17 Socio-political Unrest: Abhishek Majumdar’s The Djinns of Eidgah

Dr. Saurabhi Sarmah

Introducing the Playwright:

Abhishek Majumdar is one of the contemporary Indian playwrights who has been able to earn international repute by writing serious works of theatre. He is not only a playwright, but also a director and actor who belong to the young generation of Indian playwrights. Majumdar started his literary career with the adaption of Pratidwandi – a novel by Sunil Gangopadhyaya into a play. Based in Bangalore, Majumdar writes not only in English, but also in other languages like Hindi, Urdu and Bangla.

His plays are mostly set in contemporary times and they deal with the issues like identity, migration, memory, insurgency, loss, violence etc. Majumdar’s plays have been widely staged in the places like Bangalore, Kerala, Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram and Mumbai. His dramatical output includes: Rizwan, Lucknow 76, Afterlife of Birds, An arrangement of shoes, The Djinns of Eidgah, Harlesden High Street etc. Among these plays, Harlesden High Street won the Hindu MetroPlus theatre award in 2008.

Currently, Majumdar is working as the artistic director of Indian Ensemble, a theatre group based in Bengaluru. To his credit, Majumdar was one of the few selected playwrights for The Royal Court Theatre for its “International playwrights: A genesis foundation project in 2012”. His highly acclaimed play The Djinns of Eidgah was a part of this project. The play was staged for continuous three weeks from 18th October to 9th November, 2013 at Royal court theatre, London.

For Majumdar, theatre is a powerful means of imagination. According to him, if theatre has any social role to play, then it the imaginative faculty that theatre induces in us. Theatre is a space where we can let loose our thoughts and imagination. For him, imagination is the greatest faculty for developing humane responsiveness, be it to the Kashmir situation (that he has chosen to represent in his plays) or any other issues. In this technology governed world, arts, especially theatre is a space that provides us with some space us to use our imaginative faculty.

Majumdar considers Dattani as his patron from whom he received his first fellowship to continue his passion. While asked how a writer responds to the suffering of the others, he said that it is a matter of being concerned about others. ‘Pain is not transferable, but you can participate in others pain. If you are sad then I am also sad’ (Majumdar: 2013). He is a writer for whom mythology is very much important that shapes our lives and our attachment with the mythology formulates our identity.

Majumdar’s plays are based on his thorough research on various issues. Theatre is a kind of learning process for him as the act of scripting play is always accompanied by a considerable amount of background research. According to him a play does not happen on stage; it happens in one’s mind. It compels us to think and explore which is really important (Majumdar, 2013). His plays are the visual representation of the numerous questions that he carries in him. Likewise, The Djinns of Eidgah also deals with various questions pertaining to the Kashmir valley.

A brief description of Mamjumdar’s works:

Majumdar believes that theatre is a collaborative art; hence he puts extra effort in team building and performance. He uses this collaborative art to explore the complex questions/issues which constitute the seeds of his plays. Almost all his plays are performed before they are published and each of the new performances adds to the final draft of the plays. For example, Harlesden High Street has been performed many times before it is published by Penguin books; similarly The Djinns of Eidgah has gone through numerous performances before it’s published by Oberon Books.

The Djinns of Eidgah is an attempt to represent the disturbing condition prevailing in Kashmir. It makes a powerful representation of the contemporary scenario in Kashmir where sanity is a far cry. It is the story of a traumatised generation in Kashmir who is lost in conflict and loss.

Rizwan is a play about a young boy and his experience of losing his family. The story is based on Agha Shahid Ali’s collection of poems “The Country without a Post Office”. His Harlesden High Street is a play about displacement and optimism. Through its diverse characters and shifts in time and space, the play captures the limited world of immigrants, their frustrations and their dilemmas. It is his fifth play for which he won the Hindu Metroplus Playwright Award in 2008. Afterlife of Birds deals with the life of LTTE women’s cadre and revolves around the issues of nationalism and loyalty. It is a story of bravery, disappointment and a moving generation. His Arrangement of Shoes is a solo performance with one woman set in a small railway colony town India. The play deals with a complex web of different stories and memories represented by a single character Rukhsar who uses the shoes she has acquired to tell her family’s story in an exquisitely creative way. The play has been performed globally and has won the TFA Award for Creating Writing in 2010.

