report writing on shimmering winter in Kashmir
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It has started snowing in the beautiful valleys of Kashmir. In Srinagar, the capital, people must have been joyous of the breaking of cold. The old people would be talking of how the snow has almost vanished from Kashmir. They say it used to snow up to shoulder’s height during Dogra rule and subsequently it started dwindling. They cherish their old memories on the wani peanjis, (shopfronts) (the greatest talk shows are held there). The mothers would be happy for they have not to clean the streets because there is a beautiful white carpet. Then the fathers would return home looking at their kids smiling. The kids were awestruck as if it snowed first time in their lives.
Everything wasn’t hunky dory with winters, the worst thing in winters was Shuu (frostbites). It was a curse. But the best part of it was, putting legs in the hot tub of water mixed with tea and scrubbing your feet. It might be the earliest form of manicure.
The inevitable power cuts would play disco-lights during the night. Candle light dinners and gas light dinners would light the Dastarkhaan. Before the advent of Invertors in Kashmir, when there used to be no Television during power cuts, kids sat around the elders. I would for one, wait for my grandmother to finish her dinner. She broadcasted our favourite show; it was called the “Paadshah Daleel” (Story of Kings). She used to talk of Shahmaal, the beautiful girl, who was taken to Talpatal (underground) by snakes, talk of the fabled hero Budshah, the king of Kashmir (of whom people still after 500 years talk with praise) and others. They were our favourite bedtime stories. Jinns, Kings, Princesses were later on replaced by military men, Nawbids, Mujahideen and the dead of Kashmir. These were my earliest form of resistance literature.