Jammu sixty years back

Today’s young generation is not familiar with the real picture, history, geography, social, cultural and economic conditions of Jammu city, fifty or sixty thirty years ago. They do not know how the domestic condition of the people was at that time. They are not even aware of the settlements of the city and the people living in the outskirts of the city at that time. They do not even know why two or three special sections of the society used to live in deserted areas away from urban settlements. The youth and people born after the nineteen seventies do not even know what kind of fuel people used to cook food in those days. They do not even know that at that time a cow was definitely reared for work in almost all the houses of Jammu city. From where did the fodder come for him and who used to bring it? Similarly, from where was the fuel required for cooking in homes obtained at that time. Who provided? And where did that fuel come from? These questions have arisen today in 2022 because of the local youth and people born in the nineteen seventies or after and those people who have migrated from other districts or provinces or other states for some reason after that decade till today. Those who have settled here after coming from various places are raising questions about the different settlements of the people living in this city today. Not only this, they are claiming loudly that whatever they know about Jammu, that is not known even to the people of Jammu. Till the nineteen seventies in almost all homes, baring few houses of elite class, food was cooked on the earthen chulhas, for which every month a large quantity of dry wood was required every month to burn. In many homes, till the nineties, food was cooked on the chulhas built inside or outside the houses on the verandahs or in the courtyard. Wood was brought for this by the Gujjar people who lived in small settlements built in hilly and forested areas away from the city. There they also got fodder for their livestock and to meet the needs of the people of the city for milk and wood for burning in the chulha, wood was also obtained from the nearby forests. Gradually there was an influx of stoves in urban areas for which kerosene was needed. Due to this the dependence of people on wood started working. And then after the gas came, the wood stove was almost finished. But the people settled in their lives and continued the business of milk. Ironically, now it is being falsely propagated that they have settled in the forest lands recently with the help of some political leaders. It is really shameful not for the propagators but also for those who are silent and are not countering the false propaganda. ……contd…2