A Piece of Paradise

Smruti D

Had it been any other city, I would be sitting on my preferred aisle seat. But this was Srinagar. And my first visit. After having seen Kashmir on screen, I knew I had to get a bird’s eye view of the city. The moment the aircraft commenced its descent, emerging into the bluest of sky through the clouds, I plastered my face against the window, lest I missed any detail of the rolling greens below. Heaven, indeed, was here.

The Dal Lake during sunset

Then we hit the ground, metaphorically too. The Srinagar airport was a complete mess. Uncountable number of men checking RT-PCR reports greeted me. As I tried to make sense of which way to go, a staffer at the airport stopped me, directing me to go straight ahead towards the exit gate. Just as I started moving as directed, he stopped me again; asking me to go left, where the RT-PCR reports were getting checked. By way of apology for misleading me, he said, “Sorry, I thought you were from the army.” I proceeded left. This was my first interaction with a Kashmiri civilian.

After exiting the airport, once the car hit the road, I couldn’t stop marvelling at the architecture of independent houses as well as the commercial structures with wooden and colourful roofs. How could such housing even be real, wondered my urban self. Our cities are a mess. How had Srinagar remained an exception? Saqib, the driver, used to such reactions said, “It is normal here. When Kashmiris visit cities like Bombay and Delhi for the first time, they are also surprised to see those high-rise buildings everywhere. Here, everyone lives in such houses.”

While marvelling at the architecture, I tried hard to ignore the constant presence of the CRPF personnel on Srinagar roads, but to no avail. Their presence was a part of the city’s architecture—ubiquitous and overwhelming. My thoughts wandered towards the residents of the Valley who had to live under this constant surveillance. If Kashmir had returned to normalcy, why was it necessary for security personnel to be positioned outside grocery stores, parks, pavements, individual homes, and even besides a fruit seller’