Photograph: Gulmarg, April 2006
Azaadi Azaadi…behold Azaadi.
I can see Kashmir getting some form of independence in future but India would never just walk out of there. Kashmir would always have an Indian presence. Presently that presence, sadly, is in the form of Army but in the future, it might be in the form of Business ventures. Any young Indian or Pakistani dreaming of settling there, buying land and setting up business, can keep on smoking the pot. However, in order not to break the Indian/Pakistani hearts, we can add a clause to the once-for-all settlement tissue paper that says:
‘A non-Kashmiri can only settle in the area around Valley and that too if and only if one is above 65 years and super duper rich.’
Imagine an old and cranky Indian Punjabi and a demented Pakistani Punjabi sitting side by side around a bonfire lit in Gulmarg and fighting over a very serious subject- who caught more number of mansheer earlier in the day. Imagine a humble old Kashmiri acting as a mediator. No love lost there- only commerce. Fighting is no good for business. Valley would be like Florida of the east with lazy old men loitering all around, and no more just Switzerland of the east.
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nonsense!
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all life e have been raised on non sense: azaadi, enmity, democracy! let those who run the reins decide to give this non sense a try too :0 it sounds so better than the regular nonsensical conundrum we go through!
I am sure if it comes to this, Man would find a way to discriminate between good nonsense and bad nonsense. In the end people would end up chasing some other nonsense. This was written quite long back, thanks for reminding me!