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[Reader-list] A review of Rajesh Jala’s Floating lamp of the Shadow valley - Lalit Ambardar
Aditya Raj Kaul kauladityaraj at gmail.com
Fri Feb 8 12:25:16 IST 2008
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*A review of Rajesh Jala's Floating lamp of the Shadow valley …*
**Lalit Ambardar*
It is a paradox that the tragedy of Kashmir has been allowed to be presented
to the world at large mostly by the very protagonists of the ongoing
turmoil. Ruthless competition within the budding TV media in India has only
helped the secessionists acquire political legitimacy what with the channels
vying with each other to host them. Film makers have done no better. The
absence of Kashmir in mainstream fiction cinema is understandable due to the
obvious reasons. In the bygone days it used to be an unwritten 'must' to
include at least one song sequence picturised in the scenic valley. *Roja &
Mission Kashmir* did highlight the issue of pan Islamic terrorism & to a
great extent managed to actually show the menace prevailing in the valley.
Many other films did attempt too but failed to make any significant impact.
It is ironic that the documentaries that have generally been depicting only
the alleged human rights violation in the valley often to the extent that
these could at best be labelled as propaganda films made at the behest of
the vested interests, are well received by the self proclaimed liberals
while the films focussing on the plight of common Kashmiris hardly find any
audience.
Documentary film makers have a greater responsibility as they are expected
to reach out to the opinion makers & the civil society in general. They need
to be unbiased in all respects. But unfortunately there is a tendency to
overlook the fact that the much spoken about social fabric called
'Kashmiriyat' today stands ruptured almost beyond repair what with the near
total aboriginal Pandit community continuing to languish in exile for the
past eighteen years now. The impact of mindless violence on the common
Kashmiri Muslim folks is generally ignored. It is a pity that the writers,
columnists, artists, film makers & intellectuals & the civil society in
general continue to be lackadaisical towards the growing political stature
of the those responsible for founding the 'gun culture' in the valley & who
have now a vested interest in the on going strife, while the vast majority
of hapless Kashmiris continues to mourn the tragedy of their venerated MAUJ
KASHIR in silence.
*Read the entire piece on* -
http://shehjar.kashmirgroup.com/Admin/magazineresourcepage.do?pageUrl=/files/resources/zip/080127090031_Floating-lamp_Shadow_valley/index.html&MAG_ID=8
Thanks
Aditya Raj Kaul
Campaign Blog - www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Article in "THE INEPENDENT"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/life-in-a-war-zone-the-boy-who-is-the-boatman-of-kashmir-412379.html
Life in a war zone: The boy who is the boatman of Kashmir
With his father away, fighting in the war with India, nine-year-old Arif has a family to support - by ferrying people across the Dal Lake. Now his extraordinary story has been made into a film. By Justin Huggler
Friday, 18 August 2006
As the sun slowly sinks into the waters of Kashmir's famous Dal Lake, the water and the air merge in a glowing vision of fire. Across the shimmering bronze cuts a solitary, gondola-like boat. The boatman standing upright in the stern is a small boy who deftly steers with a single oar.
These are the opening scenes of a remarkable documentary on Kashmir that is up for inclusion in next month's Raindance festival in London. Floating Lamp of the Shadow Valley tells the story of a nine-year-old boatman who has become the sole breadwinner for his family. The tourists on the houseboats probably see Arif Dar as he threads his way past on his simple wooden boat, but it is unlikely they realise how much rests on his young shoulders. By ferrying passengers across the lake, he has to earn enough to support his mother, his three brothers and his sister.
They are victims of the war between the Indian army and Islamic militants in Kashmir. But Arif's father is not dead; he is a militant, too busy fighting to support his family. This story of the resilience of a nine-year-old boy who has taken over the responsibilities of his father plays out against the haunting beauty of Kashmir, the lake carpeted with lotus, Arif's boat gliding through bowers, blossom blowing on the breeze.
The story behind the making of Floating Lamp is as remarkable as the film. This is a documentary that has been made by a director who was in constant personal danger from the militants while he was in Kashmir, yet stayed for a year to film Arif's story. Rajesh Jala worked his way into the life of a Kashmiri militant's family, although his own father had been specifically targeted by the militants years before.
Mr Jala is a member of the community most at risk in Kashmir, and the last people you would expect to risk their lives to tell of Kashmiri Muslim suffering. He is a Kashmiri Hindu, of the Kashmiri Pundits, the Valley's Hindu minority, who were forced to flee their homeland, all 300,000 of them, when the militants started systematically killing them in the 1990s.
