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w o r l d a w a i t s . c o m |
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Tales of the World
Images of Kashmir As the Indian Air jet approached Srinagar's airport, the German couple made up their minds. They would stay at the airport to await the next available flight on to Ladakh. They would 'How bad could it be?' I wondered. Bad enough -- wondrously bad. Only two of Srinagar's many hotels and guest houses were open to tourists when I arrived. A few were closed due to lack of business. Most were occupied by the Indian troops who struggled to maintain dominance and control. Lodging was available in many of Dal Lake's famous houseboats. Books and travelers will tell you that the Kashmiris are liars, that The long causeway that cuts across Dal Lake seemed at first to offer a marvelous vantage of the Kashmiris who farm the floating gardens -- great mats of vegetation and organic matter that rest in ordered acreage But who was really on display? The smiling women who washed clothing? The man in the tree who gazed with confidence? The hookah smokers who looked up and waved? They all watched me pass; I was performing for them -- a strange westerner walking in a troubled land , gawking and pointing his camera, fumbling greetings and moving on. Or maybe there was no performing at all, just an odd juxtaposition of separate lives, amusing to all concerned. People died that night, shot by the army. The next day, the authorities had cracked down, closing off an area of the city surrounding a mosque. I circled the zone on back streets, The city was blacked out. The curfew was in effect. From my room on the second floor of the Grand Hotel, I watched the bullets fly. The tracers cut low through the sky about two hundred yards away, across the river. I watched from my window like the idiot I can be. For five minutes, the guns popped and spat. Who was firing? Were members of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front battling the Indian army? Were drunken soldiers shooting at squirrels? Were more people dying? I never found out. I was never in danger. I was never afraid. I didn't belong. I had nothing to offer. I left the next day. |