Bridal Beauty walks the red carpet for G-20 Tourism Session in Srinagar / Rashmi Talwar/ GREATER JAMMU

G-20 SRINAGAR  

Bridal Beauty walks the red carpet for G 20 Tourism Session in Srinagar

G-20 Tourism Session

Bridal Beauty walks the red carpet for G20

Rashmi Talwar

SRINAGAR J&K, 21stMay 2023—

As the clock strikes at midnight, -the land of Rishi Kashap Kashmir decked up in bridal finery steps out to a new dawn.It reminds me of poet Rainer Maria-

Weavers weaving at fall of night,

Why do you weave a garment so bright?

Like the blooms of a peacock purple and green

We weave the marriage veil of a queen.   

Indeed Kashmir, the crown of India, and the G20 International- walked hand in hand, to tear apart clouds of gloom, onto the road of happily ever, passing  Bollard lights of the Indian  Tricolor outlining roads from Indira Gandhi Airport Srinagar en route to the shimmering waters of the Dal Lake.

It is a new Kashmir, a modern Kashmir where the Jhelum bank is decked in flowers where loudspeakers once rolled out loud, and soft music plays in rhythm with the whistling wind.

“Each true Kashmiri heart is joyous and proud of the city hosting G20) Tourism session,” says a senior Kashmiri lady. “We may have set aside our culture, but this joy is unsurpassable- “Let such joy prevail, Cultures come and go!”

Tariq Mir, a media person comments – The international event has come as a blessing, as under it, the smart city work has picked up at a supersonic pace including beautification. Abid, a bureaucrat inserts that the G20 should be extended so that all beautification works can be completed in record time.

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‘Smiles as wide as a mile’

Greater Jammu found a palpable excitement in the air as ‘smiles as wide as a mile’ met everywhere, although thorough checking and security apparatus was spread throughout the paradisiac land. “Abrogation of Article 370 &35A has led the older lot of politicians to change tactics to woo the electorate and match with the pulse of the people, who are hungry for normalcy; the former rulers seem to have toned down their restrictive, controlling, and vitriolic comments.  

Where nightlife was nil, the stadium played matches under power lights carry on till 10 pm unheard of in decades. Hotels are booming with cent percent bookings. The trickle of tourists in turmoil times has turned into lakhs. The year-round season is the new flavour of Kashmir.

 An orthodox culture was melting and the subdued female gender is once again flowering in full form. Girls are topping school, college, board, and University exams, stepping out vigorously to claim their space in the sun. A copper utensil shop owner thanked the new ruling dispensation of the state for getting rid of the theatre of stone pelting and the hartal calendars. Now businesses have a chance to pick up”. Men women born in 50s and 60s freely talk about a fashionable Kashmir-“The beauty and grace of Kashmiris was matchless. Our pride spelled  gloom for us”, says Shaista  adding –“After ages we witness and taste freedom from the stranglehold of tradition, fear, and faith to push us deep down.”

A youngster from Burnhall school says he loved watching ‘Pathan’ movie in the cinema hall – Matinee Show !! I saw the entire hall wearing masks. It wasn’t protection against infection but hide as fear factor prevailed. Now, not a single one is wearing a mask.

Rilke a poet said –“Let everything happen to you, because beauty and terror just keep going, no feeling is final.”

Abid, a bureaucrat tells me Kashmir has turned into an all-season destination. Film shootings are rivaling each other Boys and girls are not only fascinated but opportunity is striking at their doorstep, many are thus absorbed in the fields where their ideals have made names. Huma Qureshi, a Gurezi Kashmiri is much adored. Music and performing greats inspire, it has in turn given a fillip to celebrity tourism.

People who have seen only death and doom in years feel that the development pace shouldn’t slow down and one or other international events should step into Kashmir soon so that incomplete works can complete in record time. The freedom has also come to new liquor shops opening in tourism heavy city.

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Call from Across the Border

Abid, an IAS officer told this writer –“Kashmir received the dreadful call from across the border to impose a hartal, where black to protest against the G20 in Kashmir. All shopkeepers downed their shutters in Lal Chowk as was the norm. Two shops opened their shops and started doing the daily chores of cleaning and setting up products and goods on display, which triggered the strength in each shopkeeper to lift the shop shutters and defy the diktats from masterminds of terror, operating from Pakistan and elsewhere in the world. The Hartal call was not called off but defied in all forms of defiance.

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Exciting European Plaza

The Polo view market famous for handicrafts, a 200-meter stretch, had a makeover with flowers and tree-rounder seaters and squares, where people relaxed and rolled under the shade of trees, watching and admiring the beauty of flowers, spend a relaxed time. Well, so excited were the people that students, elderly, middle-aged, children, security forces, vendors, drivers, shopkeepers, the busy baker, and even shikarawalas and every Kashmiri worth his salt were seen clicking selfies at the spot to be part of the new age beauty spot that stretched about 200 meters of a model Street of the poshest shopping complex.

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Srinagar Spruced up

A senior official connected with  Unesco’s Handicraft Project – commented “Srinagar is a lot prettier and a lot cleaner! Beautiful wood signage, and smart bicycles free to rent, is such a wholly pleasant sight. The bicycles are quite an attraction and cycle tracks were built at Rajbagh and the Bund. Uniform color-coded footpaths their layout matches any metro city. Under the handicraft policy they are engaging Kashmiri artists and have created 4600 cooperative societies their actual number of artisans is 3.5 lakh, The G20 is going to give a fillip to more exports which have already captured the markets of Germany, the US, and UK with our carpets pashmina, walnuts, sozni embroidery,  paper mache.

So much so that women have come up with innovative ideas and leading in e-commerce with bakeries, jams, pickles cakes, and other goodies. They are shunning stereotypes and have entered no entry zones of Gyming. So now you see not only two girls in the gym without any male escort, but a mother-daughter gyming side by side, father gyming with daughter, even girlfriend-boyfriend culture is quite free with frequent activities together in the gym and tuition classes space as well as play fields. Similarly, Nightlife is picking up, tastefully done liquor outlets have opened and Cinemas have become the great liberators from hide-and-watch corners by youngsters.

It is now common to see girls in jeans and t-shirts and it is quite accepted as a mode of dressing, therefore there is no one who eyes girls wearing Western garments such as jeans. Girls drive cars and scooties fearlessly, comments Tariq Mir. “ The moot thing is fear has  vanished from the Kashmiri Stratosphere- Now who dares  to question a girl on the street about her clothes, appearance, work, or activities behind closed doors like singing, acting, and dancing or in the open- like sports or riding a heavy-duty mo-bike and becoming a vlogger ?” Those dreadful days are gone from Kashmir …..To Be Continued …