Mr Jala had to abandon his home when he was 20, when a neighbour came in the dead of night to warn the family that the militants were going to kill his father. Today the Pundits are a refugee people, most living in tent cities and camps in northern India. With their own disaster to deal with, few have found the time to worry about the sufferings of the Muslim community that they feel pushed them out. Mr Jala is the exception.
"I have my roots," he says. "My heart belongs to Kashmir. I don't hold every Kashmiri Muslim responsible for the violence there. They too are suffering. I wanted to do something to show the world that the people are suffering. I first saw Arif in 2004. I had gone back to Kashmir on a shoot for another documentary. I saw this kid baling out his boat."
It was not a shikara, the grand boats much like Venetian gondolas on which the tourists glide across the lake. It was a naav, one of the simpler boats that are used to ferry passengers across.
"He thought I was a foreigner: I had long hair and I was wearing a photographer's jacket, and he spoke to me in English. I told him, 'I'm Kashmiri'. He said, 'I'll take you out on the lake for a tour'. I was amazed. Another kid came up behind us and said 'Don't go out with him, he's a very bad rower'. He even claimed Arif had drowned a passenger. But I had a strange feeling; I thought this could lead somewhere. I decided to go."
It was a compulsion that led Mr Jala to make one of the most powerful films to come out of Kashmir. Arif's story is one that transcends the endless struggle between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Faced with an absentee father who did not provide for them, the family was destitute. There are few opportunities for a woman from a poor background to earn a living in conservative Kashmir. Arif's mother made a little money with a spinning-wheel. With it, she bought her son a boat, and he became the sole provider for a family in the midst of war. In Mr Jala's words, he is "facing challenges that have adults on their knees".
The film shows the two sides to Arif's life. At one moment, he is playing rough and tumble with his brothers, fighting over a toy gun, and crying when his mother scolds him. At the next, he is staring thoughtfully out at the lake and weighing up the family's problems like a grown man, trying to shut out the sound of his brothers playing. "I will educate my brothers and sister," he says. "We will get my sister married. I will fulfil my mother's dreams."
Arif works for the family, but he also goes to school. When Mr Jala asks Arif's sister, Rosy, on camera what would have happened if Arif had not become a child boatman, she answers simply: "We would have died."
You can feel Arif's exhaustion as he tries to dig his boat out of the frozen surface of the lake in winter, armed only with his oar, fighting for breath in the icy air. In the monsoon, he works with a huge leaf from a chinar, the tree that is Kashmir's symbol, draped over his head to keep the rain off. The leaf flies off in a gust of wind, and Arif runs the length of the boat and leans out over the water with his oar to retrieve it, all without rocking the boat.
The film revels in the beauty of Kashmir's changing seasons. At one point, Arif disappears into the dark under a bridge from the ice and mists of winter and emerges into the riot of green that is the spring thaw. His boat laden with fresh vegetables, he heads to the famous "floating vegetable market", which is conducted from boats floating on the lake, scolding an adult boatman who tries to pinch some of his vegetables.
But his life is not immune to the world outside. Arif got caught up in the shoot-out in central Srinagar last year when the militants attacked the visitors' centre, from where the first direct bus to Pakistani-held Kashmir was to depart, and Mr Jala was there to film it.
When Mr Jala asks him how he feels after he has escaped without injury, Arif says his only thought was of his father. "He could have been there," he says of the militants who were shooting at him. "He could have been one of them."
The film does not shirk from depicting the abuses committed by the Indian security forces against Muslims, a taboo in most polite Indian society, which does not accept they happen. At a recent showing of the film at a fashionable party in Delhi, there were dark mutterings from some guests when it showed a Muslim shopkeeper explaining how the army burnt his shop down.
Ari was also affected by last year's devastating Kashmir earthquake. His family home is a makeshift hut on the edge of the lake, hammered together from old bits of wooden doors and corrugated iron roofing.
It was badly damaged in the earthquake, and Mr Jala filmed as Arif found his limits. Unable to deal with the heavy repairs, the family had to turn to Arif's father, who, for once, came through for them and repaired the hut. But at the end of the film, it is wrecked again, this time by the local authorities, who demolish it as an illegal structure.
For Mr Jala, filming the family as they faced the prospect of losing their home must have brought uncomfortable memories. When he was forced to flee Kashmir in 1990, he moved to a temporary refugee shelter in Delhi.
