Dr A S Bhatia
Kashmir has always fascinated me since my childhood. My first visit to the “Paradise on Earth” was somewhere in mid seventies, when my father was transferred and posted in Kashmir as an electrical engineer. Dal Lake , “the Jewel in the crown of Kashmir” used to be thronged by the visitors especially foreign tourists and the panoramic view of the Dal with youngsters doing water surfing was breathtaking in the picturesque surroundings! My father was very fond of seeing Hindi movies, and on many occasions used to take me along on the shooting sets of Hindi movies in Kashmir, which was the favorite shooting destination for many Bollywood producers. Being a tall, handsome Sikh young man he was very attractive and easily noticed in the crowd! And as such I had many opportunities to meet Hindi film stars, some of them , I remember were Joy Mukherjee, Dev Anand, Sharmeela Tagore, Prem Nath, Om Prakash among many others. Even my father made Dev Anand to visit our home in Bakshi Nagar of Jammu. Another thing synonymous with Kashmir which has always attracted me is the huge, giant, state tree, “The Chinar” giving the royal majestic look! The Chinar is believed to have its origin from Greece and the word Chinar is derived from a Persian word, “Che- Naar- Asth” meaning “What flame it is?” This name is believed to be given to Chinar because of elegant orange red colour when its leaves turn in the season of autum!
The unending love of mine for chinar is such that even in the peak of militancy, in 90s, I used to to visit the valley just to feel the feeling of walking on the fallen dried leaves of Chinar which with all its antiquity and elegance is the living heritage of Kashmir. The rustling sounds produced by the bare foot on the Chinar leaves are simply heavenly and are a silent witness to the history of Kashmir. This was my routine affair, to go to Kashmir and to walk on the fallen dried leaves of Chinar, just to hear and experience the crackling sound! But I could feel the difference between the Chinar of seventies and mid nineties !! These Chinars seemed to be frightened and lonely, with no tourists around them! No visitors like me were there to walk on the fallen orange red firey leaves! The Chinar of nineties was Sad! Char Chinar, a beautiful island in the mid of Dal Lake, once a favorite tourist attraction had lost all its charm. Even myself during my numerous visits to the valley before the start of this century, to meet my best friend , Chinar had such an experience. At that time it did not give me the usual euphoric kick which I used to have in seventies! Yes, I am very addicted to the warmth, majesty and mighty look of the pride of Kashmir , “The Chinar, representing hope and expectations of the youth of Kashmir!” But the Chinar of 90s really made me very sad!
Stone pelting, continuous hartals and bands for months have caused havoc with the young generation of that time; schools, colleges remained closed for days together destroying the academic career and aspirations of Kashmiri youth, who felt betrayed by their own people. Time passed with sad Chinar being the silent witness to the entire trauma! J&K saw many ups and downs , even if the man made misery leading to mass exodus due to which the charismatic beauty and the spiritual essence of Chinar was subdued, a natural calamity in the form of devastating floods ransacked the valley! The little bit left over smile from the chinar was also snatched! Time is a big healer as has been well said by someone. My Chinar was also trying to get out of that trauma of last many years. The Chinar was struggling hard to keep itself alive and aesthetic with the hope, “The Better days will come!” The wheel of time revolved, the state was converted to union territory and with the imposition of many central sponsored schemes for the youth of the region which made their maiden entry to this beautiful Jammu and Kashmir. With this a new era of hope and expectations started, many new technical courses were started, many new startups given the opportunity. Purple revolution, opening of new medical colleges, opening of BSc nursing and paramedical colleges came to the rescue of youths of Kashmir who were in a state of bewilderness! The scenario was fast changing, the hands which were pelting stones few years back were now carrying stethoscopes and white aprons! While going through the statistics of students joining various professional courses in the UT of J&K one can easily see a large numbers of Kashmiri boys and girls pursing these new courses.
There are now no hartals, no stone pelting and the tourists are thronging the valley once again. There is smile on the faces of Shikarawalas, there is smile on the face of poor boys working as helpers in shops and dhabas with their eyes beaming with the dream once again to live a respectful and dignified life with sufficient earnings to feed their families and to take care of their aged, old parents, who once, bore the brunt of many years of turmoil in the valley!
Last week, I had a chance to visit the valley again. I could feel the change! Dal was crowded with tourists. There was a long queue to get into Gandola at Gulmarg. Pahalgam road was having unusual traffic jams after many years! This reminded me of the road of seventies! But I loved this Traffic Jam and will welcome many more because of thronging tourists!
Next day, I went to Mughal Garden to meet my age old friend, the Chinar! The first thing I did was, to take off my shoes and walk on the fallen dried leaves. This time, the rustling sound was mesmerizing! It was very similar to the sound I used to hear in the seventies! A wave of happiness travelled through my spine. I could feel the difference in the sound this time! I looked up towards the towering, tall mighty Chinar!! Truly speaking the majestic Chinar was looking towards me ! It seemed the Chinar was wholeheartedly welcoming me back to the Paradise on Earth! The chinar was looking very happy. I could feel his happiness. Suddenly a strong wind blew and pierced through the leaves of Chinar, a very soft musical sound appeared in the air! I looked towards other Chinar, all were smiling at me ! My Chinar is now happy again, For the Chinar , the better days have come again! Chinar is the pride of Kashmir and synonymous with Kashmir, Kashmir without Chinar and a Chinar without Kashmir is unimaginable!
The Chinar has started smiling again!!
(The author is Principal Government Medical College Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir)
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