Understanding the land and the people!

You want them. But you inconvenience them!

You want them. Yet do not love them!

You want them. Yet you suspect the people!

You call it your land. Yet you alienate the people.

You call it your land. But do not understand the inhabitants.

You call it heaven. Yet the people of heaven are struggling to be understood.

You want to fight to retain the land. But will you fight for the feelings of the people there?

It's very much part of India, yet two more countries have their eyes on it and have each taken away parts from it?

And in this struggle the people of the land suffer!

Has anyone tried to understand how the people feel about being stuck in the fight of three big nations?

The inhabitants of the land get killed in the crossfire.

Some youth get depressed for not being understood and take to wrong paths.

And then you say -'See, this is what we wanted to prove!'

You want to be there in summer and enjoy pleasant weather and picturesque locales.

And when it's winter, you give them a cold treatment.

You kill them on suspicion. A beggar mistook for a militant?!

You ban sms communication in the land for security reasons further increasing the distance between their dear ones staying far away from them! Would you do the same in a city like Mumbai or Delhi? The people of these cities would have come on the roads in agitation and taken law in their hands! But can the people of that land do the same? No, cause they're made helpless. Their every move is looked at with suspicion. When we fail in our security, we resort to inconveniencing the people? Let us take responsibility for our lapses. When Mumbai was attacked, further steps were taken to tighten security and put stricter measures in place without people having to pay for it! And Mumbai is a city with a large population (whereas they are not as many as us)! And is this only because Mumbai is the financial capital and all the bigwigs lives are also at stake here?!

People visit the land, remember it, yet forget the people.

If there is heaven on earth. Yes, it's here. In our own country.

So let us treat the inhabitants of this heaven with more compassion!

Yes, I am talking about the head of India- Jammu and Kashmir. And especially about the people of Srinagar! God bless them all !

Picture : Shows a woman selling lotus stem (naadru) on the streets of Srinagar. This is eaten with relish in the land as a vegetable. Photo taken by Mr Shakir Kazi.