Aheli Moitra
A friend in Srinagar describes the situation in his land as The New Normal. While the Kashmir Valley has been no stranger to long bouts of curfews, 76 days of curfew is a new one even here. While curfew has now been lifted from most parts of Kashmir Valley, barring parts of Srinagar, Kashmiris shared snippets of how they adapted to this daily New Normal.
Wedding season, for instance, descends upon Kashmir in the months from July to September. Like everyone else, Kashmiri people also plan their weddings in an advance of a year to six months. A sacred wedlock cannot always be stalled (though many were) due to a curfew so people in Srinagar were tip toeing their way through bylanes to weddings. The only difference is what would have been a lavish affair were tempered down to basic wedding rituals—big feasts (Kashmiri Wazwan) reduced to lean meals.
A change in food patterns was witnessed across the valley. Much of the meat meant for consumption, for instance, is imported to the valley. Due to the curfew, an estimated Rs. 4 crore per day of meat trade was reduced to an estimated Rs. 50 lakh a day. One can only imagine its effect on the food plate, well being and health of the people.
Even the small mid day snacks were cut short, often restricted to biscuits. The little grocery shops in small bylanes of Srinagar made the only little profits possible during this time (big business suffered). Their daily stocks are quickly cleared and replaced with fresh goods, mostly biscuits and noodles, smuggled through bylanes.
People in the rural areas fared better with regards to food. Those who had not succumbed to the pressure of replacing food producing fields with cash crops could at least eat, and eat fresh. Pointing to the failure of such economic models in conflict areas, a friend said, “After all, you cannot eat apples and almonds if you’re hungry.” But you can eat rice. In many rural areas, farmers, also, used bylanes to reach their fields to make cultivation possible so they have food in the upcoming winter.
Meanwhile, students were cut off from education. Communication lines were cut off apart from post paid BSNL numbers and broadband internet connections creating further cynicism. Ironically, while schools and colleges remained shut, government employees continued to be paid salaries, and water and electric lines remained connected though no government employee had attended work.
In the face of curfew, cooperation between people in the urban colonies of Srinagar had increased manifold. People put together limited resources to make sure that debilitated sections of society, such as daily wage earners, had enough to make ends meet.
Apart from the larger issues of violence, people in the Kashmir Valley feel that India and Pakistan have to cooperate. Instead of warring as a daily activity, peace talks should be a priority—if this can happen only with a “third party independent interlocutor,” then one should be brought in. As death and injury of civilians and soldiers persist, Kashmiris hope for all sides to give up on their condition to put conditions on political talks.
For however adaptive one may be to this morbid New Normal, the current situation cannot continue into a Forever Normal.
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