Notify availability not curtailment!

Power supply is in such a mess that the Department needs to inform public about the availability schedule rather than the curtailment

In recent memory, the current year is witnessing the worst ever power scenario. One is not sure when the supply will come on and how long will it stay. Every day people are on streets in one or the other part of the valley. If anything is going to throw Omar Abdullah out of the political power, it will be the electric power. His government has miserably failed to provide power supply on a regular basis not even to the people who are paying for it in the metered areas. If there are people committing power theft even in these metered areas, it is the failure of his government to check it. No pilferage is possible without the connivance of the local authorities may be even at the level of a lineman. There is loud talk about power theft but apart from the staff, the politicians themselves intervene to save the culprits hauled up by the department. This is especially true in the downtown area where a minister shields power thieves as reported by the concerned engineers. In any case, it has been pointed out by many analysts that the valley people are paying more tariff than the people across Pirpanjal but still the sufferers are the valleyites! They have been left to fend for themselves while the rulers enjoy the luxuries of the “Durbar” in Jammu.
Among the colder countries Kashmir must be the most unfortunate one especially with the massive potential of hydro-electric power. In most of the colder countries especially in Europe winter is the time to put in one’s best efforts for work. The students also toil in winter and study in schools. There are no winter vacations. Everybody takes off in summer to enjoy. This is because they have enough electric power to undertake every activity. Homes are heated. Offices are heated. Schools are heated. Transport is heated. In our case, we are the most unfortunate to have abundant resources but not enough power. Winter is an ordeal here. A real punishment for the poor! Schools are closed. Most of the establishments lack heating facilities. On one hand we invite tourists from all over the world while on the other hand we are not able to provide them a warm place to stay. Sometimes they shiver and runaway.
Enough has been written about the causes of this debacle. We have ourselves been instrumental in allowing others to rob us of our precious resources. When our two neighbours divided our waters among themselves with international arbitration, they did not even bother to think about our future. They were solely concerned with their own future. Nor did the international agency give any thought about the local people living in the land whose waters they were dividing. The territory had been declared by no less an agency than the United Nations to be disputed. They should have kept a provision for the local people especially regarding power generation. Kashmiris have every right to approach the World Bank that brokered the deal to demand compensation for their loss. The treaty violates the fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people. The least one can ask is supplying of the power to the local people at the generation cost by the outside agencies generating it.
The worst ever power scenario is not limited only to lack of enough generation because of the dwindling of water in the rivers due to freezing and the absence of storage schemes. There are grave problems within the transmission and the distribution system. The entire set up needs an overhaul to bring down the transmission and distribution losses. Sometime back privatisation of distribution was mooted but the vote bank politics shelved the proposal. Revamping distribution and privatising it is a tall order in the present set up corrupt to the core! One solution to cut distribution losses and prevent theft could be replacing the archaic overhead system by using underground cabling. It may not be possible in older quarters of the city but all the new colonies and posh localities could go for it. That would prevent hooking! There could be many other solutions but who will bell the cat? The present rulers sold the “Dream” of “Bijli” during the last election but they took people from the light into darkness. What will they sell now? Even as manipulators of the votes they appear to be dumb. Instead of spending thousands of crores on unproductive recreational items like Golf Courses and Cable Cars, they could have easily spent a few hundred crores to buy more power from the northern grid and given people some light during the last winter of their tenure as a parting gift. On the contrary they are taking revenge in advance apprehending their exit!
The darkness of winters seems destined to stay on in Kashmir till the power generation copes up with the demand, which may not happen at least in our lifetime and till the “Durbar” keeps on moving to Jammu for winter comforts. In the meantime, it may be more sensible for the power department, based on their resources to notify people the hours of availability of power so that they plan their activities accordingly. On an average there is 8 to 10 hours curtailment every day in metered as well as unmetered areas. However, the curtailment schedule, to which the department never sticks, annoys people more in view of dozens of unscheduled interruptions disrupting life in every possible way!