This unit will discuss particularly The Djinns of Eidgah— a play set against the background of Kashmir conflict. So, before discussing the play, we will try to understand the issues pertaining to the Kashmir valley and the ongoing conflict that affects its residents.

The Kashmir story: The partition of India and Pakistan on the religious ground gave rise to the Kashmir dispute which, now, has become one of the major security concerns that not only affects the Kashmir valley, but also the entire globe, causing insurgency, violence and war. The same partition movement also gave rise to the problem of controlling the princely states, almost 650 states, which existed within the two newly independent countries. Jammu Kashmir was one of those princely states, of which, about 77% populations was the Muslims. Because of its location, Kashmir could choose to join either India or Pakistan. But, the then Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of Kashmir chose to remain neutral, without joining any of the two countries. But his hopes of remaining independent were dashed in October 1947, as Pakistan sent in Muslim tribesmen to attack Kashmir. Being helpless, Hari Singh requested the Indian government for military help. He signed the Instrument of Accession on 26th October 1947, giving up Kashmir to India. From then onwards India and Pakistan have fought many battles over the acquisition of Kashmir, causing heavy loss to the common masses.

Thus, in the course of time, Kashmir has turned into valley of conflict and become a bone of contention between India and Pakistan, each of them trying to control the Kashmir region. However, in 1949, Kashmir got divided with one part of it taken over by Pakistan and the other part by India. In 1972, India and Pakistan signed a peace record to settle their disagreements over Kashmir via peaceful means. But further conflict came up when particular groups wanted to join Pakistan while the other wanted complete freedom. There was the emergence of Kashmiri insurgent groups who had their own set of demands. In July 1988, the Kashmiri insurgents groups formally attacked the Indian governments with a series of demonstrations and strikes which led to police firing and curfew. Form then onwards, this insurgency continues in Kashmir posing serious threat to the common people and to the Indian government. The insurgency in Kashmir is an internal conflict between Kashmiri insurgents/extremists and the Government of India and this conflict has taken the lives of thousands of people who have died during fighting between the insurgents and the government as well as thousands of civilians who have died as a result of being targeted by various armed groups. This grim situation still continues in Kashmir and the atrocities and violence faced by the common people is still rampant in Kashmir. Who is to be blamed for this situation in Kashmir is an unending debate. The common people in Kashmir are still deprived of their basic human rights.

It is often said that the main reason of the constant strife in Kashmir is political than religious. A recent newspaper article published by Hindustan times on 13th July 2014 reveals that the authorities in Kashmir rarely miss an opportunity to alienate the people of the valley. Recently, the Jammu Kashmir security force stopped a public lecture to be delivered by Mridu Rai on in the memory of Pandit Raghunath Vaishnavi, a political figure of the 1950s, thereby hurting public sentiment. The police invoked Section 144 to prevent the assembly of people and block the event. Police even threaten to seal the hotel if it had allowed lecture to be held. The irony here is that in whose interest the authority functions and uses these unsavoury tactics which does not even allow the Kashmirians to discuss their past.

This is just one incident of how the basic freedom of the Kashmiris has been curbed by the authority. The civil liberties that the rest of the world enjoys do not apply to the Kashmiris. In Kashmir, student politics is prohibited, civil liberty is curbed and protest rallies are strictly banned.

The Djinns of Eidgah takes into consideration all these delicate issues that have been affecting Kashmir for many decades. The first outbreak of violence in Kashmir was noticeable when the Muslim fundamentalists attacked the minority Kashmiri pandits; they killed many Pandits and destroyed a number of Hindu temples, giving rise to communal conflict and social unrest in Kashmir. Even today, the social unrest is dominant in Kashmir. A recent attack on the BSF jawans by Pakistan had taken the lives of many civilians and BSF jawans. Pakistan’s recent ceasefire violation (August: 2014) has compelled more than 3,000 residents of the villages along the border to move from their homes.

