Did Kashmir Miss the Point of Eid?

Filmed in portrait mode, shared with filters. When did Eid ul Azha become content instead of conviction?

- Syed Eesar Mehdi

Last week, Eid ul Azha drifted through Kashmir, a valley where faith weaves with whispers of ancient winds. Sacrifice, a cry torn from comfort's embrace, arches over the chasm, tying the fleeting to the forever.

Imagine sheep trembling in Srinagar's shadow, ropes taut, knives glinting under a sky soft as a sigh. What sang in this Feast of Sacrifice?

Ibrahim's act lingered, his heart a quivering flame, climbing a mountain, blade in hand, his son a step behind, offered to the unseen.

Kashmir hummed alive. Over 45,000 animals, a butcher from Budgam swore, bowed to the blade, their flesh parted: a share for kin, a share for neighbours, a share for the poor.

The Qur'an murmurs the miracle. Not the ram that spared Ismail, but Ibrahim's pulse, racing to obey. What do we yield?

Rumi, voice of the heart, wondered why we crawl, wings folded, born to soar.

In Anantnag, laughter spilled, children in bright threads darted through lanes, while hands in Shopian stretched mutton to the hungry. 12,000 gifts, an elder reckoned.

Had the fire cooled, dulled to a murmur of habit?