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VOL-I, ISSUE-1 DECEMBER-2015 | Budgam 

Editor 

Bashir Naaz 

Editor’s Desk 

Executive Editor 

Ab.Qayoom Bhat 

Printer/Publisher and Owner 

Mrs. Yasmeen Ara 

Printed at 

KT Press Pvt. Ltd. 

E.C.Rangreth, Budgam. 

Published at 

H. No. 1157 Hanjikpora, 

Soibugh, Budgam191111. 

Kashmir (J&K) 

RNI NO.JKBIL/2015/65517. 

Sub-Editor 

Azam Iqbal Bhat 

Graphic Designer 

Zahoor Ahmad Mir 

Contact us 

editorjkpanorama@gmail.com 

Cell No. 9419027887 

9419009419 

he state of Jammu and Kashmir is a graphic 

description of the term 'diversity'. Perhaps no 

Tother state in the sub-continent can boast of 

such a diverse bouquet of flora, fauna, ethnicity, 

languages and dialects, religious denominations and 

climate as this state of ours. What was brought together 

by history can remain a composite geography only if 

all elements of this diversity celebrate being together 

while being different. 

JK PANORAMA will bring to you, every month, all 

that concerns this state of ours - be it culture, history, 

development, politics or social issues. 

We welcome contributions from our esteemed readers. 

Bashir Naaz 

Editor 

- 3 -



IN THIS ISSUE 

MESSAGE 

I’ll go to Another Country 

( 05 ) 

Whither Kashmir ? 

( 07 ) 

The Package Opened 

( 09 ) 

A Panoramic View Of 

Kashmir Art 

( 11 ) 

Daastaan-e Chahaar-taan 

( 14 ) 

My Bicycle 

( 15 ) 

s I get executive editor responsibilities, 

Aplease be patient. The learning curve is 

great, but so are the opportunities to take this 

publication in new and exciting directions. Over 

the course of the next few issues you will notice 

some new features and ways for you to get more 

involved. We want to know how our readers feel 

about JK PANORAMA. We welcome comments, 

issues, questions, and anything else you can 

think of. 

Submit your outdoor photos and story 

ideas that you would like to see included in JK 

PANORAMA. We want this newsletter to remain 

dynamic and fresh; we can only do that with your 

great ideas and creativity. I look forward to work 

with all of you and seeing the exciting directions. 

We can achieve the heights with your ideas and 

innovative creations. I look forward to work with 

your valuable consultations to take JK 

PANORAMA to its Panoramic views in practical 

sense. 

Ab. Qayoom Bhat 

Executive Editor 

- 4 -



OPINION 

“I’LL GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRY” 

(Kashmir can’t be conceived as being outside of 

that larger geopolitical continuum of which India 

and Pakistan are the main poles) 

SHANTIVEER KAUL 

he closing lines of the poem 'The City' 

written by Greek poet Constantine 

TCavafy have haunted me ever since I 

first read them - over three decades ago. 

These lines, in fact making up the second of a 

two stanza poem beginning with the phrase 

'I'll go to another country' are worth 

reproducing every time one thinks, breathes, 

reads or writes Kashmir. Doing all four here 

and now, I reproduce them in the hope that the 

reader of this piece partakes of the power of 

these lines as also the hope that shines 

through the seeming despair they project at 

first reading. 

“You won't find a new country, won't find 

another shore. 

This city will always pursue you. 

You'll walk the same streets, grow old in the 

same neighbourhoods, Turn grey in these 

same houses. 

You'll always end up in this city. 

Don't hope for things elsewhere: there's no 

ship for you, there's no road. Now that you've 

wasted your life here, in this small corner, 

You've destroyed it everywhere in the world.” 

I could never have summoned better lines to 

describe all that is Kashmir and Kashmiri 

today. 

These lines are as much a record of the 

loss felt by Kashmiris in the act of physical 

'hijrat', hopefully temporary, during the course 

of over two decades of a turmoil not of their 

making as is it of loss, hopefully not 

permanent, of values and traditions nurtured 

over centuries and generations of sociocultural 

evolution – a social cost not as well 

documented – that actually is the defining 

characteristic of being a Koshur in the first 

place. 

When one Kashmiri meets another 

fellow Kashmiri anywhere in the whole wide 

world each of them, after getting past 

identifiers of nationality, geographical locus 

and other such things, discovers something of 

Kashmir peeping through or out of the other. 

