TOURISM IN KASHMIR
Fayaz smiles as he hears the little kid comment about the snow in Gulmarg…..“It is like vanilla ice cream all around us”
He shakes hands with the hotel owner Abid as the happy tourists board his taxi. The tourists had the ‘time of their lives’ at Gulmarg and now they look forward to visit Srinagar. Fayaz has been with the tourists since he had picked them up from the airport and has developed a personal equation with them. The hotel owner Abid waves at the tourists. They have told him that they will be coming for the Amarnath Yatra. Abid has promised them all the help they would need for the Yatra, through his friends in Pahalgam.
Abid rushes back to the hotel ……he has to get the rooms ready for the next lot of tourists who have already left Srinagar airport. He is busy ….. but happy….his hotel is running in full occupancy and earnings are great.
Fayaz reaches Srinagar with the tourists and takes them to Dilkhush Houseboat. The owner of the Houseboat, Manzoor, hugs his old friend Fayaz.
“I have arranged for the extra room in the houseboat as demanded”…he informs Fayaz. They then fix up the time for the visit of the tourists to various tourist spots. As he turns back, he spots Bilal maneuvering his shikara towards the Houseboat.
“Bilal, you are late…..” He comments. “Have you got the fish?” He asks.
Both get busy unloading the merchandise from the shikara. Later, Bilal carefully puts the money he has received in the pocket of his pheran. He has to deliver stuff to seven more houseboats….so he hurries up.
Dal Lake is buzzing with activity, thrilled tourists are enjoying themselves on shikaras and houseboats….strolling excitedly on the Boulevard…relishing Kashmiri cuisine in the restaurants … excitedly visiting the wonderful tourist spots of Srinagar. A couple tries to enact the famous song ‘Tareef Karun Kya Uski’ no film Kashmir ki Kali on the shikara…..some others are busy taking selfies and photos of the picturesque lake. Overall a happy scene……
Manzoor the houseboat owner sees off the tourists after taking their menu for the dinner. He climbs up the terrace of the houseboat to take a break…he unlocks his mobile phone. His expressions change from surprise to anger as he reads comments of a social media ‘cavalier’ that the number of tourists should be restricted ‘in the ecologically fragile zones like valleys of Pahalgam and Sonamarg’. He remembers how a few days back a friend had commented that tourists should not come to Srinagar as it increases the traffic.
Manzoor shakes his head in disbelief….the tourism is picking up so well after a lull….money has started flowing…..happiness is palpable……the old symbiosis of tourism industry is reviving ….and these arm chair pseudo philanthropists and fake environmentalists are unhappy about it…what is wrong with them?
Ecology ? Are people really worried about ecology? What about the sand mafia? Back in his village in Kupwara, due to the illegal sand mining, the river is changing course and has dangerously come close to the houses…. Ecology !!! Huh…he whispers wryly.
What about the forests? Since childhood, he has known that if smoke is bellowing in the jungles, someone has put the selected tree on fire…so that it can be cut and brought down at night and smuggled into the village following the beaten trails…..the hill feature near his village has become bald at places due to such illegal deforestation…so much for ecology!!!
What about the garbage all across the roadsides…..outside the villages?
And with all these problems unaddressed, one thing that is bothering some people is tourism……tourism that has been the lifeline of Valley……tourism that brings bread to homes…..circulates money in the economy.
Why are some people against everything related to normalcy? The self serving politicians and separatists have been criticizing the recent ceasefire on the Line of Control…..they have been criticizing people attending music festivals……speaking against women empowerment programs. Then there are the so called gun wielding self style peacemakers who are threatening girls from wearing western clothes or driving two wheelers. All these negative thinkers are unhappy as normalcy is returning to the Valley…….because peace and normalcy means doom for them…..their ‘shops’ run on violence, disturbance and chaos.
Manzoor looks around…..not long ago, these houseboats were like ghost houses and today the whole area was buzzing with activity. As he hears the call for prayers from the Mosque, he takes a deep breath and prays that things should remain normal in Kashmir and may tourists keep coming in large numbers.
KUCH LOG APNE DUKH SE UTNA DUKHI NAHIN JITNA DUSRON KE SUKH SE DUKHI HAIN