The Shylocks of Kashmir

Some Kashmiri leaders as well as people act like Shylock in the famous Shakespearean play, the “Merchant of Venice”

Omar Abdullah recently called Syed Ali Geelani a “Dream Merchant” selling utopian dreams to the people of Kashmir. Selling dreams is no crime. People have been doing this for ages. He probably forgot that his predecessors as well as he himself too have been selling dreams but have been behaving like Shylock, the Jew in the play, the “Merchant of Venice”, with the same people. For these unrealisable dreams they have not only been demanding Shylock’s pound of flesh but have been practically taking it generation after generation. Well, Kashmiris had been dreaming of freedom and emancipation for centuries. They had been willing to follow anyone promising them to lead to that cherished goal. People suffering the worst kind of oppression for centuries are bound to catch at any straw which would save them from total annihilation. In spite of having faced repeated betrayals they still cherish a hope that someone may honestly lead them to the final goal. Their misfortune is that they have been getting not only the “Dream Merchants” but the cruel and merciless Shylocks of the “Merchant of Venice”. Sheikh Abdullah sold them the first dream in thirties. A “New Kashmir” where people would live with honour and dignity. Like Bassanio, the young Venetian, Kashmiris wanted to woo “Azadi” who for them was like the Bassanio’s beloved Portia. They had no means to get her and needed assistance and guidance. Like Antonio, the merchant of Venice who was a friend of Bassanio, the Lion of Kashmir offered his help and guidance. He approached Pandit Nehru who was like Shylock, the Jew, who was a Venetian money lender.  Sheikh Abdullah appeared sincere and did struggle hard to lead his people selflessly for some time. In fact, he faced incarceration because of this for a long time. But the Shylock cheated him. After having risen as a morning star on the horizon of Kashmir, he fell like a meteor!
In 1975, the Lion of Kashmir himself turned into a virtual Shylock and demanded his pound of flesh from Kashmiris for having woken them up from centuries of slumber regardless of the fact that he had led them into wilderness instead of their cherished goal of “Azadi”. He did take his pound of flesh and the gullible people gave it to him in spite of his somersaults. They still could not believe that he would ultimately leave them in the lurch. His progeny extracted much more and stuck like the blood sucking leeches. The Lion did have a soft corner for his people and died a very sad man pinning for what he had done to his people. But his progeny have no such qualms. They would not mind sucking every drop of blood from the Kashmiris and would still not be contented. Their greed is insatiable.
The story is no different with other leaders claiming to represent and fight for Kashmiris whether on the so called mainstream side or the opposite stream side! Each one in his own way is trying to extract a pound of flesh from the poor gullible people. Sometimes one wonders whether the people following these Shylocks are really gullible or they too are cleverly trying to extract a pound of flesh for themselves from the so called leaders. Delhi is the cleverest of all. It always takes a pound of flesh from every Kashmiri leader it props up. It has been the practice right from the time of the signing of the instrument of accession when Maharaja was exiled after the deed was done. Among the Kashmiris the first to pay for his deed to Delhi was the Sheikh Abdullah himself dethroned in 1953. The other side too extracts its pound of flesh from the leaders it supports monetarily or otherwise. They support and prop up only those who further their narrative.
How long will the Kashmiris have to endure the “Dream Merchants” and the Shylocks of the “Merchant of Venice”? Incidentally, Kashmir is popularly known as the Venice of the East and as such having Shylocks here is no big surprise! In the Shakespearean play the case about the pound of flesh demanded by Shylock was neutralised by Portia herself appearing in disguise as a lawyer in the court of the Duke of Venice. She asked Shylock to take the pound of flesh without spilling a single drop of blood and by taking exactly a pound no less no more! Shylock had no alternative but to drop his demand for a pound of flesh which he had set in the contract while lending the money. Will some Portia please come forward to rescue Kashmiris and free them from the Shylocks contract of a pound of flesh which in their case is the so called instrument of accession, the authenticity of which is even questioned by some people?

Progress or Sickness?