One is not talking about that much flaunted 

neonism 'Kashmiriyat' here but some mutual 

or defining characteristic, some shared 

historical memory or even common 

acquaintance with a person, place or thing. 

With that discovery of a Kashmir ensconced 

in either breast, both Kashmiris bask in the 

warm glow of unexpressed camaraderie. This 

is a common enough occurrence and many a 

Kashmiri would have experienced it while 

having been outside of Kashmir. But is it not 

true of every community or group of people? 

We Kashmiris may well feel it to be our 

exclusive property but the phenomenon is 

pretty commonplace. It happens with 

Punjabis, Gujaratis, Bengalis, Sindhis as 

much as it does with Uzbeks, Tajiks, Uighurs 

and Mongols – pretty regularly and in a 

similar manner too. And often the 

phenomenon gets projected in a way that it 

envelopes whole continents and transcends 

constituent nationalities or sub-nationalities, 

linguistic cognates and topographical 

affinities. A personal flashback of over a 

dozen years ago would serve to illustrate how. 

After a couple of bland and largely tasteless 

meals at the very outset of my maiden visit to 

the Continent I was forced to seek out an 

'Indian' restaurant to rescue my nearly dead 

taste buds. The Indian restaurant I was 

directed to was called 'Karachi' and was run 

- 5 -


by a Bangladeshi – as are, I was later to know, 

most 'Indian' restaurants all over Europe. 

“Hum to hain pardesmein, des mein nikla 

hoga chaand!” – the soulful voice of Jagjit 

Singh filled the softly lit interiors of the 

restaurant. In an ambience redolent of the 

musk of East, people from all over India and 

Pakistan – attending the same conference 

examining conflict to formulate peace that I 

was attending – were joined in the ritual of 

breaking bread together, in a community 

setting, in a land far away from lands of both. 

Three days away from home and there was 

not an eye that was not moist listening to 

Jagjit sing the rare Rahi Masoom Raza lyric. 

Soon hardnosed Indian and Pakistani second 

channel negotiators, who had maintained their 

implacably hostile positions while discussing 

Kashmir during the day, were experiencing a 

strange kind of breakdown of fortifications. 

This is not to say that Jagjit and Rahi between 

themselves helped draft the final appeal for 

peace pertinent to Kashmir but the magic of 

that evening was very real. 

Caught up in the misplaced, and might 

one say jingoistic, discourse that 'others' 

Pakistan in India and vice versa, we discount 

the reality of a super-arching South Asian 

identity that defines both. In the present point 

in time of the flux of Kashmiri self 

perception, both India and Pakistan stand 

'othered', but the fact of the same superarching 

South Asian identity remains 

unaltered. Try as one may, Kashmir can't be 

conceived as being outside of that larger 

geopolitical continuum of which India and 

Pakistan are the main poles. 

It is said that 'no two snowflakes are 

alike'. We, however, tend to understand the 

notion of two things being unlike by likening 

them to other sets of two things that are 

unlike. Through this process we make these 

other sets alike. These other sets then become 

diploids of 'this-that' variety. They become 

inseparable from and are talked of in the same 

breath. This serves to paper over the essential 

differences between them and heightens their 

conjugality. They are perceived as essentially 

of the same ilk with only opposing polarities. 

Their being is their polarity. There may be 


other immediate neighbours that are 

seemingly unlike each other but to most of us 

the case of India and Pakistan is not only 

immediate and intimate but also ever present. 

Are they really chalk and cheese? If Pakistan 

continues on its present net trajectory it is 

more likely to stabilize over the next few 

years rather than implode as many a modern 

day Cassandra has prophesied. That stability 

will in turn lead to the emergence of an 

economically and geopolitically consolidated 

South Asia of which a settled Kashmir will 

become a necessary precursor. 

- 6 -



Whither Kashmir ? 