The Kashmir issue has been a concern for many concerned and sensitive individuals since its inception. Many of them have raised their voice and concern over the issue both directly and indirectly, using different means of expression. This play chosen for discussion in this module is also an example of a sensitive writer’s representation of this dark valley with it all pervading sense of loss amidst insurgency and violence.

Analysis of The Djinns of Eidgah:

Set in Kashmir, Abhishek Majumdar’s The Djinns of Eidgah is a sensitive representation of the contemporary scenario in Kashmir where sanity is a far cry. With the help of imaginary characters like Dr Baig, Bilal, Ashrafi, Khaled, Mushtaq and Junaid, the play powerfully represents the distressing yet real picture of Kashmir surrounded by insurgency, death, violence, fear, lack of freedom, mental conflict and the crisis of identity faced by the Kashmiris.

Like Rizwaan where Majumdar deals with the story of Rizwaan whose life and family are torn apart by insurgency in Kashmir, The Djinns of Eidgah also explores the tragic impasse of Kashmir through the eyes of its two children — Ashrafi and her brother Bilal. The play begins with a conversation between Abbajaan, Bilal and Ashrafi which is indeed a flashback. As the narrative progresses, the reader comes to know that Abbajaan whom we see in scene I is dead in reality. Bilal and Ashrafi lose their Abbajan in insurgency; they grow up carrying the memory of his death with them. Ashrafi is especially unable to overcome the shock of her father’s death; who she saw being shot to death. While growing up she becomes a patient of post-traumatic stress disorder like Mala in Thirty days in September. Mala was a victim of child sexual abuse and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder while growing up. But, in Ashrafi case, she is traumatised by the memories of her father’s death. The reader can sense the mentally retarded condition of Ashrafi in the beginning when Dr Baig tries to cure her strategically by playing a game of bus which also serves a technique to bring back the audience to Ashrafi’s past. While playing the game, her continuous reference to curfew hints to something shady about her past. Throughout the entire play Ashrafi exhibits some abnormal behaviour; the cause of which becomes clear in scene II, when Bilal reveals the tragedy that has shaken their life:

Bilal: … because although she is fourteen her mental age is that of nine to ten year old. An age at which she travelled with our Abba’s body on her lap, after he was shot dead in a bus… .

The shock of her father’s death remains permanently in her mind affecting her mental growth and creating a deep scar in her mind. She often goes hysterical; fails to distinguish between past and present and exhibit extremely childish behaviour. These are some of the symptoms of PTSD Ashrafi exhibits. The symptoms of PTSD differ from individual to individual and unlike Mala (who exhibits symptoms like self destructing activities and negligence etc) in Thirty Days of September, Ashrafi exhibits different symptoms. Ashrafi is in a more critical position who even fails to recognise between real and imaginary. While Mala improves with the support provided by her friend Deepak, Ashrafi fails to improve her mental balance despite the constant support provided by Dr Baig and her brother Bilal.

The play highlights the latent anger and frustration of a group of Kashmiri youths amidst curfew, arrest, death and lack of freedom. The young generation in Kashmir is not allowed to enjoy their freedom. Even, they cannot indulge in any sports activities freely. For example, to playing football they need the permission of the Indian soldiers who are guarding them 24×7. As Mushtaq says out of complete frustration, “…this is your stadium. You play here…what are they doing here? Don’t you feel ashamed Bilal when you have to enter your own stadium like a thief…?”  The lack of freedom drives them crazy and they vent out their anger on the Indians by means of demonstrations, strikes and protest movements. The play projects the picture of a generation who is born into conflict – a generation who knows nothing outside it. The characters like Bilal, Khaled and Mushtaq represent the pathetic condition of the Kashmiri youths amidst such conflict and lack of freedom.

The play also represents how violence is operative in a very contaminating way in the Kashmir valley. It is a valley submerged by violence and counter violence between the insurgent groups and the Indian soldiers. Even the people like Dr Baig and Bilal, who are against this ongoing war of violence and adopt a non-violent stance to bring an end to the long standing conflict in Kashmir, lose their lives in the hands of Indian soldiers. Thus, the play seems to add to René Girard’s observation on violence in Violence and the Sacred. According to Girard, violence is self-propagating, and only violence can put an end to violence. It is eminently communicable, and like a raging fire it feeds on the very objects intended to smoother its flame.

