My world is not yet completely dead as I don’t know whether I should write an obituary or not, Afshan Gazi portrays the tragedy Kashmir has turned to be.
Kashmir is cradled in the mountains of the Himalayas and considered as the Switzerland of South Asia. It has once been so beautiful that the Emperor Jehangir once exclaimed; "If there is paradise anywhere on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here." But then, is it sagacious to call our valley a heaven now? It’s turned into a virtual hell.
My father repeatedly talks a lot to me about his childhood. He talks about a foot long icicle, about snowfall that ended for days together, about spring that would bloom into the buds of badam vaer, about long winters and hot summers. And then, I wonder what will we tell our children tomorrow?? About the choked up streams, about snowfall that never came on time, about lakes that are dead, about trees that were cut just because they blocked the view. Not only that we can surely tell them about the bloodshed, about how bombs were exploded, about how children were orphaned, women made widows and how starving people died…then ultimately I come to a conclusion we the children of this age have nothing good to share with our future generations. We don't have those nostalgic memories which our fathers and forefathers relish by sharing with us. Unfortunately we have nothing good to share with our posterity. And the fault is not ours. We were brought in the world of guns and bombs. We were brought in a world where a man peeped at us 24*7 from behind a sandbag bunker but I think I am too worried about the future because the rate of destruction at which we are going there will be no tomorrow.
Kashmir was a paradise not only for the dwellers but also for the saints, Rishis and tourists. If you still go and ask a Bedouin in the deserts of Arabia what paradise looks like… his answer will most probably be the images of crystal clear sparkling waters, huge snow capped mountains, lush green fields…then think about it and you will realize that this image has a striking resemblance with the picture postcard image of pristine Kashmir. But we do not live in a post card. The Kashmir that's on the post card is very different from the Kashmir we live in.
How is it that the land that was once the favorite retreat of tourists has suddenly become inhabitable for its own residents? Let's not think how Kashmir was or how is it now let's think how Kashmir is now and how it can be and what it should be. Let us make Kashmir more beautiful than it ever was to the extent that the post card image of Kashmir looks inferior to real Kashmir. In spite of amassing the problems we need to come up with solutions. Friends, our fathers received a picture perfect heaven, gave us an altered heaven and we are preparing hell for the future generation… we have only one Kashmir and I don't think it is worth a risk. Kashmir is on the edge today; tomorrow it will be off it if we do not discharge duty in an appropriate way. We cannot get back what we have lost but we can at least save what is left off.
Arundati Rai once wrote," my world is dead; I write to mourn its passing". But my world; my Kashmir is not dead yet but I wonder if I should start writing its obituary.
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