Material advancement turns into a sickness if there is no accompanying moral and spiritual progress

Indian space vehicle is supposed to have left the Earth’s gravitational field and is advancing towards Mars. A big leap in the technological advancement made possible by the efforts of the Indian scientists. There are no two opinions that India has progressed materially a lot since independence. In terms of modern technology it can compete even with some of the developed countries. The Indian economy has grown substantially since the liberalisation of nineties. The country is no longer the land of monkeys and snake charmers, the typical image the westerners had in their minds about this ancient land till recently. In spite of all the progress, it is yet to become a welfare state as almost 350 million people still live below what is called the “poverty line”! This is mainly due to an uncontrolled population. India adds an Australia to its population every year. However, there is now a flourishing middle class equivalent to the population of USA. Wealth wise, India may be among the wealthiest countries notwithstanding the fact that the entire wealth may be concentrated within the limited upper class. Arundhiti Roy has given it the name of an “upper caste Hindu corporate republic”!
Apart from the huge population and concentration of wealth in the upper class, the worst enemy preventing ushering in of a welfare state have been the scams. These scams entered the country right from its independence in 1947 starting with what is known as the “Jeep Scam”, involving purchase of jeeps for the army. Since that time there has been no end to these scams. According to a survey, out of $1.60 trillion, the total GDP, the scam money amounts to $ 1.1 trillion which is about 60%. These scams involve not only the capitalists and the upper class but the entire spectrum of the society with the political leaders holding the top position. The number of these scams has gone up at very rapid rate after the economic liberalisation of nineties. With the opening of the economy to foreign companies, the scams came as an additional baggage. Corruption seeped into every part of the society. Bribery and corruption have ceased to prick anyone’s conscience. It is taken in routine as part of the system. Not only did this menace seep into the blood stream of the people but infiltrated some of the institutions of which the country was proud.
Material progress given the name of development brought in the material corruption right from the top to the bottom. Money became the new god for everyone. It was immaterial how one acquired it. The worst thing to happen has been the material corruption bringing in the moral corruption. It is not progress but in reality sickness! The moral and spiritual sickness. Ancient India was famed for sages and spiritual beings. The Himalaya was known as the “Abode of Gods”! People may have been poor in modern terms but they were content and peaceful and had strong faith. Not now. The society has become morally sick. Rapes are becoming a daily affair. Not all get reported. Even incest has been reported in many cases. A morally sick man has been fathering children from his own daughter! The spiritual persons like Aasa Ram have turned into sex starved predators. One wonders if it is the same land which gave birth to Buddha and Gurudev, “Where the mind is free and the head is held high….!” These days one has to keep the head bowed with shame.
There is no doubt that the tainted money coming out freely from the so called modern progress is responsible for this sickness especially because of the majority of political leaders who instead of leading people to truth and honesty, thrive on this ill-gotten wealth and get caught in one or the other scam every second day. A columnist friend other day remarked that apart from the ill-gotten wealth, one of the major contributory factors for this moral sickness among the youth in general has been the “Bollywood”. The “Masala” movies are the real culprits. The violence, the explicit dancing, and the hero-villain action get copied by the youth. Sanjay Dutt, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan and others have become the idols instead of Gandhi and Tagore. Dirty movies are freely available. There is no bar on the adult content. It is very ironic that one sees lot of pinning about this moral and spiritual sickness but no productive work. Instead of sending space vehicles to Mars, one needs to first cleanse up the society of this fast growing material and moral sickness. The broom waving Aam Admi Party which has swept Delhi shows that the people are fed up with this corruption and moral sickness and want to clean up the whole system. Will there be another Tagore to inspire and another Gandhi to lead such a movement? Will the deeply entrenched vested interests allow such a thing to happen? That is a million dollar question which only time will answer!

Kashmir’s Curse, the “Missing Accountability”!