Although it was housed in a community centre in the fashionable South Extension neighbourhood, the shelter was anything but comfortable. Twenty-seven families were crammed together, and for the first few years, there was not enough space for everyone to lie down at night.
Mr Jala spent the nights sleeping in the open in the park, or under the balcony of the community centre during the monsoon rains. It is an experience that could easily have embittered him towards Kashmiri Muslims: his family had to abandon their home, they lost everything at the hands of the militants.
The Pundits did not stand a chance when the militants came after them. They were 300,000 living amid more than four million Muslims, and most, like Mr Jala, did not live together in Hindu neighbourhoods, but in houses dotted among Muslim ones.
"We had bad times in Kashmir; we were on the receiving end," he says. "But my friends in Kashmir were Muslims. When the militants wanted to kill my father, it was a Muslim neighbour who came in the night to warn us. We owe her."
Many Kashmiri Hindus have made return trips to their homeland. But most carefully stick to well-guarded areas in central Srinagar. Mr Jala went off the map. He spent day after day filming at Arif's home, in a slum area next to a militant camp. He had to persuade Arif's father, a militant, to let a member of the very Hindu community the militants had "cleansed" from Kashmir film inside his house.
"I never advertised the fact that I was Hindu, but I never lied about it either," he says. "In Arif's neighbourhood, everyone knew I was Hindu. Arif's father knew. He was extremely reluctant. He didn't want to let us shoot. But after he saw we were helping the family, he agreed to let us."
The result is one of the most haunting documentaries this year. Arif's story would be remarkable without the backdrop of the Kashmir conflict.
As he continues to support his family, it is hard to escape the feeling that, at only nine, he knows more about how to be a man than his militant father ever will.
Life in a war zone: The boy who is the boatman of Kashmir
With his father away, fighting in the war with India, nine-year-old Arif has a family to support - by ferrying people across the Dal Lake. Now his extraordinary story has been made into a film. By Justin Huggler
Friday, 18 August 2006
As the sun slowly sinks into the waters of Kashmir's famous Dal Lake, the water and the air merge in a glowing vision of fire. Across the shimmering bronze cuts a solitary, gondola-like boat. The boatman standing upright in the stern is a small boy who deftly steers with a single oar.
These are the opening scenes of a remarkable documentary on Kashmir that is up for inclusion in next month's Raindance festival in London. Floating Lamp of the Shadow Valley tells the story of a nine-year-old boatman who has become the sole breadwinner for his family. The tourists on the houseboats probably see Arif Dar as he threads his way past on his simple wooden boat, but it is unlikely they realise how much rests on his young shoulders. By ferrying passengers across the lake, he has to earn enough to support his mother, his three brothers and his sister.
They are victims of the war between the Indian army and Islamic militants in Kashmir. But Arif's father is not dead; he is a militant, too busy fighting to support his family. This story of the resilience of a nine-year-old boy who has taken over the responsibilities of his father plays out against the haunting beauty of Kashmir, the lake carpeted with lotus, Arif's boat gliding through bowers, blossom blowing on the breeze.
The story behind the making of Floating Lamp is as remarkable as the film. This is a documentary that has been made by a director who was in constant personal danger from the militants while he was in Kashmir, yet stayed for a year to film Arif's story. Rajesh Jala worked his way into the life of a Kashmiri militant's family, although his own father had been specifically targeted by the militants years before.
Mr Jala is a member of the community most at risk in Kashmir, and the last people you would expect to risk their lives to tell of Kashmiri Muslim suffering. He is a Kashmiri Hindu, of the Kashmiri Pundits, the Valley's Hindu minority, who were forced to flee their homeland, all 300,000 of them, when the militants started systematically killing them in the 1990s.
Mr Jala had to abandon his home when he was 20, when a neighbour came in the dead of night to warn the family that the militants were going to kill his father. Today the Pundits are a refugee people, most living in tent cities and camps in northern India. With their own disaster to deal with, few have found the time to worry about the sufferings of the Muslim community that they feel pushed them out. Mr Jala is the exception.
"I have my roots," he says. "My heart belongs to Kashmir. I don't hold every Kashmiri Muslim responsible for the violence there. They too are suffering. I wanted to do something to show the world that the people are suffering. I first saw Arif in 2004. I had gone back to Kashmir on a shoot for another documentary. I saw this kid baling out his boat."
It was not a shikara, the grand boats much like Venetian gondolas on which the tourists glide across the lake. It was a naav, one of the simpler boats that are used to ferry passengers across.
