Whose heart for the Valley beats....

We went to Srinagar for a three day visit.....

Years of hearing stories about the valley from my parents who lived there in the 50s' and from one of my best friends who is Kashmiri and who is an artist too, had me holding images of this place steeped in the love of all their recounting....

But the shock of viewing a land devastated by the battles of indecision was  heart wrenching. Over two decades of strive shows itself starkly in the poverty of the people and in the lack of economic progress that is all too visible to observe. Abandoned houses bear silent witness to the flight of fear that drove people from their ancestral land over night, and  left divisive political agendas  to map new histories that do little to heal the trauma's of hatred and violence. 

The all pervading presence of the gun is everywhere......

The faces of the local population reflect a resigned spirit as flies sit everywhere, and the disrepair of neglect is palpable and horrifyingly intrusive.....

I felt oddly voyeuristic. It was as though my coming to  Kashmir as a tourist became a token gesture of involvement towards the normalcy of the state. What is eluding  Kashmir is the powers of governance that can orchestrate it's integration into the mainstream of India's economic  development. Merely riding starved horses (which I refused to do) or looking at the snow capped mountains and ignoring the  ground level reality, does not address the complex political issues that leave Kashmir in such an unresolved political  mess till today. 

You feel the time warp acutely when visiting this corner of the country. Even staying in a supposed 5 star hotel does not come up to the standards of expectation one normally has for such an experience to hold.The Grand Lalit Palace had such poor service I felt embarrassed for them! Their food was below average, the appliances they offered in the rooms were faulty; and to boot no mention of the old part of the hotel not being air conditioned appears on their official website!  So it was hot as hell with noisy fans that kept you awake all night as you tossed and turned!  As it is a heritage building, permission for air-conditioning  has to be sought for all the re-wiring. However can somebody inform them about tower air conditioners and generator systems that can support this facility?! My star rating for this hotel is only one star! Exorbitantly expensive, the hotel was no value for money, and a very tacky experience altogether. 

I came back with a Phirin  that is actually made in Ludhiana !... and a little wooden yellow-painted shikara that holds no exquisiteness of craft-personship !!