I had left Kashmir in the year 1985 after completing my college education. The following years had just begun to show traces of disturbances within the state and it continued resulting in the turmoil, suffering and militancy for next two decades. During this period, many families were terrified, their sufferings escalated with killings of innocent people, resulting in the mass exodus of Kashmiri pundits. The fight for freedom of state Kashmir had begun. Terrifying incidents were happening in the valley and people lamented over state of once peaceful Kashmir.
The urge of going back to the valley and the callback from motherland happened in the year 2002/03 when I returned to experience a fragment of normalcy coming back over the valley.
During this period, lot was happening online with social networking sites being found and people reconnecting with their lost friends from their school and college times. Communications were drawn closer and once again the hearts started searching for innocence and purity of the like minded people. This trip was all we could possibly do by the support of our old friends, found after decades and it helped to stitch back the threads of love and warmth once again. We met our group of Muslim friends first time since the year 1982. The simplicity & beauty of our meeting each other was intact with a greater degree of warmth, excitement and love for each other. Greetings were warm and welcoming with excellent arrangements made by them, which took care of our comfortable stay. We chatted, laughed and exchanged all that we had lived with so far.
The days just passed with excitement, happiness and warmth. All eyes could see, the hearts could feel, and the ears could hear, there was comfort in the environment. No fear, no cries, no saddened faces and no creases on the forehead; it seemed as if life had come back to its earlier peaceful form. Calmness had dawned, and whispers of well being were heard. Each one of them seemed to balance their lives and what had happened had become history. Horrific stories of militancy era were told, situations were re-enacted with pauses and the grief was burdened off with pain, suffering translated with humour, yet the essence of life had not been seized from the core of the Kashmiri people.
The people of Kashmir seemed to realize what has been lost and gained during last twenty years of troublesome times in Kashmir. “Aazadi” the freedom, freedom of what, The Soul or The State was never achieved. The war had taken a toll on all, particularly on the younger generation of Kashmir. The youth of Kashmir, from either of the communities was seized of the opportunity of living in the peaceful environs of Kashmir. This generation had not been able to experience the essence of the peaceful, calm and serene valley which used to buzz with Kashmiriyat, a word spoken for love, lihaaz and lzzat or Ehtaram for anyone, whichever the community one belonged to. The balance created by the universe in the Kashmir valley, by Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs together in all its times of trials & tribulations, in happiness and festivities is required to be seen and felt by this generation.
The exodus of Hindus in the year 1990 was a boon to the safety of their lives, an edge over the Muslim community because a majority of the Hindus didn’t get challenged by the fear of militancy, the fear of rampage and destruction or the innocent killings which could have led to the destruction of their inner souls.A smart and young Muslim boy,25 yrs old who was driving us all over the places, lamented over the conditions of their times and explained how innocent young boys were being drawn to destruction by the enigmatic cry, to fight for Azadi. The boys whose parents had only hope that their young ones would return safely each day, would leave their homes to join the groups fighting for Azadi. Some died fighting, some crossed borders, some would shout slogans while some were caught and tortured. Nothing right was happening and there was no one to guide them; even parents could not hold them to the path of peace for long. The peaceful nights were seized from the people of Kashmir during turmoil period. As was told to us by our friends and their families, each one of them was ransacked for money and support — in any form whether it was shelter, clothing, funds or food for the groups in support of the Azadi war.
Yet now, when I visited my mother land Kashmir, it was the same serene city of gardens, poplar trees, flowers, people full of warmth, reciprocating with love, a silent assurance that all was not lost. Hearts were still melting for each other contributing to smiles and small peppy talks that left me with happiness and touched my inner soul. The Dalgate, the boulevard road and the boats were full of life with visitors enjoying the spectacle of mother earth, the beautiful mountains surrounding the Dal lake, the Shankaracharya temple on one side of the mountain top and Hari Parvat temple on the other side, the char chinar in its old glorifying state, a spot for all love birds to be peddled to in a shikara; all seemed to be in its natural flow, same as it had been for a long time. The sound of water being pushed by the oar of the boatmen added to the calmness of night; the windy breeze and a hailstorm with heavy rains gave an assurance of purity of nature, the Allah and the God. It gave me a feeling that so much has changed, the people, the place, the times, yet the core of the nature has not deterred from its originality.
On the day of our arrival, we headed straight to Khir Bhavani Temple situated at village Tulmula. This ancient temple is approximately 30Kms from Srinagar city. Ashtami, the eight day of the month of Jyeshta, has been celebrated in this temple over ages and Hindus would travel distances to take Ma Durga’s darshan on this day. There is a belief about the spring water which looks clear blue in all good times, that if anything wrong or epidemic breaks, the colour of this spring water changes to blackish dark.