India wants to retain Kashmir, with people if possible; with the help of force if 

necessary. We need to understand the whole issue in a historical perspective 

ANALYSIS 

G. M. BAWAN 

have tried to keep the historical 

unconnected and unrelated territories, 

perspective in view on the changes that inhabited by sharply contrasting ethnic, 

Ihave occurred in the last seven decades in linguistic and cultural identities, by 

the subcontinent and on the global level. I unconcerned peoples, into a new state of 

also want to clear that we should not be much Jammu and Kashmir, for their own 

bothered about individuals; however high aggrandizement and profit, was a rare event 

their projection. What matters is the problem that history has seldom witnessed. It was an 

confronting us. We know that the speed of extraordinary occurrence of weaving and 

technological engine has shaken the concepts unholy political, social and territorial 

of politics, economy, sociology and history. ( alliance.”( Kashmir Rediscovered- Page 217) 

A prominent intellectual has said that history So it is clear that state of Jammu and Kashmir 

has seized to exist- though debatable). 

was brain child of the British with ulterior 

motives and with an intention to keep the 

Walls of nation states are crumbling; 

subcontinent burning by manipulation and 

territorial boundaries are vanishing and 

intrigue. It is a fact of history that Kashmiris 

oceans shrinking. 

have never ruled their land. A dim glimpse of 

emergence of Kashmiri 

power emerged in 1947 

“Walls of nation states are crumbling; territorial 

boundaries are vanishing and oceans shrinking.” 

when the Non Kashmiris 

areas remained on the other 

side of L. O. C. The present 

A new trend of ethnic assertion is 

emerging as in Crimea and Eastern 

Europe. We are confronted with the 

mindset of an epoch where identities are 

blurred in political, religious and ethnic 

mist. Making of the State of J& K The 

state of Jammu and Kashmir came into 

being on 16 th March 1846 ( treaty of 

Amritsar). Dr Abdul Ahad writes- “ The 

welding together of a bunch of 

- 7 -


desire to make Jammu & Kashmir an 

independent state is fraught the danger of 

diluting Kashmiri Power. It is as clear as 

white snow that sacrifices are being given by 

Kashmiris, there women being molested, 

children being killed and the irony of the fate 

is that the beneficiaries are sitting on the 

fence waiting for the Apple to fall. ( 

Beneficiaries are Gilgit, Askurdu, Baltistan, 

Muzzafarabad, Mirpur, Jammu Province, 

Kargil and Ladakh). It is also a naked fact of 

reality that in these areas there has been no 

organized support, demonstration, nor actual 

participation in support of the struggle 

Kashmiris have launched. Should such a 

miracle happen that Jammu & Kashmir state 

becomes an independent sovereign state and 

the whole world agreeing to this formation, 

the fall out of such an occurrence will be a 

mixture of pain and pleasure. Pleasure, 

because independence is in place and Pain, 

because the Kashmiri Power gets diluted. In 

such an arrangement, the President or the 

Prime Minister will always be from Non- 

Kashmiri Belt. And Kashmiris may get 3 or 4 

ministerial berths, they will have to play 

second fiddle role. After giving sacrifices of 

such a greatest magnitude, is that worth. What 

about the present system we are living in. The 

three regions are at daggers drawn. Each 

ethnic region vies for political, economic and 

social empowerment. “ On the other end of 

the spectrum, the political polarization is also 

exemplified by the fact that there has been no 

single pan state party representing aspirations 

of all the people. Even when a party has 

emerged on a pan state level, it has had to 

posture differently in the three regions to stay 

relevant”- V. S So the need of the hour is that 

leaders of Kashmir come together, sit, debate, 

analyze and reach a consensus on the basis of 

which an ultimate resolution of the vexed 


problem can be found. It is important as long 

as people do not describe the idea of what 

they are fighting for, they shall keep on 

walking on an endless road, following 

shadows. Vague, ambiguous slogans clouded 

in emotional structure will not help. Ordinary 

leaders are satisfied with removing frictions 

over embarrassments- Statesman create and 

transform situations. They are visionaries who 

can look destiny in the eye without flinching. 

A man who does not change; can change 

nothing. 

- 8 -



THE PACKAGE OPENED 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi 

announced a Rs. 80,000 crore package 

th 

for Jammu and Kashmir on 7 Nov.2015 

and said it should be used to transform the 

state, devastated by floods last year, into a 

modern, progressive and prosperous one. 

There would be no 

dearth of money for the 

state's development, the 

Prime Minister promised, 

saying, “This Rs. 80,000 

crore is not a full stop. It's 

only the beginning...Not 

only is Delhi's treasury for 

you but so is its heart.” 

Thousands of 

people present at the Sher-i-Kashmir cricket 

stadium, where he was making his address, 

broke into applause as PM Modi made his 

announcement. The PM said India was 

“incomplete without Kashmiriyat,” invoking 

three mantras and saluted the people of 

Kashmir for strengthening Mr Vajpayee's 

dream for the state. 