Most of the ills can be traced to lack of accountability in every sphere of activity in the Kashmir society

The “Truth” has already been banished from Kashmir a long time ago. Next to the whirlpool of falsehood caused by the exiled “Truth”, the other worst aspect of society in all spheres of activity is the lack of “Accountability”. No one is accountable to no one! Each for himself. A virtual free for all. Let us begin with the most nagging problem at present, the electric power. Why are we in a total mess? Simply because there has been no accountability of either the rulers who mortgaged our resources nor of the engineers who not only helped them but also share the blame for the present mess. Right from the day India and Pakistan distributed our resources without even caring a hoot for our needs through the Indus Waters Treaty not a single so called ruler of ours challenged them in real terms. Except for some hollow rhetoric no one has taken any practical steps to mitigate Kashmir’s loss. The engineers too have been sailing along with the corrupt rulers. Had we honest and genuine leaders they would have started an agitation demanding both India and Pakistan to compensate us in the field of power.
Let us turn to our day to day living. The worst mess is in the regulation of traffic. Zero accountability not only to the personnel of the traffic police from the constable to the top but a free for all for everyone on the road. The most annoying are the mini-bus drivers who stop anywhere in the road to pick up or drop passengers. They don’t care as they are paying regular hafta to traffic police which goes from the beat constable to the top. Next come the auto drivers running from left to right all over the place. Most of the drivers whether driving the private cars, motor bikes, mini-buses, buses, trucks or any moveable thing on the road have no idea of the traffic rules. Overtaking, use of side indicators, stopping on traffic lights, slow and fast lanes are Greek to most of the drivers. The worst violators of the rules are the drivers carrying so called VIPs and their escorts. They don’t bother at all and often jump the traffic signals. Ironically, an ambulance carrying a patient gets stuck in traffic while a so called VIP gets smooth passage! Now consider the use of foot paths. Most of these are either taken over by the vendors or occupied by shopkeepers displaying their wares outside their shops.
The healthcare is an apology. The most touted about super-speciality institute has turned into a general hospital. The out-patient department of the institute is like a fish market where people jostle each other to get to doctors for treatment. There is only one maternity and one paediatric hospital in the entire valley having a population of over 7 million. The district and sub-district hospitals are shunned by specialists and consultants as these are not teaching hospitals. In the private sector there is a mushroom growth of so called hospitals. None of these can be called a hospital as these are not equipped with full-fledged life-saving and resuscitation facilities. They have often to refer their cases to government hospital or the institute. These so called hospitals have only scanty resident consultant staff and have to depend on part-time consultants from the government hospitals or from outside the state. Kashmir must be the only place in the world where private consultants have a two to three month wait! Here, people have to wait for surgeries for months to get their turn. A person with multiple problems may have to be referred to three different places for treatment!
In education sector, the worst is supposed to be the BOPEE scandal. Who knows, this may be only the tip of the iceberg? There is a mushroom growth of private schools under all sorts of Christian names. It is very ironic to see all these schools with Christian names coming up in a Muslim majority area. May be a sign of “Kashmiriyat”? While we have all these institutions churning out thousands of boys and girls adding to already severe problem of educated unemployed, no concerted effort is being made to impart vocational training on a large scale with placement avenues. The only avenue for an educated Kashmiri youth is government job even at the lowest level regardless of his qualification. He considers it some sort of social security in the prevalent uncertain atmosphere. On the other hand we have almost a million outsiders working on various vocational and manual jobs. Kashmiris have altogether given up manual labour thanks to progress and modernisation.
The story is same in all other sectors, be it the violations of master plan and building bye laws; the disposal of sewerage and drainage by hotels; conversion of agricultural land for construction of shops and buildings and the destruction of environment by polluting water bodies and the merciless cutting of forests by timber smugglers in connivance with authorities supposed to protect these. No accountability. The courts sometimes pull up the executive but the thoroughly corrupt administration presided over by the corrupt rulers find ways to even to evade these legal directions. One sometimes feels that this total lack of accountability is a divine curse on Kashmir. Only a Noah’s flood may cleanse it!

Misplaced priorities!