Amidst such chaos in Kashmir, Bilal finds a ray of hope in the upcoming football match. The match is more important than those processions. Because if he wins the game, he thinks, he will be able to take Ashrafi to some good hospital. The game of football provides him a sense of distinctive identity and also a means of escape, leaving aside the world of insurgency and conflict. Caught between his irreconcilable dream of freedom and familial responsibility, Bilal takes the risk of going out and practicing for the match.

The Djinns of Eidgah represents the presence of political violence in Kashmir and its impact on common people. The play draws our attention to the merciless killings of countless Kashmiri people by the Indian soldiers. The loss caused to the common people in Kashmir is irreplaceable which is evident in the speech by Mushtaq: “Also, yesterday, this afternoon, the soldiers in front of your house shot at the funeral procession you fled from…a funeral of a seven year old. In the shootout they killed his brother, who was 12…Chances are, you will meet her soon in the same hospital. There is a lot that happens in Kashmir..,” (2013: 20). Thus, the play unveils the disturbingly real picture of Kashmir in thousands of common people lose their lives in the ongoing territorial dispute between the Indian government, Pakistan and the Kashmiri insurgent groups. Yet, many others are still fighting for their identity amidst such a chaos. The entire situation in Kashmir and plight of its residents is very powerfully represented by Majumdar through the Djinn (the dead son of Dr Baig):

Djinn: No Abbu. No (Pause). They are fighting for their Djinns. For hundreds of thousands of Djinns, who are still around…It’s not a war of right and wrong. For cars and jobs. Of books and blankets. It’s a war of the living and the dead. Between those who are laying down their lives for eternity. These boys Abbu, will keep coming back, again and again.

The loss that the Kashmir conflict creates is inestimable. And now they are not only struggling for their identity and but also to compensate for the loss that their predecessors have suffered. The Djinns play a major role in the play. According to Majumdar, the Djinns are part of the large mythology that the Kashmiri people believe in and still carry with them (Majumdar: 2013). It is a mythology of loss that the Djinns represent – the loss of their near and dear ones for whom the whole valley is fighting for. The present generation in Kashmir wants to keep these Djinns alive – the traumatised souls of those numerous Kashmiris who have lost their lives in this battle. Commenting on the war in Kashmir, the playwright adds that the Islamic culture is not utilitarian; they do not want any profit. But they want the Indians to pay for all those who were killed in the conflict.

The conflict in the Kashmir valley leads to identity crisis among the Kashmiris, forcing each character to face his inner demons — be it the Mujahideen son of Dr Baig or Dr Wani who peculiarly feels relief by pelting stones at “those Indians”. Majumdar seems to make an extensive study on the psychological condition of people living in Kashmir – be it Ashrafi with PTSD or Dr Baig who is unable accept the death of his only son. The play delves deep into the repercussion of those violent memories that affect them in the present. The present is again surrounded by fresh instances of violence.

Every time the Djinn appears on stage, he reminds us the torture he and his friends had undergone in the hands of Indian security forces and the insurgent groups. The memory of sufferings and loss is so intense that it is deeply set in the minds of everybody. Herein the play touches upon memory and psychology. The delayed retrieval of painful memories of the past makes the life of the victim more miserable in the present. The present of these Kashmiris is filled with such retrieval of after effects of political violence undergone by their near and dear ones. A psychologist by profession Dr Baig is also unable to come out from the trauma caused by the brutal death of his only son. He is always seen questioned by his conscience whenever he goes to the Eidgah. Even very often he is seen talking to his dead son, which indicates that Dr Baig is also psychologically very much disturbed like the other people.

The functioning of memory is diverse as memory is invoked to heal, to blame, and to legitimise. Memory has become a major idiom in the construction of both individual and collective identity; it is a site of struggle as well as identification. Memories are not simply records of the past but are interpretative reconstructions influenced by many factors. When memories of violence are recalled those memories carry additional burden as indictments or confessions, as emblems of a victimised identity (Antze et al, vii-viii, 1996). In the case the Kashmiris, it is the memory of loss that constructs the present identity. They live with the violent memories of their past when numerous Kashmiris were killed by the Indians for nothing. Hence, they are not happy with their imposed Indian identity – an identity that deprives them of their freedom. As Baig says, “I am Kashmiri. But I am not Indian. If I were Maharasthrian, I would be…” .