The break-up of economic package 

announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi 

for the state of Jammu and Kashmir is as 

India was “incomplete without Kashmiriyat,” 

invoking the words of former Prime Minister Atal 

Bihari Vajpayee also of the BJP, who had talked 

about “Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat aur Insaniyat’ 

follows: 

Flood relief, reconstruction and flood 

management – Rs. 7854 crore. This includes 

monetary help to people for reconstruction of 

damaged houses and for infrastructure; 

restoration of livelihood for traders and small 

the words of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari businessmen; a plan for comprehensive flood 

Vajpayee, also of the BJP, who had talked management of the River Jehlum and its 

about “Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat aur Insaniyat' tributaries, and Jehlum-Tawi flood 

(social consciousness and cultural values of the reconstruction project. Road and highway 

Kashmiri people, democracy, and humanity).” projects – Rs. 42611 crore. This includes 

The PM said he would follow those construction of Zojila tunnel; semi ring roads 

- 9 -


in Jammu and Srinagar; projects under Bharat 

Mala for better connectivity, and up-gradation 

of important highway and other projects in the 

State. Power, New and Renewable Energy – 

Rs. 11708 crore. This includes augmentation 

of power infrastructure and distribution 

systems; solar power, and small hydro 

projects. Health – Rs 4900 crore. This 

includes creation of two AIIMS-like 

institutions in capital cities of the State, and 

support for creation of infrastructure in 

hospitals and Primary Health Centres. Human 

Resource Development, Skill Development 


tourist villages. Urban Development – Rs. 

2312 crore This includes amounts under 

Smart Cities and Swachh Bharat missions; 

and for infrastructure in towns of Jammu and 

Kashmir. Security and Welfare of displaced 

people – Rs. 5263 crore This includes 

amounts towards jobs for Kashmiri migrants, 

rehabilitation of families from Chhamb and 

PoK, construction of houses, and setting up of 

five India Reserve Battalions. The India 

Reserve Battalions will create 4000 jobs for 

the youth of Jammu and Kashmir. Pashmina 

Promotion Project – Rs. 50 crore 

Photos by: Shoab Masoodi 

and sports – Rs. 2600 crore This includes 

establishment of IIT and IIM in Jammu; 

stepping up efforts under the HIMAYAT 

scheme to train one lakh youth over five 

years, and augmenting sports infrastructure. 

Agriculture and Food Processing – Rs 529 

crore This includes support for horticulture, 

and creation of cold storage facilities Tourism 

–Rs. 2241 crore This includes new projects 

and tourist circuits, and setting up of 50 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narinder 

Modi, inaugurated 450 MW Baglihar Hydro 

Electric Power Project Stage-II and laid 

foundation stone of four-lanning of 

Udhampur-Ramban and Ramban-Banihal 

sections of Jammu-Srinagar National 

Highway. 

- 10 -



A PANORAMIC VIEW OF 

KASHMIR ART 

BY: GAYOOR HASSAN 

Of all the attempts that have been made 

to define art, perhaps the most 

appealing as well as the most easily 

definable is that art is an intensification of 

life. From the earliest known arts – the 

prehistoric cave painters whose pictures of 

roaming herds must have stood for the forces 

of the Universe as well as for the stable of 

their daily existence – to the arts of last two 

centuries, whose adventurous experimentation 

reflects an exhilirating sense of the freedom 

of the human spirit; man has been using art 

expression to affirm and give meaning to his 

life. As his needs and ideals changes, our 

immense art heritage reveals vividly, 

accurately, and often with a considerable 

degree of intimacy as to what man's 

aspirations were and how he has viewed 

himself and his place in the cosmos. The 

study of art history is thus the study of man 

through the evolution of his ideals just as 

much as through the development of his art 

techniques and styles. 

Since I am a painter, sculptor and 

designer, I have attempted to analyze the 

situation being an insider and have also tried 

to present the objective point of view. Many 

people may not agree with this kind of a 

subjective objective interpretation. The world 

of art does not easily accept a practicing 

artists involved in history and critcism of art. 

During my artistic career, I have worked in 

close proximity to many 'isms', doctrines and 

philosophical concepts. These concepts were 

frequently enriched through my experiences 

as a professional artist and teacher. My 

sculptures and paintings speak of my 

unrelenting quest for the philosophical, the 

mystical and spiritual, quite in tune with the 

essence of the land to which I belong. 