"He thought I was a foreigner: I had long hair and I was wearing a photographer's jacket, and he spoke to me in English. I told him, 'I'm Kashmiri'. He said, 'I'll take you out on the lake for a tour'. I was amazed. Another kid came up behind us and said 'Don't go out with him, he's a very bad rower'. He even claimed Arif had drowned a passenger. But I had a strange feeling; I thought this could lead somewhere. I decided to go."
It was a compulsion that led Mr Jala to make one of the most powerful films to come out of Kashmir. Arif's story is one that transcends the endless struggle between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Faced with an absentee father who did not provide for them, the family was destitute. There are few opportunities for a woman from a poor background to earn a living in conservative Kashmir. Arif's mother made a little money with a spinning-wheel. With it, she bought her son a boat, and he became the sole provider for a family in the midst of war. In Mr Jala's words, he is "facing challenges that have adults on their knees".
The film shows the two sides to Arif's life. At one moment, he is playing rough and tumble with his brothers, fighting over a toy gun, and crying when his mother scolds him. At the next, he is staring thoughtfully out at the lake and weighing up the family's problems like a grown man, trying to shut out the sound of his brothers playing. "I will educate my brothers and sister," he says. "We will get my sister married. I will fulfil my mother's dreams."
Arif works for the family, but he also goes to school. When Mr Jala asks Arif's sister, Rosy, on camera what would have happened if Arif had not become a child boatman, she answers simply: "We would have died."
You can feel Arif's exhaustion as he tries to dig his boat out of the frozen surface of the lake in winter, armed only with his oar, fighting for breath in the icy air. In the monsoon, he works with a huge leaf from a chinar, the tree that is Kashmir's symbol, draped over his head to keep the rain off. The leaf flies off in a gust of wind, and Arif runs the length of the boat and leans out over the water with his oar to retrieve it, all without rocking the boat.
The film revels in the beauty of Kashmir's changing seasons. At one point, Arif disappears into the dark under a bridge from the ice and mists of winter and emerges into the riot of green that is the spring thaw. His boat laden with fresh vegetables, he heads to the famous "floating vegetable market", which is conducted from boats floating on the lake, scolding an adult boatman who tries to pinch some of his vegetables.
But his life is not immune to the world outside. Arif got caught up in the shoot-out in central Srinagar last year when the militants attacked the visitors' centre, from where the first direct bus to Pakistani-held Kashmir was to depart, and Mr Jala was there to film it.
When Mr Jala asks him how he feels after he has escaped without injury, Arif says his only thought was of his father. "He could have been there," he says of the militants who were shooting at him. "He could have been one of them."
The film does not shirk from depicting the abuses committed by the Indian security forces against Muslims, a taboo in most polite Indian society, which does not accept they happen. At a recent showing of the film at a fashionable party in Delhi, there were dark mutterings from some guests when it showed a Muslim shopkeeper explaining how the army burnt his shop down.
Ari was also affected by last year's devastating Kashmir earthquake. His family home is a makeshift hut on the edge of the lake, hammered together from old bits of wooden doors and corrugated iron roofing.
It was badly damaged in the earthquake, and Mr Jala filmed as Arif found his limits. Unable to deal with the heavy repairs, the family had to turn to Arif's father, who, for once, came through for them and repaired the hut. But at the end of the film, it is wrecked again, this time by the local authorities, who demolish it as an illegal structure.
For Mr Jala, filming the family as they faced the prospect of losing their home must have brought uncomfortable memories. When he was forced to flee Kashmir in 1990, he moved to a temporary refugee shelter in Delhi.
Although it was housed in a community centre in the fashionable South Extension neighbourhood, the shelter was anything but comfortable. Twenty-seven families were crammed together, and for the first few years, there was not enough space for everyone to lie down at night.
Mr Jala spent the nights sleeping in the open in the park, or under the balcony of the community centre during the monsoon rains. It is an experience that could easily have embittered him towards Kashmiri Muslims: his family had to abandon their home, they lost everything at the hands of the militants.
The Pundits did not stand a chance when the militants came after them. They were 300,000 living amid more than four million Muslims, and most, like Mr Jala, did not live together in Hindu neighbourhoods, but in houses dotted among Muslim ones.
"We had bad times in Kashmir; we were on the receiving end," he says. "But my friends in Kashmir were Muslims. When the militants wanted to kill my father, it was a Muslim neighbour who came in the night to warn us. We owe her."
Many Kashmiri Hindus have made return trips to their homeland. But most carefully stick to well-guarded areas in central Srinagar. Mr Jala went off the map. He spent day after day filming at Arif's home, in a slum area next to a militant camp. He had to persuade Arif's father, a militant, to let a member of the very Hindu community the militants had "cleansed" from Kashmir film inside his house.
