It is season of marriages in Kashmir. The way marriage season influences our traits of consumption and emission same way it orients the social discourse within our society. The discourse in Kashmir valley surrounds around wazwan and dowry. Dowry by and large has ceased to be focus of our attention. The reason for it seems to be less incidence of demands for it. But Wazwan continues to add an aroma to our deliberations the way it adds to the taste of our consumption. Despite recent Court judgment relating to unconstitutionality of guest control order the deliberations on Wazwan is unlikely to stop. All attempts to regulate Wazwan have failed. All the measures taken to target extravagance in it have proved to be counter productive. Police stations get an avenue of exploitation out of every guest control order. Every restriction creates regular chance of enjoyment of the delicious dishes for police men . Reasons for failure of these attempts are embedded in our misunderstanding of causes of extravagance in Wazwan.
The basic idea behind Wazwan is to create a dish out of every part of a slaughtered animal. Ribs are cooked as Tabaqmaz, muscle and fats utilised for Rista and Goshtaba. Backbone is served as Kurma and Rogangosh . Limbs are carved into Danifoal. Shoulders provide Abbgosh. Some parts of alimentary canal along with left over pieces of meat are used for Methimaz. Pure portions of thighs are minced for Kabab. To prepare all this waza is not paid on the basis of number of dishes he prepares. Number of vegetables cooked or sweet dishes served are never taken into consideration while his wages are calculated. The quality of cooking is never a criteria. The wages of waza are solely determined by the quantum of meat he cooks.
Since Waza is exclusively paid on the basis of quantity of meat utilized, he often evades to cook vegetables. His fortunes get inflated in proportion to increase in consumption of meat. The prime logic behind ever increasing demand for more meat is his eagerness to mint more and more money. Waza most often looks for new dishes whether he is familiar with art of cooking these or not. Some times he invents new dishes to enhance consumption of more meat.
The traditional wazwan has been polluted with a lot of new dishes. Shami kabab, Rogan Josh hindi, Muthi kabab and plau are alien dishes for wazwan. These are either imitations or innovations. Kashmiri waza is neither fit to cook these nor do these dishes add a new taste to wazwan. The traditional wazwan and its flavour gets polluted by these dishes. The left over fragrance is spoiled by carbonated drinks Coco-cola, Pepsi and Thumsup. Whatever is cooked in the name of plau is nothing but a khichdi of rice and dry fruits.
If our state and society is serious to control extravagance and contain these perversions the real culprit Waza needs to be targeted. The first and fore most step towards this direction is to de-link his payment from the quantity of meat he cooks. There is nothing wrong if we relate it to the number of persons he serves. Simple feast and more participation should be a norm of marriage ceremonies. It keeps our social bonds intact by familiarizing us with our kith and kin. It infuses a sense of egalitarianism within our society by making rich and poor to share same trami . Wazwan has contributed in a big way in eradicating social stratifications within Kashmiri society. If a waza is paid on the basis of number of persons he serves his tendency will be to serve more guests out of less quantity rather than consuming more meat.
A waza who serves and cooks more dishes should be penalized and most lethal penalty for a waza lies in confiscation of his utensils. It deprives him of his tools of business. The hosts too shouldn’t be spared. Those who cook beyond a certain quantity should be made to pay taxes for excessive wealth they spoil. On such an eventuality even if people cook more yet they will evade to boast about it . Boasting is one of the important catalysers of extravagance. It makes people especially the ladies to compete in enumerating the dishes and quintals they cook. Fear of being brought within tax net is likely to curtail this exercise in a big way. On societal level we must evade attending those feasts about which there is a surety that wealth utilised for these comes from Haram sources.
Every human being has a limited capacity of consumption. Traditional dishes of wazwan are sufficient to satisfy every guest. No number of dishes and kilos of meat however, can suffice to fill up the polythene bags which our ladies use to carry left over meat. The practice of carrying eatables from ceremonies has to be discouraged. It is unhygienic and one of the important causes of extravagance in our wazwan. Imams and Khateebs can play a vital role in eradication of this menace.
Shariah does not prescribe any function for marriages besides walima. That too has to be hosted by the bride groom. Hosting of barat with a lot of fan fare at brides house is alien to Islamic culture. This is a Hindu practice that has crept into Muslim society of the sub continent. This practice has to be banished all together. Our Khateebs and Imams should target this biddah instead of delivering sermons relating to number of dishes to be served for barat.
