The Invisible SHE

I left for Srinagar with very strict orders from my family to not comment or converse on contentious issues. A chatterbox, it was not easy for me to contain the hundred questions milling around in my mind, maybe about Section 370. Our bus driver was Nissar Ali and on the longish journey he sang delightfully and shared pics of his beautiful wife and children. His wedding photo had him wearing a Rajasthani pagri and not a Sehra. My curiosity was piqued and I couldn’t help asking why? It was a family tradition for hundreds of years. He thoughtfully remarked that his title was Rathed a derivative of Rathore. They were in all probability Rajputs who converted to Islam. Similarly there were Bhats and other ambivalent names. Interesting genealogy!

The men were all eye candy and anywhere we looked there was a potential film star. Blam for the eys. God has been unjust perchance and he spent so much time in his neighbourhood he forgot about the other world.

From the time I landed to the time I left there was eerily an absence of women. On the streets, in public places, in hotels, shops. The few pics I took were of women in villages who tried to scurry away with a Hijab pulled closer. A beautiful girl with a coronet was an exception in Srinagar, in her Father’s shop.

Kashmir is beautiful, impeccably clean, wide roads, houses. They lack employment and are scraping together a living. The general refrain was “ we are safe, in fact safer now” as trouble makers had been removed. It was safe even for me but an uneasy safety, with the invisible “SHE”

 

#kashmirparadiseonearth #travelblog #vibhamitra #oddsandbends #kashmir #womenonwanderlust #pahalgam #srinagar #kanihomestay #ganderbal #manasbal