In the summer of 2008, serious communal violence resulting in dozens of fatalities, followed by massive strikes, curfews and business shut downs , left Kashmir mostly paralyzed. With the buses out service, you, in a momentary lapse of reason, decide to hitchhike your way through the troubled valley.
After 20 minutes of waiting along the Srinagar-Jammu highway, a jam-packed rustic station wagon that sort of resembles a jeep pulls over to pick you up. You cram yourself in the cargo area next to an elderly man with a taqiyah and opposite his two roughly 18-year old nephews who start up a light-hearted discussion with you. The nature of the conversation turns slightly more serious when the car passes an Indian military roadblock. “We don’t like Indians” exclaims one of the boys, “they’re ruining Kashmir”, to which everybody nods in agreement. The other boy points outside to a mural of the J&K National Panthers Party logo accompanied by the text 'Free Kashmir'.
Repudiating of Indian authorities goes on for several minutes (with western democracies getting their share of criticism) and as you finally try fit a word in, one of the boys interrupts you: “My father, he dead now…he make a sacrifice”. Then it hits you: these guys are fucking separatist militant nut jobs. Why on earth did you get in this car? Before you can properly assess the situation, the driver asks you in a poignant tone: “What religion are you?”.
Aw, shit! Now what? Saying that you don’t believe in god probably wouldn't go down too well with these guys, and since you couldn’t really pass yourself off as anything else, you decide to go with good ol’ Jesus. “I’m…uhhh…Christian?”. Total silence. The intimidating stares of your fellow passengers causes sweat to run down your brow as the guidebook stories of decapitated tourist spring to your mind. This is it, you’re fucked now, young man.
After the longest 15 seconds of your life the old man next you breaks the silence: “You know, Christianity is not that much different from Islam”. Pheeew, you know that feeling you get when you take a huge dump? Oh Jesus, Allah, Buddha, I love you all!
For the next hour or so the old man recites stories from days past when he was actively involved in the Kashmir conflict, and proudly informs you that the young generation is shaping up nicely. Inspired by the magnate’s words, the two boys divulge that after the Ramadan they were heading back to Srinagar to prove their worth.
The car finally reaches the town of Anantnag, and, although having had an interesting journey, you’re glad it’s over. As you pick up your rucksack and head for the door the old man grabs your shoulder. “By the way”, he says and presents you with his business card, “if you ever need a dry cleaner”.
Contributed by Toxic Waste Man a.k.a Aleksi
3 comments:
youre lucky..kashmiri militants are pretty bad....though they normally won't harm tourists but US/UK tourists can be on their hate list.....this militancy has destroyed the kasmiri tourism a lot over the years
@john:i guess you know nothing about kashmir.the cause of millitancy was opression of people by the army sent by india.i know millitancy has hurt tourism in kashmir but u cant have normalcy where there is oppression of people.besides kashmiris dont hate anyone without any reason be it people from Us/Uk.
@merja:Nice blog.good work
ya well said!!!!
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