"I never advertised the fact that I was Hindu, but I never lied about it either," he says. "In Arif's neighbourhood, everyone knew I was Hindu. Arif's father knew. He was extremely reluctant. He didn't want to let us shoot. But after he saw we were helping the family, he agreed to let us."
The result is one of the most haunting documentaries this year. Arif's story would be remarkable without the backdrop of the Kashmir conflict.
As he continues to support his family, it is hard to escape the feeling that, at only nine, he knows more about how to be a man than his militant father ever will.
Article on a blog
This Article is posted by Sudipto Basu on http://sudiptopondering.blogspot.com/2008/06/floating-lamp-of-shadow-valley.html
Monday, 2 June 2008
Floating Lamp of Shadow Valley
"If there's paradise on Earth, it is this, it is this."
Kashmir. The closest thing to heaven on Earth. A valley sparkling in serene beauty-- snow capped mountains, moss-covered lakes, trees adorned in brilliant green, boathouses, and a little boy named Arif.
This is the story of a boat-"man". Of Arif. A nine-year old child who has the wondrous eyes to look at his world; who, at this tender age, knows what is duty and what is whim, what is right
and what is wrong. This is the story of Arif. And of a reason why I still want to live.
The sole earning member of a family of six, Arif gets up every morning and goes out with his boat for a day's work. He has to work every day; for if he doesn't, the whole family will have to go without food. With such a firm responsibility placed on his tender shoulders, Arif has accepted his fate with cheerful happiness. That is why the cold winter days cannot subdue his spirit-- he still manages to push his boat through the frozen Dal lake with firm determination. His thin arms have already developed the strength to push the oar through such a difficult terrain, which is no different from Arif's own life. And Arif knows that his arms have to push the oar forward so that he can reach the other bank-- for that is where his dreams lie.
Arif lives in a small shack built on the edge of the water with his mother and four other siblings:
two little brothers, an elder sister and a little one too! His father is a terrorist, who does not take care of the family but wastes his time swaying between gun and dope. Hence, Arif has been left with no other choice. On a good day, he gets about 50 rupees from ferrying passengers to and fro. And he hands all of the money to his mother, who is slowly saving up so that one day they can buy some land of their own and build a house.
When asked about his father, Arif says that he does not care for him. Arif knows that what his father is doing is not right, and he does not mince his words when expressing so. Even at the early age of nine, Arif has already learnt one of the greatest, and yet undeniably important lessons in life-- killing people is unpardonable and wrong. He could easily have chosen the gun to eradicate his misery. He picked up the oar at the age of seven instead. Rightly has Dumbledore said that it is choices that ultimately decide who we are.
The little boy has witnessed the burning face of terror himself-- once when he was in Srinagar, the tourist department was blown up by terrorists before Arif's own eyes. That was the day before the now (in)famous Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus started as a conciliatory gesture between India and Pakistan. The boy expresses how suddenly fear struck him that day-- fear not for his safety-- fear from apprehension and a terrible gut-feeling: what if one of the terrorists involved is his own father!
Arif's shack has got new holes in the tiled roof. So he sets off for the big city once more with his younger brother to buy a new sheet of plastic to stretch on the roof of hishouse. This time, he takes a different route than the previous time. What if terrorists attack again? Well, terrorists may attack anywhere, but then Arif will have to find another route then! At least, that is what the innocent child thinks.
The house is mended. But the Dal Lake belongs to none, and most certainly not Arif and his family. The authorities have notified Arif's mother that if they do not evacuate within a time bracket, the shack will be torn down. Arif has no answer this time. He does not know where he will go if his house is demolished. But he knows one thing-- that there is only one gateway to a bright future: education. And hence, Arif takes himself and his siblings school by himself on his dear old boat (which has gone through a repair already so that it does not fall apart from being worn down by water and weather). The image of a nine-year old child in school uniform rowing four other children in his own boat is heartening-- the boy is already performing a duty that elders do. A young boy shouldering the responsibility of grown-ups is something that is rare in our 'normal' world. Perhaps, only desperate times and situations rear mature men! Oh, how happy would I have been to see people my age become only half as mature and responsible as Arif!