Herein the playwright also draws attention to the identity crisis faced by each and every Kashmiri. They find themselves in an in-between space for not belonging to either India or Pakistan. The war in Kashmir seems to be a war for reclaiming identity and freedom than anything else. Majumdar seems to summarise dilemma of those numerous Kashmiris in the powerful dialogue by Dr Baig:

Baig: On the day of judgement, if Allah asks me, am I right or wrong…I will ask him in-turn (Pause)…why didn’t you say anything about us in your book? We, the people of in –between…what do we choose, where do we go?

The play is an attempt to represent the complex association of psychological factors surrounding the lives of Kashmiri people along with representing the reality about the Kashmir situation and its solution – a reality which is still confined to pen papers only. Therefore many people like Wani and Junaid do not have any respect for the Indians; they have lost their faith in Indians and any political discussions with them. They are pretty sure that such discussion cannot bring any solution to their loss. As Wani says:

Wani: Baig Saheb, forgive me but I just think there is no point in talking to the Indians.

The playwright himself recognises that this is a development debate which is continuing since post-independence. Many educated people are fighting for a problem which is a politically created one, making Kashmir as the worlds’ most militarised place with countless number of soldiers to curb their freedom.

Not only has the play projected tragic condition of thousands of Kashmiris but also the frustrated state of those Indian soldiers who has been posted in Kashmir as punishment posting. The play also represents the pitiable condition of these Indian soldiers who vent out their grief and frustration on the Kashmiri people.

S2: Yes Saheb. (Pause) I saw him do it. That night he went insane. He was so angry at everyone. His child had died back home, and he did not get leave to go back. He went into the village and shot three children, and then in one of the houses, he…he raped a mother…in front of her daughter.

The outcome of the Kashmir conflict is not only devastating for the local people out there, but also to the soldiers who have been appointed in Kashmir to control the situation. Thus, The Djinns of Eidgah makes an attempt to delve deep into the disturbed and violent metal condition of the Indian soldiers living in Kashmir and guarding its people.

After all, The Djinns of Eidgah is a web of interwoven narratives with one sing thread connecting them all that is conflict. The play comes to an end amidst political violence. Bilal is killed by the Indian soldiers after captivating him for some days. Dr Baig is also killed by the Indian solider just before the Eid. Innocence is lost and death is all around. With many unanswerable questions concerning the Kashmir situation, the play comes to an end. It seems the playwright wants the reader/audience to contemplate over the issues and take responsibility for them.

Reference

• Majumdar, Abhishek. Personal Interview. 18th Agust. 2013.
• Majumdar, Abhishek. The Djinns of Eidgah. London: Oberon Books, 2013.
• Dattani, Mahesh. Thirty Days in September in Brief Candle Three Plays. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2010.Print.
• http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/a-history-of-arrogance-getting-it-wrong-in- kashmir-again/article1-1239939.aspx?google_editors_picks=true
• http://hinduism.about.com/od/history/a/Kashmir-Paradise-Lost.htm
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydRn4hx9fhY
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurgency_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir
• ∙http://www.susmitkumar.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92%3Ah istory-of-the-kashmir-conflict&Itemid=38
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1399992/A-brief-history-of-the-Kashmir-conflict.html
• http://web.stanford.edu/class/e297a/Kashmir%20Conflict%20- %20A%20Study%20of%20What%20Led%20to%20the%20Insurgency%20in%20Kashm ir%20Valley.pdf
• http://www.risingkashmir.com/bsf-dg-briefs-hm-on-situation-along-border/
• http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ceasefire-violations-pakistani-rangers-loc-indian-army- bsf-akhnoor-rs-pura-arnia/1/379434.html
• http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/kashmir-insurgency-20-years- after/article70073.ece
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/312908/Kashmir/214223/The-Kashmir- problem