Cashmere- an overview

It must have been quite early; I was woken up at that hour by the only sound that seemed to be in the vicinity. The place was serene and the environs devoid of the sounds of civilization....and the murmur of water was as melodious to the ear as it was intriguing. Barely being able to balance my toddle, I remember scampering over the rocks to finally reach the river...it wasn’t in my favour though, because the next minute found me swaying my arms wildly in an attempt to get into the shallow water. The current would have swept me off my feet...had a hand not grabbed my wrist and gently pulled me out....shock and subsequent fear of the danger that had just passed at a tender age induced me to instinctively grab that beautiful palm and huddle closer, almost in tears.....a few hours later my mother, surprised at my absence from the hotel room was astounded as well as relieved to see me merrily playing with my saviours- some very pretty looking Kashmiri girls in the lawn of the cottage we had checked into...


June 1989 it was...the place Sonemarg....about 4 hrs from the state’s capital- Srinagar....

21 years later, I was sitting in the Jammu Shatabdi to face the valley that had hypnotized me at the age of four and drawn me towards one of its element....
so right from the time I buckled myself to face that torturous drive: boarding a passenger taxi from Jammu station, through the town and uphill, encompassing all of 8 hours!; it was in sheer anticipation of getting the first view of the valley.

I don’t intend to sound too philosophical...but Kashmir has a lot for me to connect to......
‘Digging graves’ has always been a source of great interest for me....and what can possibly be more enriching than loitering the streets of the capital and finding traces of civilizations gone past, long before facts were formally recorded...
the religious amalgamation that had taken place in the course of years....
the unity amongst its residents irrespective of religion....














the mysticism and wanderlust that lay in its landscapes and shrines.....











a valley revered and acknowledged by hordes of legends.......worshipped in by numerous faiths...treaded upon by the holiest of the holy, the king of kings, warriors, conquerors and the like...
The most tenacious of souls, the most perseverant and purposeful, the most impervious and ruthless, the strongest and strategic...would have stopped in their travail from the northern frontiers towards their intent.... completely besotted by the place.....and a SIGH of relief involuntarily emitting from their hardened conscience!

A portrait, as priceless as this....been scarred by the atrocities of men....with a thick streak of blood slowly giving way to droplets that trickle down its width....ravaging and impounding it.....




Such is the irony of life......proverbial paradise on earth ruined by the weak virtues of greed and material gains......
And as unfortunate and belittling this fact was....it was also apocalyptic and mystic....that just enchants and draws one zombie fashion into its depths.....




On a more personal front, I had a huge baggage as well... close friends from the valley telling me stories about it; all in some very good times spent with them...the chats I had with the regulars of the valley who came knocking at the door to sell their stocks....
the ethnic cuisines I had gorged on at restaurants in Green Park, Dilli Haat and Okhla never failing to finish whatever was placed on the table, even when friends of mine showed me the white flag......

AND...of love that came my way once, impersonating the land itself....

The most popular and also the most literal however, was the way I looked....on any given day, with cops and commoners alike in Delhi, it is taken for granted that iam a Kashmiri!.....I had the effect of those instant beams on the faces of miscellaneous kashmiri vendors at handicrafts showrooms, makeshift setups, and other general passerby’s who mistook me for one of their kind....and by now I was very used to expecting the regular greetings in kashmiri from them....just to politely reciprocate in Urdu!....very frankly, I did get my share of giggles by this decoying identity!!


Unnerving and spine chilling the tales about Kashmir’s unpredictability may have sounded...and similarly convincing may have the words been of elders with native experience.....but be it stubborn...or maybe just innovative.......It has always been a rewarding strategy for me to keep the ‘hearsay’ from the cities, the regular tabloid and media insight, locked up in a corner.....and unwind and unlearn so that I may start afresh and gain my own perspectives and conclusions as my footnotes lengthen.....so wherever possible, I try to negotiate the place by the slowest means....walk it!.....and it does hold true substantially....because there is a reason why the most famous travellers are vouched for in our history books......by doing the exact same thing!!

