You think tourism equals terrorism in Kashmir and this is keeping you away from travelling to Kashmir. Going around Srinagar for 5 days did change a lot of my perception, rekindled my love for unspoilt Nature and reassured my belief in the couplet coined to describe Kashmir,
As a tourist, terrorism in Kashmir was not a problem for me, my pre-paid mobile going completely dead was the real real issue J Jokes apart, yes Kashmir is terror striven but I feel it is more in the mind than on ground. For years, through news we have built an image of Kashmir where every Kashmiri is a terrorist. Kashmir is a dichotomy. It is beautiful yet scary. Every time I saw a kashmiri clad in a phiran, the Bollywood storyline of guns being pulled out and shootout in middle of a crowded market kind of thoughts rattled my mind. Every time, I would sit in a taxi, scenes from Roza where the hero was kidnapped and the heroine left behind howling crossed my hyper imaginative and Bollywood inspired mind. However, after 5 days of stay and trips in and around Srinagar, I realized that Kashmir is eulogized and glamourized (both in good & bad sense) to an extent that our own perspective, our own view, and our own understanding stands paralyzed. We see Kashmir from a borrowed lens, a perspective that has been repeatedly ingrained in our mind through breaking news and Bollywood.
Yes, terrorism is prevalent but not always, not everywhere (Kashmir valley is huge) and is not the bread & butter for everyone. There are common people who are heavily dependent on tourism as their daily jobs and can meagrely earn just 200 to 300 rs a day or even less as tourists are ever dwindling. I was thoroughly mesmerized to see the beautiful Kashmir – the chinar leaves, the mughal gardens, shimmering dal lake,
Manjeet Mahato
Designer and Writer at the Website
