Dhadkai the silent village of India where as much as 90 percent of the population is mute. Some villages have strange stories to relate. One such village is the Dhadkai village located in the remotest part of Doda District in Jammu and Kashmir.
Most of the inhabitants of Dhadkai the silent village of India are Gujjar Muslims. Different villages have different qualities to boast about but this village is strangely known to be a silent village.
How is this even possible? Where there is a habitat, there are people and where there are people there is noise and sounds of people talking, shouting, laughing, crying, singing and merry making.
So why is this village known as a silent village? It is not due to any age old tradition, culture or primitive practice. It is because most people living in this village are born deaf and dumb. Tucked amidst the rugged breath-taking valley surrounded by mountains, this little village has its own share of woes. It tells the story of pain and helplessness.
Unable to communicate in spoken language they do so through an ingenious method of sign language. But these gestures can only be understood by the people of Dhadkai. This is the reason why they are unable to venture out of the village and explore the outside world.
Tending cattle and cultivation is their major source of livelihood because their talents if any are quietly neglected. The story of Md. Aftab cries out loudly about how this disability became an obstacle for him. Although he is very good at masonry, his talent remained restricted within the bounds of this village because of his complex of being unable to hear and speak and hence understood.
This disability which most of the villagers are affected with is not a divine curse or any magical spell but a genetic disorder is responsible for this hearing and speech impairment. Scientists have linked it to genetic mutations caused by marriages between very close relatives also known as inbreeding or endogamous marriages.
Dhadkai The Silent Village Of India Due To Genetic Mutations
This condition has passed down from one generation to another. A sort of social stigma has created an inferiority complex among them so much so, that they avoid interacting with outsiders. They have now come to believe that this is happening due to sins committed in the past by their forefathers.
Attempts were made to marry them to people from other clans as suggested by doctors but this has not made much of a difference.
The children of this village are not educated as there are no devices to help them learn. Dhadkai the silent village has a population of approximately 1500 individuals. Every family has either two or more children with this defect.
Government has tried to take steps towards finding a solution to this problem. The most immediate measure was to prevent inbreeding among the villagers. However the biggest hindrance was the reluctance of outsiders to marry into this clan fearing the spread of this congenital defect.
In spite of the fact that these special children are highly intelligent and multi talented, the stigma attached to them has developed a bias against them. This creates a problem for these special children to learn and grow.
A Poverty Stricken Life
They are forced to lead a poverty stricken life as they hardly have any source of income. This is why people from other villages are unwilling to give their daughters in marriage to this village.
Thus the only way in which they can survive and live a respectable life is through help from NGOs and Government organizations who should come forward with projects to give them a better living condition consisting of basic facilities and financial assistance.
According to Carlos Wallace, “Actions speak louder than words, silence speaks the loudest”. The sorrow, the emotions, the anger which the silence of these people contain may be much more than what a normal person can express through words.
But unfortunately it remains unheard. Thus the need of the hour is love and acceptance because love does not need words to express itself.