And yet for all his maturity, Arif is a child. A child at heart, not one merely by age. It's raining hard, and Arif has a huge lotus leaf perched on his head to protect him from the downpour. And suddenly he notices a small pup playfully balancing itself in a small "island" of floating debris in the lake. A boy who has no friends because he has suddenly grown up so much has a new companion now. He takes the pup home with him, lovingly caressing it's fur in between bursts of rowing. The children rejoice in the arrival of a new friend back at home. But happiness abandons the family again. The little dog is run over by a car. And it is absolutely heartbreaking to see tears rolling down the cheeks of all the small children as they give their lamp of shortlived mirth a proper Muslim farewell.
It's good bye time for us too. Who knows what happens to Arif? No one. And yet, as a viewer, I am optimistic. Perhaps he is still ferrying passengers. Perhaps his family have finally succeeded in affording a plot of land of their own. But we do know one thing. We know that there is something to learn from this story. A few things from that little child. The school-shooting champions (if you know what I mean!) could learn a bit of right and wrong. The spoilt and pampered brat could learn a bit of responsibility. And, maybe, everyone of us could learn a whole lot of unaffected innocence.
Monday, 2 June 2008
Floating Lamp of Shadow Valley
"If there's paradise on Earth, it is this, it is this."
Kashmir. The closest thing to heaven on Earth. A valley sparkling in serene beauty-- snow capped mountains, moss-covered lakes, trees adorned in brilliant green, boathouses, and a little boy named Arif.
This is the story of a boat-"man". Of Arif. A nine-year old child who has the wondrous eyes to look at his world; who, at this tender age, knows what is duty and what is whim, what is right
and what is wrong. This is the story of Arif. And of a reason why I still want to live.
The sole earning member of a family of six, Arif gets up every morning and goes out with his boat for a day's work. He has to work every day; for if he doesn't, the whole family will have to go without food. With such a firm responsibility placed on his tender shoulders, Arif has accepted his fate with cheerful happiness. That is why the cold winter days cannot subdue his spirit-- he still manages to push his boat through the frozen Dal lake with firm determination. His thin arms have already developed the strength to push the oar through such a difficult terrain, which is no different from Arif's own life. And Arif knows that his arms have to push the oar forward so that he can reach the other bank-- for that is where his dreams lie.
Arif lives in a small shack built on the edge of the water with his mother and four other siblings:
two little brothers, an elder sister and a little one too! His father is a terrorist, who does not take care of the family but wastes his time swaying between gun and dope. Hence, Arif has been left with no other choice. On a good day, he gets about 50 rupees from ferrying passengers to and fro. And he hands all of the money to his mother, who is slowly saving up so that one day they can buy some land of their own and build a house.
When asked about his father, Arif says that he does not care for him. Arif knows that what his father is doing is not right, and he does not mince his words when expressing so. Even at the early age of nine, Arif has already learnt one of the greatest, and yet undeniably important lessons in life-- killing people is unpardonable and wrong. He could easily have chosen the gun to eradicate his misery. He picked up the oar at the age of seven instead. Rightly has Dumbledore said that it is choices that ultimately decide who we are.
The little boy has witnessed the burning face of terror himself-- once when he was in Srinagar, the tourist department was blown up by terrorists before Arif's own eyes. That was the day before the now (in)famous Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus started as a conciliatory gesture between India and Pakistan. The boy expresses how suddenly fear struck him that day-- fear not for his safety-- fear from apprehension and a terrible gut-feeling: what if one of the terrorists involved is his own father!
Arif's shack has got new holes in the tiled roof. So he sets off for the big city once more with his younger brother to buy a new sheet of plastic to stretch on the roof of hishouse. This time, he takes a different route than the previous time. What if terrorists attack again? Well, terrorists may attack anywhere, but then Arif will have to find another route then! At least, that is what the innocent child thinks.
The house is mended. But the Dal Lake belongs to none, and most certainly not Arif and his family. The authorities have notified Arif's mother that if they do not evacuate within a time bracket, the shack will be torn down. Arif has no answer this time. He does not know where he will go if his house is demolished. But he knows one thing-- that there is only one gateway to a bright future: education. And hence, Arif takes himself and his siblings school by himself on his dear old boat (which has gone through a repair already so that it does not fall apart from being worn down by water and weather). The image of a nine-year old child in school uniform rowing four other children in his own boat is heartening-- the boy is already performing a duty that elders do. A young boy shouldering the responsibility of grown-ups is something that is rare in our 'normal' world. Perhaps, only desperate times and situations rear mature men! Oh, how happy would I have been to see people my age become only half as mature and responsible as Arif!
