Rayees Ahmad Kumar
During the coalition government led by Ex chief minister Mr Gh Nabi Azad in 2007, eight districts were carved from the existing fourteen districts thereby increasing the tally of districts in whole J&K to 22. Out of these eight districts Ganderbal, Bandipora, Kulgam and Shopian were created in Kashmir division while in Jammu division the four districts added/ created are Samba, Ramban , Reasi and Kishtwar. Immediately after the creation of districts many developmental projects were initiated by the government. Among others the fast track recruitment mechanism was also switched over to make huge recruitment of candidates in almost all departments. In education department the recruitment was made for about six thousand teaching positions. The recruitment was done for newly created eight districts as well. Under SRO 343 any candidate from any district or division though not being his domicile district or division could apply for the districts or division though not being his domicile district or division. So realizing this large chunk of candidates applied for the posts/jobs in the districts or division not being their domicile districts or division. I too got the opportunity to apply in Ganderbal district and finally made it to the final selection list for the post of teacher. I joined the department in Ganderbal district in July 2009 and still i am performing my duties in the district along with hundreds of other teachers who like me are also outsiders. During these ten years i have got much better experience of handling the issues of public importance through the prism of humanity, because mostly the people whomever I encountered were quite generous, pious, noble, dedicated to their profession and above all nice human beings. These humanistic qualities of people of Ganderbal never compelled me to seek an easy way for my transfer back to my parent district. Instead it acted as a strong attractive force for my adherence to this place which in addition to being a land of many best tourist and health resorts is also the land of nice human beings.
At present my posting is in Manigam area of the district which is an abode of unity in diversity. Despite being a very big village having a population of about seven thousand people and about 1200 households comprising people of many castes, languages, religions and sects still the cohesive unity of Manigam is in itself a unique example and can be imagined from the fact that the Friday congregational prayer is offered at only one majestic Jamia Masjid popularly called the ‘Khanqah’ by the local populace.
On the very first day of my joining, a teacher voluntarily came to my side and provided me all kinds of accommodation for almost a month that too without accepting a penny from me till I arranged a comfortable rented accommodation. This was my first impression of these good human natured people. After that the cooperation, attitude, problem solving approach and mutual understanding which I realised from the people in general and my colleagues in particular is praiseworthy. They never impeded or interfered unnecessarily in the way of my delivering the duties. Further the cool, green, fresh environment of Ganderbal due to it’s dense vegetation and lush green forests is further adding to it’s beauty which I have enjoyed all these years to the fullest extent. The world famous tourist/ health resorts and other historically important places of Ganderbal include Mansbal lake and park ( Mansbal is the deepest lake of valley, it also houses the Kashmir’s only Sainik School) , Naranag ( Ancient Hindu temple of 8th century built by Hindu ruler Lalitadatiya) ,Gangabal (Gangabal is the place of seven lakes) ,Sonamarg ( the gateway to Ladakh division now a UT), Mohandmarg and Baltal ( the base camp for annual Amarnath yatra). At present my posting is in Manigam area of the district which is an abode of unity in diversity. Despite being a very big village having a population of about seven thousand people and about 1200 households comprising people of many castes, languages, religions and sects still the cohesive unity of Manigam is in itself a unique example and can be imagined from the fact that the Friday congregational prayer is offered at only one majestic Jamia Masjid popularly called the ‘Khanqah’ by the local populace.
(Author teaches at Govt BHS Anderwan Ganderbal.Views are his own, [email protected])
