Broken

 “Bewada
Around two weeks ago my mother fell down from a rickshaw. And on top of it, the rickshaw fell down on top of her. As she lay on the ground, the riskshaw-puller, seemingly unhurt, came running to pick her up.

Shikaslada-Kaula,” my mother screamed as she now picked the scent of alcohol in his breath. She tried to kick him. But she couldn’t move. Instead a pain moved into her right shoulder. A crowd gathered. In her anger, she wanted to say something else to the riskshaw-man. But she just couldn’t find the right word. She knew the word, but just couldn’t recall it. A young guy dropped her home in his car, neighbours took her to the hospital.

A week later, as they brought her out of the operation theater, on a stretcher, in her anesthesia induced delirium, I heard her say,”Heya, me chuv nasti sakh kashun yewaan.” I couldn’t help laughing out loud. Sometime later, she had me scratching her nose. In her delirium, I promised her I will get married, buy a car and even get back my ‘Kashmiri’ skintone that I had when I was four, get back the apples of my cheeks.

Two weeks later, adjusting to a metal plate in her shoulder, she finally remembered what she wanted to say to the rickshaw-walla. ‘Bewada Kahi Ka!’

-0-

Kashmiri Lyrics, 1945

Jayalal Kaul’s pioneering book ‘Kashmiri Lyrics’ published in 1945 was probably the first proper attempt to document rare poetic works of Kashmiri language in roman script with corresponding English translations. Here’s the digital copy of the first edition. Read and share.

[Read here]

Compiled from the pages of the book available at Digital library of India.

A more recent edition of the book was published in 2008, revised and edited by Neerja Mattoo.

-0-

Kashmir painted by Molyneux

70 paintings of Kashmir from the book ‘Kashmir described by Sir Francis Younghusband, K.C.I.E. Painted by Major E. Molyneux’ (1909). A dozen of these were later  re-used in a book called ‘Peeps at Many Lands: Kashmir’ (1911) by Mrs. C. G. Bruce.

Stereoscopic Kashmir, 1903

A couple of stereoscopic photographs taken by James Ricalton in c. 1903 (via British Library). I managed to animate them using GIMP to give a 3D feel.

Update: The place here is Shivpora as seen from Shankaracharya

-0-

The King of Kashmir dispenses justice

The King of Kashmir dispenses justice, late 13th century, (early 15th century). Marco Polo (1254-1324). Here the king of Kashmir watches a beheading by sword. On the right scholars teach and meditate in the hills.
Came across it in “Le Livre des Merveilles de Marco Polo” (Book of Marvels of Marco Polo). Can be found at gallica.bnf.fr

-0-

Shyam Benegal’s Nayi Sherwani, 1986

In year 1986 Doordarshan ran a tele-film series called ‘Katha Sagar’ directed by few prominent and few would-be prominent film-makers who presented adaptations of some famous international short stories, but all of them set in various parts of India.  In on of these adaptations, Shyam Benegal turned Gogol’s The Overcoat into Nayi Sherwani and set it in Srinagar. The adaption with its scenes of Kashmir life and office bureaucracy makes one think that Gogol had written the story for Kashmir and not Russia (Amin Kamil’s Kafan Chor seems like a darker sequel to Gogol’s story).

Along with Om Puri as the lead, the film had a lot of local names from the Srinagar station like Prana Shangloo, Shadi Lala, Kapil Warikoo, Vinay Raina and Mehraj Shah.

Here’s the film:


video link
Part 2

Kashmir Illustrations, 1859

From ‘Wall-Street to Cashmere : a journal of five years in Asia, Africa, and Europe : comprising visits, during 1851, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, to the Danemora iron mines, the “Seven Churches,” plains of Troy, Palmyra, Jerusalem, Petra, Seringapatam, Surat, with the scenes of the recent mutinies (Berares, Agra, Cawnpore, Lucknow, Delhi, etc., etc.), Cashmere, Peshawur, the Khyber pass to Afghanistan, Java, China, and Mauritius’ (1859) by John B. Ireland.

Char Chinar

Jhelum or Hydaspes

First View of Cashmere

Shah Hamadan

Ruins of the Temple of ‘Koran Padan’.
That would be Martand

Shalimar Garden

Suspension Bridge at Uri

“The Cashmere valley differs in one respect from every part of India. In India they always live in villages ot towns, while here,on every side peering from among the trees, on the mountain side, or boldly conspicuous on some naked rock, are the huts or hovels of the present ryot occupants and the ruins of former ones. Occasionally a large house will indicate the residence of a jemindar (owner of the land). the country is badly cultivated, and almost depopulated by the tyranny that has existed for some years past.
[…]
on the birth of every lamb, the owner must pay a tax of one anna…the birth of a calf is four annas. For a marriage one rupee. A fishing boat four annas a day. Walnut trees ten annas a year for the oil, and if the crop fails, must be made up with ghee.”
-0-

Paintings of Pahalgam and Sind Valley, 1908

Paintings from ‘An eastern voyage: A journal of the travels of Count Fritz Hochberg through the British empire in the East and Japan (1910) by Hochberg, Friedrich Maximilian, Graf von, (1868-1921) ,Volume: 1 and 2. Year 1908.

On way to Ladakh, Baltal 

Ruins of Hindu Temple, Sind Valley

Drifting Clouds, Pahalgam

Summer Evening, Pahalgam

Summer Afternoon, Pahalgam

Beginning of Spring, Pahalgam

Pahalgam, Kashmir

-0-

Facebook
YouTube
Instagram
RSS