And yet for all his maturity, Arif is a child. A child at heart, not one merely by age. It's raining hard, and Arif has a huge lotus leaf perched on his head to protect him from the downpour. And suddenly he notices a small pup playfully balancing itself in a small "island" of floating debris in the lake. A boy who has no friends because he has suddenly grown up so much has a new companion now. He takes the pup home with him, lovingly caressing it's fur in between bursts of rowing. The children rejoice in the arrival of a new friend back at home. But happiness abandons the family again. The little dog is run over by a car. And it is absolutely heartbreaking to see tears rolling down the cheeks of all the small children as they give their lamp of shortlived mirth a proper Muslim farewell.
It's good bye time for us too. Who knows what happens to Arif? No one. And yet, as a viewer, I am optimistic. Perhaps he is still ferrying passengers. Perhaps his family have finally succeeded in affording a plot of land of their own. But we do know one thing. We know that there is something to learn from this story. A few things from that little child. The school-shooting champions (if you know what I mean!) could learn a bit of right and wrong. The spoilt and pampered brat could learn a bit of responsibility. And, maybe, everyone of us could learn a whole lot of unaffected innocence.
in "Palm Spring International Film Society"
http://www.psfilmfest.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=13186&fid=29
FLOATING LAMP OF THE SHADOW VALLEY
Floating Lamp Of The Shadow Valley
India, 2006, 64 Minute Running Time
North American Premiere
Topics: Documentary, Political
Program: True Stories
This inspirational documentary features nine-year-old Kashmir boy Arif, who serves as breadwinner of the family after his Muslim militant father abandons them for the sake of the jihad. Jala touches on Arif’s predicament with care and compassion, set in some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world.
DIRECTOR: Rajesh S. Jala
FLOATING LAMP OF THE SHADOW VALLEY
Floating Lamp Of The Shadow Valley
India, 2006, 64 Minute Running Time
North American Premiere
Topics: Documentary, Political
Program: True Stories
This inspirational documentary features nine-year-old Kashmir boy Arif, who serves as breadwinner of the family after his Muslim militant father abandons them for the sake of the jihad. Jala touches on Arif’s predicament with care and compassion, set in some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world.
DIRECTOR: Rajesh S. Jala
Article on "Ideamatters"
http://ideamatters.blogspot.com/2006/10/floating-lamp-of-shadow-valley.html
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Floating Lamp of the Shadow Valley
A beautiful story capturing the white snows, the plush green lotus leaves that dot the Dal Lake, the "Floating Lamp Of The Shadow Valley" takes a special look at Kashmir through the eyes of the protagonist Arif who is the youngest boatman on the Dal Lake. Each day he toils to earn a living in strife-torn Kashmir.
At 10, he is the sole bread-winner for his family of five. Abandoned by their father, a runaway militant, now an unemployed drug addict, Arif and his family live under perennial shadow of tyranny.
It features a day in winter when the boy digs out his boat from the snow.
This little boy is the man of the house. Wading through the frozen waters, he finds his first customer. A frozen lake means no food to eat for their hand-to-mouth existence. Inching his way in the frozen surface of the lake, he tries to make ends meet.
Winter makes way for sunshine and the summer. Tired but hopeful of building a house, educating his siblings, he wades through the moss ridden Dal Lake with hope of a better life and a new dawn for his family. The lamp that lights his little boat will hopefully drive out the dark shadows of despair and helplessness that drives this young child to seek a just earning.
Q. Your father was a terrorist? Was he right or wrong?
Arif Answers: Wrong
"I would like to see Arif achieve great stature in life" says his mother.
Through Arif this documentary examines the state of Kashmir and the awakening of hope.
It captures a day in the life of Arif after 8th Oct 2005 when 70,000 people died in the earthquake. Arif’s house was not spared either – it now stands precariously. Without money for wood, they sought their neighbors help. Arif and his brother crossed the guns to get a water proof sheet to cover their house. There was a festive mood in the street. The new crescent moon indicated the advent of Id and Arif and his brothers go to Jama Masjid to offer their prayers. The brothers run back home announcing their arrival by whistling the lute and their festive best is to cover their roof with the water proof sheet.
The broken houses tell the story of the terrorist attacks on the Pandits, and the deaths of several other Hindus in terrorist incidents.
Seasons are the only things that move in smoothly. Autumn moves in. Arif and his brothers collect the autumn leaves and sets fire to them so that it sustains his family through the dark and cold winters.
Arif in the spring of his life is being the summer and autumn of his family. Arif’s boat is the lifeline of his family but the boat is having seepage and Arif pulls it up to the banks and after performing repairs. Arif’s lifeline is restored. The Authorities have marked his house for demolition. The story details perhaps his last day in that house.