My current works are mystical in 

theme as well. I have endeavored in different 

materials which I came across during my 

aesthetic journey and suited my aesthetic 

expression. Only a few Indian artists have 

attempted critical and historical analyses 

besides wielding the pen. This represents a 

stimulating contribution to the discussion on 

the developments in the visual arts in Kashmir 

today. 

My purpose in this brief essay will be 

to discover what is it that has shaped the 

- 11 -


artist's vision and to examine how the various 

means used by the artist to convey that vision 

have convey over the years. When we 

compare and contrast similar words from 

diverse periods or cultures, or words by 

various artist of one period and even by one 

artist at various intervals of his life, 

significance deference emerge that enable us 

to make observations above the manner and 

intent of the artist and to trace meaningful 

patterns of development in art down through 

the ages. It also helps us to recognize and 

appreciate the features that distinguish great 

works of art. 

By comparing the works of art, we 

find, the concept and styles evolving 

similarities and differences in the 

arrangement of forms, colors and technical 

practices that enable us to identify a work as 

belonging to a particular period or place or as 

having been executed by a particular artist. 

We also become familiar with the way in 

which each period, and individual artist 

within that period, handled the content of a 

work of art. And we will begin to recognize 

those factors that please, move or inspire as in 


a work of art – or more accurately, that 

combination of factors. For ultimately the 

effect of a work or a particular arrangement of 

forms. It certainly does not depend 

exclusively on the choice of subject matter or 

expressive intent of the artist, nor can it be 

related uniquely to the effective evocation of 

the taste or the intellectual or emotional 

climate of a period. Rather, we respond to the 

whole work, the sum of the appeal and 

suggestiveness of its organization of forms 

and execution, its ability to evoke the ideal of 

time and originality, spontaneity and 

emotional intensity of the artist's vision. 

Art is a process of self-expression by 

the cosmic mind. The though in an individual 

artist's mind carries the concept of the art and 

before it is executed all of these are parts of 

this process of divine expression. Each point 

of view, each act of interest in art, tends to 

motivate a certain way of defining art. 

Emphasis on beauty and pleasure as 

characteristics of artistic expression to a large 

extend the connoisseurs and historians of art. 

Each of these approaches can be fruitful in 

increasing the understanding of art and its 

locale in human life. 

The appreciation of a work of art is a 

complex affair and inextricably involved with 

the cultural life of man. The artist is not just a 

copyist of nature's appearance; he is part of 

the fabric of society. He uses nature, the 

visible world, but his whole purpose is the 

interpretation of his personal – and 

necessarily limited – understanding. 

The use of term 'medieval' in Indian 

history is, at best, confusing. Some historians 

define the period broadly to include the time 

between the middle of the sixth and the 

middle of the sixteenth centuries. From the 

point of view of art a more logical span would 

be the five centuries between the appearance 

of Islam in Indus delta in the early eighth 

century and its domination of North India and 

the Ganges Valley during the thirteenth 

century. Throughout this era great 

Brahmanical and Buddhist works were 

created in Northern India. Afterwards, 

Buddhism disappeared and Islamic influences 

- 12 -


seeped into the Hindu culture. 

The picturesque and exotic beauty of 

the vale of Kashmir found reflection in the rich 

and varied cultural heritage, which was 

contributed to the east. 

At the back of the image of the Cosmic 

Boar (Varaha), which rescued the earth god, a 

central head, not apparent when viewed from 

the front, a domestic fourth face looks outward 

through the halo. It appears that Kashmir was 

the chief centre for the four-faced Vishnu and 

the famous temple at Avantipur was dedicated 

to his worship. 

Perhaps the best-known early medieval 

structure in Kashmir is the ruin of the Surya 

temple at Martand. This majestic shine was 

erected by the great Kashmiri king Laltaditya 

Muktapida, who finds mention in the Kashmiri 

chronicle, Rajtarangini. 

The Indian artist worked according to a 

mental prototype, a transposition of reality, and 

an aspect of the thing recreated and rethought. 

He did not reproduce the object 'seen', but the 

object 'known'. The aim of art was to manifest 

and thus participate in the 'play' of nature 

whose forms it exalted and whose effects it 

suggested. The artist personal feelings were 

never expressed. It can be categorized as 

naturalistic, idealistic or subjective art. 