In the name of progress and modernization, Kashmir is facing grave threats to age old traditions destroying the faith of the people

In recent times, the cable car has become a prestigious project for every spot in Kashmir regardless of its actual requirement at a particular place. Basically, ropeways especially cable cars are a means of aerial transportation meant for places normally not accessible by any other means. In the tourism sector these have been very much utilised in winter resorts for reaching higher slopes to enable the slopes being utilised for skiing. In many countries, such as in Canada aerial transportation is used in forests to fetch timber from inaccessible places. The main use in mountain areas is mostly related to tourism. In some cases, ropeways are set up in urban areas to take people to higher spots for panoramic views of the places around. In Kashmir, the most successful ropeway has been the Gulmarg Gondola taking skiers in winter to Afarwat and tourists in summer for panoramic views. In fact, the Gondola has earned more revenue from tourists in summer than from the skiers in winter. One may think of putting up such facilities in other potential tourist areas like Pahalgam and Sonamarg where skiing and sightseeing can be combined. However, there is no point in putting up cable cars in every nook and corner such as Verinag.
One must also understand the impact of these transportation systems on the environment. In mountain areas having forest cover a lot of trees have to be cut for erecting towers and then more trees have to be felled for a ski slope internationally supposed to be 40 metres wide. Moreover, the stations on top and the trails become garbage dumps unless continuous cleaning is undertaken. In urban areas, the cable cars do not gel with the environment at all. People had been talking of putting up cable cars for going to religious shrines. This robs the faith of all its sanctity. Traditionally in the Himalaya and many other places, the holy men have been going up to higher altitudes to meditate and commune with the creator. Most of the shrines of Muslim saints and religious preachers in Kashmir are located on hill tops or on higher mountain sides. People built shrines at these places where the revered persons passed away. As a matter of faith and tradition people have been going to these spots to pay homage and pray. Most of these spots are approached by foot trails or even over stone steps. One of the most popular shrines where people have been traditionally going is the Makhdoom Sahab. The number of steps for climbing up to the shrine is traditionally known to all the people who have been climbing these over the years. One remembers from childhood people climbing these steps with pitchers of water and emptying these in the pond on top in times of a drought. Makhdoom Sahab has now been connected with a cable car thereby robing the people of the tradition of climbing the historical steps. No wonder the initiators of the cable car may soon think of installing a water pump to fill up the tank on top! An improvement in faith!
The same story has been repeated in setting up of Tourism Development Authorities and Golf Courses all over the state. We have, not only destroyed the existing resorts by haphazard and unplanned development but have initiated measures for destroying the environment, which in the first place is the main attraction for people to visit Kashmir. Hundreds of crores have been spent on setting up of Golf Courses without any survey about the possible markets for these. These are mainly used by the elite businessmen and bureaucrats who have taken a fancy to Golf especially after retirement. Government must undertake a survey about the number of Golfers both domestic and international who have been utilising these courses on which huge amounts of money have been spent. About two dozen Tourism Development Authorities have been set up in what could have been lay back areas for tourism development after peace; the very basic requirement for up market tourism prevails in the state. The Authorities mostly headed by engineers or administrators instead of tourism specialists or experts have become channels to siphon off funds in collusion with the local legislators by constructing tourist centres and other infrastructure which in reality is the domain of the private players. Recently the government has been contemplating the regularisation of temporary employees of these authorities thereby created more liabilities for the already overburdened state exchequer.
If one thinks of the real top most priority for the present day Kashmir, it is the electric power of which we have a virtual famine. It should have been the foremost task of all the rulers to ensure availability of this basic facility. Instead of wasting the scarce precious resources on unproductive and luxury items, the maximum funds should have been diverted to the development of this sector.  Not only was money needed for power generation but for modernisation of its transmission and distribution. Instead of doing this, we have mortgaged our precious resources to outsiders from whom we have to buy back power generated from our resources at exorbitant commercial tariff.
The misplaced priorities are not accidental but deliberate. During recent times our rulers have found newer ways of making money by hook or by crook. Be it the education sector like the recent expose of BOPEE or any other field, the only consideration is how to pocket the maximum funds by any means without any qualms of virtually non-existent conscience! One really feels disgusted and suffocated. It is too sickening. Sometimes one feels that the people who have a chance of living abroad for some time in an honest and free environment are the lucky ones! Will we be ever able to set right all these misplaced priorities? Yes, provided we get just and strong rulers for whom honesty and truth are above all else! To get honest, just and strong rulers we have to be first honest and truthful to our own selves and then to others. A utopia, some may call it!

Nothing but the whole “Truth”!

               The very first casualty in the present day Kashmir is the “Truth”!

