POVERTY ,MOTHER , POETRY AND DINA NATH NAADIM

                                                                                 

PORTRAIT OF POET DINA NATH NAADIM

By G R SANTOSH..

HONEST TO THE CORE..

" My mother is the person who developed my interest in kashmiri poetry. After the death of my father, my sister got married . I was a small child just 7years old when father died. I am told that when he died, we had one and half rupee with us.. we could not buy a coffin .Poverty had its supermacy in our family. For many many years, mother and me would eat Haak saag only. Mutton was tasted only once in a year on Herath day . Mother was my sole companion. At Times , I felt extreme loneliness . She would be busy with her spinning wheel (yendher) under an oil lamp.The lamp was burnt when she sat for spinning.There was complete silence in the room except the sound created by spinning wheel. She would not allow me to go out.Possibly she felt insecure.She was possibly fed up with poverty and the life that we lived.When Gandhi Ji arrived on National scene, she felt that someone , who could address poverty stricken masses, had arrived. .Her earnings from the spinning wheel was all that we had for our survival. Right from my 4th class, I had started supplementing her earnings by teaching students of lower classes.

For being poor, We were looked down upon by our relatives in particular and the society in general . I was handsome but had no good clothes to wear . As child , i played with Haanji ( Poor Boatmen ) children who lived on Jhelum Bank close to our House . They shared our poverty .

New Books I could not afford. I would borrow books and then copy entire book on old Newspapers as white paper I could not afford .In 1928, Under this background, I passed my matriculation in first Division.Thereafter I could not afford Rs 2.50 ( Two and a half rupees ) as the college fee though I wanted to study and join college. Finally I did my FA, BA and BT privately after I opened a school / Academy. I may add that Prof. Jay Lal Koul even purchased two Books for me from his pocket and encouraged me to join College But i somehow did not join.

My mother's father was also a poet( Zana Bhat ) .Poet Mehjoor knew my maternal grandfather .My Matamaals( Mother's Parents) were from Muran, a village in close vicinity of Mitregaam .And Mehjoor was from village Mitregaam. So when I met Mehjoor , he told me that he was my Mama (Maternal uncle) as he knew my maternal grandfather's family closely and considered my mother as his sister.

My mother had profound belief in spirituality but she was somewhat agnostic. For deprivation and our poverty, she possibly nursed a complaint against God. She remembered verses of LalDed ,Sheikh Noor Ud Din,Mehmood family, Shamas Faqeer, Prakash Bhat and Krishen joo Razdan. She liked Pudeena Chutney and Rice. I too ate this simple food quite often .She loved flowers .

I recollect a poem that mother composed as she would keep humming her compositions while being busy at the spinning wheel...I quote..

Munn- kuyyi me gilitoor Tchoori Tch'ol

Maeti soa'nta Vanvtum konaa Foa'l

( The early flower within, slipped far away without letting me know,

O crazy spring , Reveal please,

Why it didn't bloom ?)"

(Autar Mota)

Source. A selection  from ...Mulaaqaat...  Interview of Dina Nath Naadim  by MY Taing Former  secretary Cultural Academy J&K ..

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