So in this section as I write primarily about ‘the problem’ in Kashmir so to say, I hit the streets......and since the entire nation chose to answer question and resolve issues through political subservience sitting on their comfortable arrangements from home, I tried to delve into the concerns by mere observation and inquiry.....
To be modest, I don’t insinuate any authority over the matter... or completely trash unanimous efforts of our governments to better things....I as a matter of fact am completely aware of my ignorance in certain matters and realize my limitations before I may even contemplate any help from my side......

But judging from the state of affairs that have just crossed the six decade mark, I still feel there ought to be something missing on either side- the powerful and authoritative deliverers as well as the needy recipients....
It was this thought that probed me to take some time out from my ambitious nature oriented excursions, and mellow down to see how I may be able to understand the dilemma that is an integral part of everyday life for the domiciles.












Being a rather exceptional month of May that it was, the regular ruckus of tourists thronged the area in the daytime...the same in number were the locals- both for commercial and leisure purpose mixed with the melee of outsiders....and then dotted here and there were the law enforcers to ensure safety of the region....well on the face of it, that was the intended purpose and i had little reason to doubt that as what the eyes met was all calm and comforting....this was the most crowded section of Srinagar of course- The Boulevard road


so to get a proper insight, i had to get into the skin of things...that would be the old city on the other side of the Dal.






Interacting with the sundry in Kashmiri society was absolutely invariable as far as i was concerned; as opinions and views of the influential and rich mattered in view of a larger, more comprehensive betterment of the situation, as well as the testimonies of the unprivileged whose take being more self bound and need based was as important since they were the most vulnerable lot....
there were clashes as well- the auto rickshaw driver, a 55 year old born and brought up in Kashmir, spoke about how corrupt and self centred the politicians were to let the armed forces get the better of the poor and innocent...and how much the valley would fare better with the local rule....whereas a more responsible and educated businessman spoke of how important it was to obtain a tandem between the government and its people to ensure the well being holistically in the valley......

again the rich shawl dealer spoke of profits that would be obtained by the influx of tourists...with behavioural disconcert to the atrocities that were an everyday affair in the offbeat, often media-neglected villages....whereas the local women in the field threw light upon how impossible it was to go to the nearest medical facility with the forces just outside their doorstep...the question being ‘who in the world could they possibly complain to?’

deprived of the basic right to education and awareness, their only hope, as direct and inconsequential as it was, for the removal of security and utter hatred and bitterness for anything to do with anyone in uniform...
again the auto rickshaw driver is not aware of the importance of a political system, the businessman is in for logic but cannot directly help curb the inhumanness that takes place where his eyes can’t reach, the merchant sees his profit and nothing else hence proving the fact that money does not complement education or humanity...and finally the village folk have lived so much in fear that all they want is the basic right to liberty and movement...anything beyond that, as necessary it may be, would seem god sent to them......

The bigger question was: how can things improve?


Now the ‘security’ forces were not only unapproachable most of the times...they were also bedazzled and dumbfounded at my audacious questions put forth to them whenever i took them by surprise....i mean come on, when i had one of the heads of the CRPF near this temple react as blatantly to a lay man question i put across as to tell me that there ‘is no problem in Kashmir and i have never seen a militant in my life’, then who could i possibly hold a grudge against??

what was the grand idea behind taking over this temple and comfortably having their barracks in a religious shrine?....needless to say, the look of suspicion that passed all their faces when they saw me pointing my camera towards them was worth a roll!!