When a person in a court room stands in a witness box, he swears by keeping his hand on the holy book of the religion which he professes and declares that he will tell the whole “Truth”, and nothing but the whole “Truth”! The Webster dictionary defines “Truth” as “the real facts about something: the things that are true”. It further elaborates, that the “Truth” is “the body of real things, events, and facts”. The Cambridge dictionary definition is, “the real facts about a situation, event, or a person”. Unfortunately, in the present day Kashmir, none of these definitions holds good! The “Truth” here is something that suits a situation, event, or a person. In fact, it is very difficult for a person to discern what the real “Truth” is because of the totally murky situation. However, going by the dictionary definition, there are definitely real facts about “the situation, the events, or the persons”, notwithstanding the fact that the most people hesitate deliberately or unintentionally to speak these out. Lying is taken to be normal behaviour. Nobody expects the real “Truth” to be spoken out. This holds good in every sphere of activity including politics. 
This virtual apathy to the “Truth” and “normal” behaviour of lying has been commented upon by various foreigners who have visited Kashmir from time to time. Sir Walter Lawrence in “The Valley of Kashmir” has described in detail the character and disposition of Kashmiris. “The Kashmiri bears an evil reputation in the Punjab, and indeed throughout Asia. Proverbs liken him to a snake in his morals, and to a fowl in his manners, and men are warned against admitting a Kashmiri to their friendship”. Moorcroft, Hugel, Drew, and Barnes describe them as “Selfish, superstitious, ignorant, supple, intriguing, dishonest, false-tongued, ready with a lie, and given to various forms of deceit”. Moorcroft, however, admits that the vices of Kashmiris are not innate, but are due to the government under which they lived. “These vices are the effects of his political condition rather than his nature.” Walter Lawrence concedes that in a country where there was practically no justice, the only weapon in the hands of the weak was lying or subterfuge. He states that two national features of their character are–lying and envy or malice. “A Kashmiri cannot see any one getting on in life.” However, detailing the good qualities, Walter Lawrence writes, “Kashmiris possess an individuality, and a national character which will cling to them wherever they go. Kashmiris are fond of their own country, its food, its water, and its dress….. Finally, though the character of a Kashmiri leaves much to be desired, I think that it is to their credit that it is not worse, considering the few chances they have had for becoming truthful, manly, and self-respecting….A man who can be beaten and robbed by anyone with a vestige of authority soon ceases to respect himself and his fellow-men, and it is useless to look for the virtues of a free people among the Kashmiris, and unfair to twit them with absence of such virtues. The Kashmiri is what his rulers have made him, but I believe and hope that two generations of a just and strong rule will transform him into a useful, intelligent, and fairly honest man”.
Well, a Kashmiri is yet to have those two generations of a just and a strong rule. One may concede that the lying nature of a Kashmiri especially to his rulers is due to untold miseries and suffering he has gone through in earlier times and continues to go through even now. But one cannot explain the similar behaviour among Kashmiris themselves when they are under no outside compulsion. Lying has become the second nature of an average Kashmiri. He does not feel any remorse or compunction while speaking a blatant lie. Incidentally, among themselves Kashmiris have the three stages of “Truth”. When a Kashmiri swears by Almighty God he says “Wallah” and claims his speech to be true. One should take it to be 100% lie. Once he swears by his parents, it must be a half-truth! However, when he swears by his children, the statement can be taken to be somewhat near the “Truth”. The main reason for such behaviour appears to be the material greed which has overtaken everything after 1947 or rather after 1953 when the streams of money started flowing into the valley to buy Kashmiri loyalty. The generations of rulers that came after 1953 instead of giving a strong and a just rule imagined by Sir Walter Lawrence necessary for changing the character of a Kashmiri, unleashed the most corrupt practices to assassinate the Kashmiri character. Since then there has been no end and with each passing day new methods both covert and overt are being used to drown Kashmiris in a whirlpool of falsehood, insincerity and material as well as moral corruption.
George Orwell has said, “In a time of universal deceit-telling the truth is a revolutionary act”. Thus every revolution begins with speaking out the “Truth” and standing by it regardless of the consequences. Lord Buddha says, “Three things cannot be long hidden: the Sun, the Moon, and the truth. There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting”. So if a true revolution has to begin in Kashmir, people have to start telling the truth and go all the way!

