Remembering Jammu

M.Ashraf has spent almost half of his life in Jammu right from the very birth, the reason being the durbar move. His late father who served in various capacities in the state government had to move in winter to Jammu. During his own service tenure first, as the Director of Tourism, J & K, and later as the Director-General Tourism, J & K, he had also to move with the Durbar and spend six months in Jammu continuously for 11 years till his retirement. Even after retirement, he has been spending the winter in Jammu. The recollection of most of the events of his childhood days has gone blank with his fading memory but there are certain memories of his early days in Jammu and the recent times which he vividly recalls and cherishes. He is sharing these with his friends in Jammu! These writings have appeared as a series of articles under the title, "Jammu Nostalgia" in Kashmir Times for almost a year. The writing of this column in the Kashmir Times was prompted by Ms. Rekha Choudhary of Jammu University. In a regional interaction during the turmoil of 2008, Ms. Choudhary had complained that no Kashmiri author writes anything about Jammu. Ashraf took up the challenge and wrote these articles. He has now compiled these in the form of a book on the persuasion of his friends from Jammu so that they enjoy readings these in their leisure time.

Publisher - Gulshan Books