What Does Road Rage Tell About Class Conflict in Kashmir?

Walter Lawrence's observations from the past continue to reflect key elements of social and cultural life in Kashmir today.

- Wajahat Qazi

I love Kashmir. That's a given. Its natural beautygushing rivers, majestic mountains, lush forests, sparkling springs, streams and riversoverlaid by a spiritual ingress, can only be inspiring a balm to the mind, body and soul. But, its social dynamic, its permutations, combinations and manifestations a rudely jarring note to the region's natural characteristics leave a lot to be desired-to understate the issue. What is this social dynamic I am referring to?

Before explicating, I would lay out my perspective and class position. An 'upper class' Kashmiri with a distinguished lineage dating back centuries, I lived a very sheltered, cosseted life till serendipity intervened in the late 90's. Conditions in Kashmir then, precarious, militated against my continued stay here. My family 'conspired' to manoeuvre me from Kashmir. To repeat, from sheer serendipity, I landed at the Fatal Shore, Australia. But my abiding love for Kashmir remained. In class one day, a Professor, after saying hello, hello to me a couple of times said: 'Just your body is here in Australia. But you are in Kashmir'.

This was as astute an observation as it was accurate.

Another day, the school manager, who knew about the troubles in Kashmir, after hearing my romance about Kashmir told me, 'better stay here. Its safer.' I raised my arms in the air and said, 'No way'. After many years, based on a retrospective, I realized that my personality and psychic make up, after frazzling and defraying in the Kashmir of 90's had healed in Australia. A quasi new person had evolved. But this was a retrospectiveno matter how true.