Q: How come it is unfair?
Answers Arif with a shake of his head
Q. What will you do if they demolish the house?
Arif Answers: Nothing … what can we do?
Arif is fighting fate ……so is Kashmir ! The Valley of the Gods lies down in the valley of the dead … stained by the blood of militancy … Kashmir is in the grip of terrorism oscillating between 2 warring nations – India and Pakistan. Both the countries have fought 4 wars, the 5th could be devastating.
The life of the people remains unchanged except for the toil, hardships, and hope…
A wasted land … a defeated people .. as the terrorists gun down life … life slowly ebbs out of the valley …
Arif is the hope of Kashmir who has not picked up a gun but toils in spite of all adversities to create a life in the dying valley !
What are your 3 wishes if God asks you?
Ariif Answers: A big house, 10 lakhs and a Maruti Car
Much like any young child from any other part of India, but for a Kashmiri young child who is the standing hope, this dream seems an impossible one !
The documentary features amazing music and photography capturing the essence of Kashmir.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Floating Lamp of the Shadow Valley
A beautiful story capturing the white snows, the plush green lotus leaves that dot the Dal Lake, the "Floating Lamp Of The Shadow Valley" takes a special look at Kashmir through the eyes of the protagonist Arif who is the youngest boatman on the Dal Lake. Each day he toils to earn a living in strife-torn Kashmir.
At 10, he is the sole bread-winner for his family of five. Abandoned by their father, a runaway militant, now an unemployed drug addict, Arif and his family live under perennial shadow of tyranny.
It features a day in winter when the boy digs out his boat from the snow.
This little boy is the man of the house. Wading through the frozen waters, he finds his first customer. A frozen lake means no food to eat for their hand-to-mouth existence. Inching his way in the frozen surface of the lake, he tries to make ends meet.
Winter makes way for sunshine and the summer. Tired but hopeful of building a house, educating his siblings, he wades through the moss ridden Dal Lake with hope of a better life and a new dawn for his family. The lamp that lights his little boat will hopefully drive out the dark shadows of despair and helplessness that drives this young child to seek a just earning.
Q. Your father was a terrorist? Was he right or wrong?
Arif Answers: Wrong
"I would like to see Arif achieve great stature in life" says his mother.
Through Arif this documentary examines the state of Kashmir and the awakening of hope.
It captures a day in the life of Arif after 8th Oct 2005 when 70,000 people died in the earthquake. Arif’s house was not spared either – it now stands precariously. Without money for wood, they sought their neighbors help. Arif and his brother crossed the guns to get a water proof sheet to cover their house. There was a festive mood in the street. The new crescent moon indicated the advent of Id and Arif and his brothers go to Jama Masjid to offer their prayers. The brothers run back home announcing their arrival by whistling the lute and their festive best is to cover their roof with the water proof sheet.
The broken houses tell the story of the terrorist attacks on the Pandits, and the deaths of several other Hindus in terrorist incidents.
Seasons are the only things that move in smoothly. Autumn moves in. Arif and his brothers collect the autumn leaves and sets fire to them so that it sustains his family through the dark and cold winters.
Arif in the spring of his life is being the summer and autumn of his family. Arif’s boat is the lifeline of his family but the boat is having seepage and Arif pulls it up to the banks and after performing repairs. Arif’s lifeline is restored. The Authorities have marked his house for demolition. The story details perhaps his last day in that house.
Q: How come it is unfair?
Answers Arif with a shake of his head
Q. What will you do if they demolish the house?
Arif Answers: Nothing … what can we do?
Arif is fighting fate ……so is Kashmir ! The Valley of the Gods lies down in the valley of the dead … stained by the blood of militancy … Kashmir is in the grip of terrorism oscillating between 2 warring nations – India and Pakistan. Both the countries have fought 4 wars, the 5th could be devastating.
The life of the people remains unchanged except for the toil, hardships, and hope…
A wasted land … a defeated people .. as the terrorists gun down life … life slowly ebbs out of the valley …
Arif is the hope of Kashmir who has not picked up a gun but toils in spite of all adversities to create a life in the dying valley !
What are your 3 wishes if God asks you?
Ariif Answers: A big house, 10 lakhs and a Maruti Car
Much like any young child from any other part of India, but for a Kashmiri young child who is the standing hope, this dream seems an impossible one !
The documentary features amazing music and photography capturing the essence of Kashmir.
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