This place was thronged by the devotees from both communities on this day, darshan was shocking and surprising, eyes could gather beeline of our Muslim brothers and sisters entering Hindu pilgrimage place of worship. Was it curiosity or just a religious affair? I don’t know. We entered and conducted prayers in the main hall of the temple. The temple was resplendent in bright lights and colours, and sacred spring water looked jade green, fully laden with rose petals and various flowers. Around Six o clock, the hailstorm and heavy rains washed the house of worship for almost thirty minutes and cleansed the environment within the place of worship, prior to the evening arti. People ran around, covered themselves under the makeover roof tops or could be seen under the Chinar trees as we took the opportunity of drinking hot tea with luchis, a kind of rolled rotis, fried in oil. Most of the locals began to go back home and many pundits stayed back with their belongings, lodged there for several nights. I enjoyed every bit of this spectacular darshan of Ma Durga.
Next day we drove towards glacier valley Sonmarg. “Sonmarg” was as beautiful as ever with moderate changes across the road due to commercial establishments and restaurants. These had happened over a period of time, due to devotees travelling to seek solace and darshan of Maha Shivling in its ice form, visible in the Amarnath cave over the mountain top. The Sindh river in its crystal blue colour, flowing with twists and turns, along the glacier laden mountains was gushing forward with terrific force and fury, the sound of water performing its melody and a few exotic birds seen dipping their necks in the ice cold water and splashing water over their bodies at the corner of this stream. These miniature birds with yellow necks and black bodies were charmingly enjoying the bright sun and the ice cold water the same way my eyes were enjoying the creative art of the Divine who had the natural elements scattered around us. Awesome!!
Our next stop on this day was at Chandanwari, the starting point for the trekking and expedition to Amarnath cave. A short trek up the Amarnath route was a nice, thrilling experience, the mountain covered with glacier was a task to walk on. It was cold, hard and slippery surface. The trek on the glacier was fascinating and shivering too, due to extreme cold temperatures.
Next day early morning we traveled to Pahalgam, a tourist place approximately 90 kms. from the main Srinagar city. We were driven by our fellow friend in Scorpio. On way to Pahalgam, approximately 10 kms from Srinagar, is the town of Pampore, a place famous for the saffron produce. On both sides of the road, there are extensive stretches of saffron fields, the flowers bloom in the month of October in violet colour. The petals are delicate and impart stunning brilliance of colour, a sight worth to be seen during its blossom period. Saffron is valuable and treasured for important occasions. It is added to various food items to add flavor, colour and richness. We drove past these fields and took a detour to visit Martand Temple at village Matan. This temple has been ancient in the history of Kashmir. The pundits would perform their rights for their ancestors at this place of worship, and quick darshan of Temples, of Ma durga, Martand, SriRam was done with prayers. The temple had visitors coming and few were residing in the premises of the temple trust, built for the devotees. The peculiarity of this temple is the spring water; the naag as we call it was flooded with schools of fish that are considered pious and holy. These fish are fed with food grains. I also took the opportunity of feeding them with food grains as did the other visitors. We continued driving towards Pahalgam.
Pahalgam, a favourite hill station is surrounded with high mountains covered with fir trees. “Lider” nala, a tributary of river Jhelum, flows through the mountains. Our stay at one of the log huts on the banks of Lider nala was arranged and all means of comfort were provided at the site. A deep heartfelt thanks to our fellow friends who made it possible for us with a wazwan like meal, the Kashmiri tea with bagels “telvaar,” along with an exotic breakfast was cherished and relished by all of us.
Next morning we were driven to place called “Aru.” On way to Aru we were shown the valley named Betaab, the name given to this valley after the shooting of the movie “Betaab” featuring Sunny Deol and Amrita Singh. The film had been shot on this locale. The place is beautified with lights, the walking track and the flowing water streams around, a sight worth seeing from the mountain top. Aru, our next stop was trekking treat over the mountains, 18 kms from Pahalgam; we enjoyed walking on the trails that the mountains had to offer.
Shepherds, the bakerwals or the gujjar community, as are called, were seen trekking with their enormous flock of sheep. The flock of sheep is guided and protected by the pet mountain dogs. This community of nomads in the province of Kashmir would always live in the makeshift tents up on the high mountains during summer months and during winter months, would live in the flat roofed huts made at the foothills of the high mountains. They would generally have herds of buffaloes and cows with them. Kraris, the dried cheese in its round loaf form made by boiling cow’s milk has been shepherd’s specialty and is relished extremely by the Kashmiri local community. These bakerwals make it during the summer season of their nomadic life on high mountains and then sell it during the winter months to the locals.
An exotic dish is fried in oil and cooked in milk or tomatoes or else eaten plain fried with salt and red chilies. These kraris were much sought after and our hunt for them began by talking to the bystander shepherd who guided us to the nearby shop selling kraris in Aru. We were fortunate to buy few of them for our own consumption.
Beautiful and enchanting are the gifts of God , and Nature gives us all what we can inherit and care for. “What we see and capture through our naked eyes cannot be captured by the still images of the camera.”
There is so much to talk about and so much to pen down.
“God bless us all.” I thank the divine forces and my friends and their families who have given a spectacular performance in their own way and beautiful are the ways of the divine power that made it possible to hold us together.
Rajni
16/06/2011
