Romancing the Ripple
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 Day of ReckoningZeroing in on BJP. India's
Calory IntakeA Study. Romancing
the RippleA recent visit to Kashmir. |
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Manab Lahiri
E
mperor Jehangir is generally regarded by serious historians as a man
who was used to indulging in worldly pleasures at the cost
of his vast empire; in fact, there are many who feel that had it not been for his son,
Aurangzeb’s stentorian and austere lifestyle, the Mughal Empire would have become the
stuff of history much before Bahadur Shah gave himself up to poetry and lost the right to
rule. Historians are usually not kind people; they record events only by the yardstick of
expanding geographical lines and fallen dominions. Jehangir, fortunately for some of us
who see beauty even in refusals, had an eye and soul for romance. It was he who, through
the drunken eyes of an impromptu empire-builder, set foot on Kashmir and described what
for his infantry was yet another long haul through unfriendly snow and tough terrains.
Looking out, with empire-building the last thing in his thoughts, he is said to have
muttered in joyous ecstasy,``If ever there was a paradise on earth, here it
is.’’Since the, the pleasures of Kashmir have always been equated with the
vicarious feeling of being in a state of blissful heaven. I am not a serious historian;
for me, after a visit to Kashmir earlier last month, Jehangir has become the greatest
visionary emperor of the Mughals.
Not that the valley is without its problems. All tales of romances have their own webs of obstacles and problems. It has been only for the last two years that the tourist inflow has normalised with the state government doing its utmost to keep fear at bay and lending a helping hand to those with an appetite for paradise. The first movements inside Srinagar thus betray a sense of urgency; to get over with it before the obstacles surface. But rushing through with Srinagar and the Dal Lake would be to literally miss the woods for the trees.You need time to romance the Lake as it meanders through the summer capital of the state.
The
houseboat on the Lake is ubiquitous; for those of us for whom houses have only meant
structures on land, this residence on water is a novelty hard to describe. My acquaintance
with the houseboat had been fleeting during an earlier, much shorter trip. But this time,
with time not at a premium, the houseboat could be explored as a symbol of ethnic living.
Most people in Srinagar live on these ``gondolas of the east’’; while those for
tourists have their luxurious paraphernalia, the locals make do with sloping roofs and the
attachments that make for the necessities of routine life. Tourist shopping, as distinct
from local trading, is done on shikaras, there are those popular instruments for
long-distance conversations on these same sails and, perhaps as a tribute to the state
government’s efforts to reinstate a belief in social welfare in the people, there are
even medical assistance just an oar away. Everything seems to be happening in Kashmir
right now for history to record. With perhaps a seriousness which does not go only with
the dull alignments of political requirements. Tourism is back to being serious business
in Kashmir; if there has been a wink or two in between, then those have been the
aberrations of warped priorities.
The smile that the new tourist brings back from Kashmir nowadays is the symbol of all that romance has always stood for. The time of refusals in Kashmir is over. The forked beauty of the valley beckons.It’s romancing the ripple again.
For tourist information:Director, Jammu and Kashmir, Ph:452690\91(Srinagar);544527/548172(Jammu);228-5791(Calcutta) Fax:479548 (Srinagar);548358/544842(Jammu);228-1950(Calcutta) For transportation and house boat booking: Sarfraz Travels Service, Srinagar, Phone : 475664; Fax: 475350