The cannons, which art had to obey, did 

not paralyze the artist, but provided them with 

a grammer from which they could draw an 

inexhaustible supply of modes of expression. 

Their imaginations were free to create endless 

variations on few main themes, in this way no 

two works were identical. A balance was 

maintained between created thought and the 


norms defined by the treatises. Encouraged by 

their mission of bringing the divine down to 

the world of men, the Indian artist drew 

inspirations from a mass of lively popular 

belief. 

Indian art reflects both religious and 

social life, it perpetuates the ideal existence of 

part times from which a comparable rhythm 

and beauty emanates. 

Towards, the end of the 19th century, a 

positive reaction commenced against the 

degenerate school of painting and time was 

ripe for the rise of the true Indian painting. The 

pioneers looked back into heritage or 

inspiration. 

Rabindranath Tagore and his associate 

of E. B. Havell conscientiously tried to recreate 

a national art style in painting. He and 

his worthy pupils assiduously experimented in 

techniques of Indian miniatures. Frescoes, 

scroll and Pata paintings and with other 

oriented styles of painting, like Persian, 

Japanese and Chinese. The subject matter 

delved into the Indian classics, mythology and 

romantic past. This new artistic faith spread far 

and wide in the country. A new style was born 

that tended to combine the technical 

experience of Europe and the traditional 

inspiration of India. Rabindranath Tagore 

himself took up painting at the age of sixty, 

producing works of great interest and 

astonishing modernity. 

Academic realism and the so-called 

traditional 'Kashmiri Miniature Kalam' could 

be found since the 2nd B. C., thereby negating 

the notion of its being an offshoot of the 

'Mughal Miniature'. Both the styles were too 

narrow to allow freedom to the artistic taste 

and temper. To reach forth many changes were 

being impressed by the new situation of art. 

Continued on next issue…. 

- 13 -



DAASTAAN-E CHAHAAR-TAAN 

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Hindustan Join Turkmenistan in breaking Ground 

on Gas Pipeline 

Taking another step towards realising to the southeast. 

the ambitious TAPI (Turkmenistan- 

Last week, state-run gas utility GAIL 

Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) natural India, along with state gas companies of 

gas pipeline project, petroleum ministers of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan set 

the four countries met in Ashgabat, 

up a company that will build, own and 

Turkmenistan Thursday and agreed that steps operate the 1,800-km gas pipeline across the 

will be taken to start the project by 2015. four countries. The national companies will 

“It was 

decided that the 

next meeting of the 

steering committee 

will be held in 

February 2015 in 

Islamabad,” the 

petroleum ministry 

said in a statement 

here on the 19th 

round of TAPI 

steering committee 

meeting attended 

by Petroleum 

Minister 

Dharmendra 

Pradhan. Pradhan 

had a separate 

meeting with 

own equal stake in the TAPI Pipeline Co. 

Pakistan's Minister of State for Petroleum 

The company has been incorporated 

Jam Kamal Khan in Ashgabat, the statement as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in the Isle 

said. 

of Man, a British Crown dependency in the 

“The two ministers discussed various Irish sea. 

issues of mutual interest including expediting The pipeline is expected to carry 90 

the TAPI project and possibility of supply of million metric standard cubic metres of gas 

LNG to Pakistan from India,” it added. daily, of which India and Pakistan would get 

The TAPI pipeline will export up to 38 mmscmd each. Afghanistan's share would 

33 billion cubic meters of natural gas per be 14 mmscmd but the country has indicated 

annum from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, that it may take only 1.5-4 mmscmd, which 

Pakistan and India over a period of 30 years. will result in the balance being shared equally 

It will enable landlocked Turkmenistan, by India and Pakistan. PTI: 

which has the world's fourth largest proven 

gas reserves, to expand its gas export market 

- 14 -



MY BICYCLE 

Creative Solution to Traffic Problems 

My grandfather Late Ghulam Ahmad 

Halwai of Rehbab-Sahib Ali Kadal 

during 1946 arrived in along with a 

new bicycle. It 

was Hercules 

made in England. 