While eradicating innovations attempt should also be made to protect essence of Kashmiri marriage in the matters of dress and other aspects. Ragistani Lahanga for brides and Safron colored turbans for bride grooms constitute an assault on Kashmiri culture. The way innovations in wazwan attract our attention same way these perversions too deserve rejection. How funny it sounds when our ladies praise bride groom for sabaz Dastar while he looks like a Rajasthani nomad.
The basic idea behind Wazwan is to create a dish out of every part of a slaughtered animal. Ribs are cooked as Tabaqmaz, muscle and fats utilised for Rista and Goshtaba. Backbone is served as Kurma and Rogangosh . Limbs are carved into Danifoal. Shoulders provide Abbgosh. Some parts of alimentary canal along with left over pieces of meat are used for Methimaz. Pure portions of thighs are minced for Kabab. To prepare all this waza is not paid on the basis of number of dishes he prepares. Number of vegetables cooked or sweet dishes served are never taken into consideration while his wages are calculated. The quality of cooking is never a criteria. The wages of waza are solely determined by the quantum of meat he cooks.
Since Waza is exclusively paid on the basis of quantity of meat utilized, he often evades to cook vegetables. His fortunes get inflated in proportion to increase in consumption of meat. The prime logic behind ever increasing demand for more meat is his eagerness to mint more and more money. Waza most often looks for new dishes whether he is familiar with art of cooking these or not. Some times he invents new dishes to enhance consumption of more meat.
The traditional wazwan has been polluted with a lot of new dishes. Shami kabab, Rogan Josh hindi, Muthi kabab and plau are alien dishes for wazwan. These are either imitations or innovations. Kashmiri waza is neither fit to cook these nor do these dishes add a new taste to wazwan. The traditional wazwan and its flavour gets polluted by these dishes. The left over fragrance is spoiled by carbonated drinks Coco-cola, Pepsi and Thumsup. Whatever is cooked in the name of plau is nothing but a khichdi of rice and dry fruits.
If our state and society is serious to control extravagance and contain these perversions the real culprit Waza needs to be targeted. The first and fore most step towards this direction is to de-link his payment from the quantity of meat he cooks. There is nothing wrong if we relate it to the number of persons he serves. Simple feast and more participation should be a norm of marriage ceremonies. It keeps our social bonds intact by familiarizing us with our kith and kin. It infuses a sense of egalitarianism within our society by making rich and poor to share same trami . Wazwan has contributed in a big way in eradicating social stratifications within Kashmiri society. If a waza is paid on the basis of number of persons he serves his tendency will be to serve more guests out of less quantity rather than consuming more meat.
A waza who serves and cooks more dishes should be penalized and most lethal penalty for a waza lies in confiscation of his utensils. It deprives him of his tools of business. The hosts too shouldn’t be spared. Those who cook beyond a certain quantity should be made to pay taxes for excessive wealth they spoil. On such an eventuality even if people cook more yet they will evade to boast about it . Boasting is one of the important catalysers of extravagance. It makes people especially the ladies to compete in enumerating the dishes and quintals they cook. Fear of being brought within tax net is likely to curtail this exercise in a big way. On societal level we must evade attending those feasts about which there is a surety that wealth utilised for these comes from Haram sources.
Every human being has a limited capacity of consumption. Traditional dishes of wazwan are sufficient to satisfy every guest. No number of dishes and kilos of meat however, can suffice to fill up the polythene bags which our ladies use to carry left over meat. The practice of carrying eatables from ceremonies has to be discouraged. It is unhygienic and one of the important causes of extravagance in our wazwan. Imams and Khateebs can play a vital role in eradication of this menace.
Shariah does not prescribe any function for marriages besides walima. That too has to be hosted by the bride groom. Hosting of barat with a lot of fan fare at brides house is alien to Islamic culture. This is a Hindu practice that has crept into Muslim society of the sub continent. This practice has to be banished all together. Our Khateebs and Imams should target this biddah instead of delivering sermons relating to number of dishes to be served for barat.
While eradicating innovations attempt should also be made to protect essence of Kashmiri marriage in the matters of dress and other aspects. Ragistani Lahanga for brides and Safron colored turbans for bride grooms constitute an assault on Kashmiri culture. The way innovations in wazwan attract our attention same way these perversions too deserve rejection. How funny it sounds when our ladies praise bride groom for sabaz Dastar while he looks like a Rajasthani nomad.
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