In my opinion, the underprivileged and weak, particularly those who live outside the capital are most vulnerable and the first to bear the brunt of anything out of place that takes place on and off.....the kind of hysteria and intimidation they live in is hard to imagine- it is the law enforcers themselves that they have to fear and walk in awe of..

one may adhere to the tenets of logic and comprehension when one has the basic ability to think!...and the people are indeed robbed off this!...so why blame an entire generation of Kashmiri youth to have utter hatred for the saffron..?....they never developed the ability to reason and not generalize because they were ‘deprived’ off the right...!...that’s a fact.....as much as the fact still holds- that their antics of retaliation will DEFINATELY not pay off....by sitting huddled up in their homes....or by letting loose and arming themselves for rebellion, they are waging a war that has inevitable consequences to them and their family...and an end that they are aware of, but want to be ignorant.....

The bigger question: who is to be blamed??














About myself- i ‘am no politician....iam no civil servant...not the police...or even a domicile....just another outsider who loves the place whole heartedly....who can humbly, Yet confidently claim to WISH WELL for its people if nothing else













under this pre-ordained objective i foresee the only practical solution that lies in and is possible within our means- educate, enlighten and help...as far-fetched as this may sound,-my peers and friends in Kashmir who have had the privilege of a better life than the those who suffer, i hereby appeal to YOU to give in the best you can....education has come your way and you may have been trained in different disciplines and professions...in a country that strives to meet its daily needs, you are indeed fortunate.....please do your bit....as little or as much as it may be materialistically....












go spend time with the youth....talk, console, pacify if possible...if you can, try approaching the judiciary for assistance and contradict the atrocities......if you want to see the coming generation growing well, you will have to water their ROOTS first
remember, whatever little you may eventually pull through, may change a life.....
Now, i ask my critiques hereby to give me a better answer...

Lastly, i would conclude with the following messages:

1. To the CRPF, the army and sundry security forces:
When you took an oath to uphold the honour and dignity of your country and protect its citizens under all costs and circumstances, were you sane of mind and body???....because if you were, you would have rightfully understood the meaning of the words being imparted at that occasion and would have retained the echo of the sentences said when you were guarding the villages in the valley and the towns and cities.....or were you only too busy thinking of ways that would suit your convenience to get out of bureaucratic problems and inquiries that may be set up to probe into your failures and ineptitude to deal with insurgencies...

now seriously guys, defence i suppose meant that you were mentally and physically tougher than the commoner and your task should have been tougher than just staying put and being trigger happy at the sight of children as helpless and innocent as this.......or were you again appeasing your loins as you letch at the fairer sex you were supposed to uphold the dignity of?....and then you find two-three very likeable culprits and shoot them in cold-blood????!!!!....claiming they hailed from across the border.....?....mate, if you were so interested in POK, you should have deployed the same gallantry while protecting it that you promise of as you give interviews to the media...or while staying away from it under the pretence of confidentiality....!! LOL

The youth of Kashmir:
I have never been in your shoes, neither will i ever be...but this just goes out to prove that i may have seen a world that is much better than you think it is.....it is under this pretext that i appeal to you not to clash, to vandalize, or to hurt indiscriminately.....ultimately, as much as i think your intent is clear when you avenge the wrongs done against you, it just puts the lives of others in jeopardy....others belonging to your own community...who might not have the strength to fight back....and even your own as a matter of fact....please...do retaliate with all your apt- mental and physical...but do that in ways that throw positive results....that actually help in enhancing your condition...

another thing....there might be repressive elements in your society who might probe you into doing this....do not let your vulnerable minds get influenced....iam sure the most convenient connect between us is spirituality and religion....think of the Almighty and stop....Islam is a way to better living not worse....

you have just seen and cried about the problem....now try being solution and result oriented..

There is Hope when YOU believe in it...











P.S; all the pictures and information published here have copyrights strictly reserved with Shaz Syed(blogger)....any plagiarism of sorts would be taken as legally offensive.
The views and opinions expressed here are personal and do not intend to hurt the sentiments of any community in particular. They are articulated to show concern for the residents of the Kashmir valley and discontent to the social, political and economic suppression they have to undergo.....they are also endeavoured to the best possible degree under given conditions, be based on facts rather than assumptions and hearsay.