Kashmiris’ nightmare

Power has been illusive especially during winters for a long time now. However, the way it is playing hide and seek well before the start of the winter does not forbade well. The forthcoming winter may be the worst ever seen in terms of the electric power. According to power development authorities the demand in Kashmir alone is in the range of 1,100 mw or so while as the generation gets reduced to few hundred odd mw due to freezing resulting in lesser discharge in the rivers. Added to this are the transmission and distribution losses estimated to be the highest in the country. The only option is to import electricity at commercial rates from the northern grid. Unfortunately, it is the electricity generated from our own rivers which we have to buy back, thanks to our rulers, past as well as present. They have mortgaged our precious resources for their own vested interests.
 The most unfortunate part of the tragedy is that the common people were made to believe that the so called development of the state is going to bring them on par with the most modern facilities. It would have been better if one had stuck to traditional ways of facing the severe winters. The winters now are not so severe nor do we have the amount of snowfall which we used to see in our childhood. Srinagar used to get over three to four feet of snow at a time in winters. There used to be long icicles dangling from the roofs which mostly used to be shingle or so. Dal Lake would quite often freeze and it is said that sometime in the past even river Jhelum used to freeze! The snowfall would be so blinding sometimes that the migratory birds would fall in peoples’ lawns! In spite of such severe winters, people were mentally and physically prepared to face these.
 In old times, for cooking, the firewood burnt in earthen hearths was the common standard. Every home had a hearth which would burn firewood for cooking and at the back there was a copper vessel for heating water. For lighting, people used lanterns, oil lamps and in villages next to the forests pine wood sticks with resin called “lashi” in Kashmiri. For heating, charcoal especially one prepared by burning dry chinar leaves, was used in kangri under the traditional robe, Pheran. Kangri has been part of our culture from the earliest times. For winters people used to sun dry all sorts of vegetables as there would be no fresh vegetables available. Now with the so called modernisation and progress things have changed. People have become used to running everything on electrical power. Cooking, heating, cleaning and so on. No doubt it is progress in keeping with the modern world but the basis of all this progress is electrical power. We were fortunate enough to have a tremendous source of cleanest energy. Hydro-electric power. Abundant and massive potential. Environmentally clean. Unfortunately, all mortgaged by our own people leaving us in the lurch.
 It may not be practically possible to go back to the traditional ways now at this advanced stage of “progress”. We are now totally dependent on outside help right from our food to even manual labour. Perfect “Lotus Eaters” of the Ulysses! The worst part of the modernisation process has been the deliberate development of a subsidy culture right from the early fifties. Everything from rice to power has been subsidised. We have been made totally dependent on dole! Bribed in every possible way to toe a particular narrative. Having ingested all the bribes but still refusing to toe the narrative naturally infuriates the bribe giver. The best revenge for the dole giver would be like taking a thirsty horse to the river to drink and then muddying the water to make it die of thirst! 
Kashmir touted world over as the “Paradise on Earth” turns into a virtual hell during winter, at least for the local population. The visitors may be getting some special treatment but sometimes even they run away due to severe conditions accentuated by unstable and erratic power. Yes, we could be literally living in “Paradise” if only we had the electric power. God Almighty did bestow us with a “Paradise” like home with all the abundant resources but we ourselves turned it into a hell. You name any activity, it is in a mess. The worst of all is the power mess! We may have to live with it for a long time. The current winter may give us a taste of what we should be expecting during future winters, the worst nightmare!
 Is there proverbial “light” at the end of the tunnel? Yes, every grim situation has a solution. As the border roads sign goes, “Difficult can be done now, impossible may take some time”! The whole power scenario needs a complete revamp right from the generation to the distribution to the consumers. The revamp may be difficult but not impossible. That revamp will be effective only if everyone is honest about it. Beginning with the consumers, the engineers, and above all the rulers have to be honest. It is said that honesty like water flows from top downwards. So the first task is to get honest rulers. That in the present context may be a really impossible task!