Preservation of culture is a relentless effort, which does not show any overnight tangible results. Multilayers and many subcultures create a civilisation of pride and honour.

However, the question remains. Those of us, called the Harassed Man, who are dwelling in adopted homes, does the hard work done to maintain our ethnic culture become an intrinsic part of the cultural fabric of the benevolent land or does that get accounted to the cultural history of our ethnicity?

Avanti is an author, educator and trainer whose writing is inspired by her deep connection to Kashmir. Her books—Catching The Fading Ray, a collection of folk tales from her childhood; The Kashmir That Was, which captures the romanticised memories of a bygone era; and Ancient and Lost Temples of Kashmir, highlighting the region’s forgotten heritage—reflect her passion for preserving Kashmir’s cultural and historical legacy. Avanti’s work is featured in anthologies such as Crossed and Knotted and Defiant Dreams and her opinion pieces appear in publications like Daily Excelsior, Women’s Web and Madras Courier. A fellow of ‘The Way of Writing with Natalie Goldberg’, she is currently working on projects about the culinary culture of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, and the challenges faced by displaced adolescents. Researching and writing about Kashmir’s cultural history is her greatest passion.