Each part of the 

v e h i c l e w a s 

engraved with 

t h e w o r d 

'Hercules made 

in England'. The 

b i c y c l e w a s 

purchased from 

the wholesale 

merchant at Hari-Singh High Street, second 

shop on the corner of the lane leading to 

Hanuman Mandir, for rupees forty-nine and 

eight annas. The saddle was attached with a tool 

box, carrying a few wrenches, solution tube and 

a few rubber patches. The frame of the bicycle 

had arrangement to fix one small pump. The 

scene was festive.. The news of the new arrival 

reached neighbors, friends and relatives. The 

bicycle was garlanded. The whole family 

offered prayers at Hazratbal and Rohat 

(Kashmiri cake)was distributed among the 

relatives. It worked as an announcement of the 

purchase.. The week turned out as the week of 

Showkat Rashid Wani 

Assistant Professor 

University of Kashmir 

celebration. The inmates were thrilled to 

entertain the guests. The local-baker gulhalwai 

was instructed to be in readiness. 

Being at number three, the first day, my uncle 

did not get any chance to touch the bicycle. He 

had to be contented with a look from distance. 

He could not resist the feel of its touch any 

longer. All others, tired, went to bed. He 

waited until they took to snoring. Stealthily he 

availed of the chance to satiate his longing for 

the touch. People around used to borrow our 

bicycle. It gave us a momentary feel of being 

from the privileged class. The facility could be 

availed by the restricted few on holidays only. 

The Bicycle was the sole property of my grandfather. 

No other 

family member 

had any right on 

it. My father 

usually stealthily 

used to steal an 

opportunity for a 

joyride when my 

g r a n d f a t h e r 

would go for a 

nap. To carry 

someone on the 

carrier and to cycle after dusk without light 

were legal offences. Besides, managing law 

and order, the police usually used to arrest the 

law offenders for carrying double seat or for 

cycling without light after dusk. The accused 

was charge sheeted in the court of law and fined 

to the extent of rupees two to three. At times the 

matter was compounded without any challan 

for one or two annas that would not go to the 

government treasury .A token tax of one rupee 

and two annas was charged by the Municipal 

authorities. At times the authorities would 

come out on the road to boost the revenue 

“Today we see lot of chaos and confusion on 

our roads due to frequent traffic jams. We 

need a creative solution for this problem. 

Cycles have altogether disappeared from 

scene. We purchase bikes and scotty for our 

teenagers .There is a need to revive the culture 

of cycling in our youth” 

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collection. The brass token in exchange was made in India. The owner of the shop, Durani 

screwed on the handle of the bike. In 1954, my Brij Nath was kind enough to provide him with 

pandit neighbor joined first-year of the four- installment facility. A monthly installment of 

year degree course at Amarsingh College, ten rupees was fixed. Maqbool the mechanic at 

Srinagar . The Principal of the college, the shop had an additional assignment of 

Sahibzada Mohmud Ahmad used to come to the collection of the installments. He was feeling 

college on a bicyle of green color. His peon obliged for smooth and regular installment of 

Mahmud would always be in readiness to take rupees ten each. Within eleven months the 

over the bicycle. While dusting the bicycle, he interest free finance was liquidated. 

would look around with an air of authority. Prof 

JNDhar (Thus) of Physics Deptt .and also 

Sheikh Ghulam Ahmed(Economic Deptt) who 

later on became Chief Sec.Of J&K Govt were 

also the owners of a bicycle and they would also 

come riding their Bicycles. Professor 

N . L . D a r b a r i , 

Professor Rehman 

R a h i , P r o f e s s o r 

T.N.Kilam, Professor 

Aslam Khan and a 

few more professors 

did not have facility 

of the caretaker. The 

students would often 

discuss the quality, 

t h e c o l o r a n d 

condition of the 

b i c y c l e s o f t h e 

p r i v i l e g e d 

professors. Many 

others were either not such affluent or did not 

know cycling. After a lot of pleas, to facilitate 

the education of my father, he was handed the 

ownership of the bicycle that once rested with 

my grand-father. The night that followed the 

auspicious day in my father's life, somehow 

became too lengthy for him .The whole night he 

did not get even a wink of sleep. Reveries 

flashed across his mind. At last the day dawned. 

The day was a long awaited one in his life. 

While cycling to college, his eyes were fixed 

on the row houses along the road instead on the 

road itself. To be an owner of a cycle was not a 

smooth sail for my daddy. A number of times he 

had to land in police lockup for carrying 

another person along with or cycling without 

light . In 1960, my father purchased one 

Raleigh Cycle made in India from Duran Cycle 

at Exchange Road Srinagar for rupees two 

hundred ten. This time it was Raleigh Cycle 

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KNS 

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VOL-I, ISSUE-1 DECEMBER-2015 | Budgam


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