Homeland after Eighteen Years - A 48 hour Travelogue

K L Chowdhury
105 106
Homeland after Eighteen Years
They are glib fundamentalists,
who thrive on the religious sentiments
of the gullible Kashmiri masses
and drive them like herds of sheep
into a self-destructive course,
flaunting wild dreams
of Nizame Mustafa and Azadi.
Pray, what is this Azadi all about
except a freedom from free thought,
from progress, from reason,
from tolerance, from syncretism?
An eerie hush has descended on Lal Chowk
like a prelude to a tragedy,
even as the shops are open,
and people go about their business;
no sign whatever
of the turbulence underneath.
Is it the lull before the storm?
There are a few bunkers in evidence,
and fewer soldiers at vantage positions,
their faces eager to befriend,
even as they are ready to defend.
Gagribal - Buchwar
On along the old Polo Grounds
to the foothills of Shankaracharya again
for a short stop at Gagribal
to buy a box of apples for the Wakhlus.
Why are apples here,
in this land of Delicious and Ambri,
more expensive, and almost double the price,
than in Jammu, I wonder.
The Kashmir trader was always notorious
for cheating and making a quick buck,
but the greed seems to have grown manifold
and the grab culture got a big boost
in spite of the ferment of religious piety!
That reminds me
that it was here at Gagribal
that the Income Tax officials
who had flown from New Delhi
to uncover the black money
of the big hoteliers and businessmen,
were humiliated, hounded and beaten up?
The papers, files and documents
that they had seized from the defaulters
were thrown in the lake Dal
by the crowds who were made to believe
that India was taxing the Kashmiris.