रेखा पाल एक पेशेवेर पत्रकार हैं. रेखा ने हाल ही में धारा 370 हटने और कोरोना काल के प्रतिबंध कम होने के बाद कश्मीर की यात्रा की है. रेखा ने अपने दिलचस्प अनुभव हिलांश के साथ साझा किए हैं. ये पहली कड़ी है. रेखा पाल की कश्मीर यात्रा की अगली किश्त जल्द हिलांश पर पब्लिश होगी. 

I have been a wandering, carefree and stubborn kind of girl. When I got married, I applied this formula with the boy- ‘If you will stay within your limits, only then you will be in profit’. Believe me, this is the most effective formula. Or just understand it this way, that this is the trump card. I got married recently, so people around me gave us a lot of options to rove over, but before we would make any plan about it, corona hit the country and the entire nation was shut down. Only those people were seen on the streets, who had no other option but to leave the cities. In India, Corona was playing on the frontline and people were in an ultra panic. Especially in a city like Delhi, the fear of Corona stayed for a long time.

If someone asks me my wish, the answer will be Kashmir. I have been dreaming of going to this place for ages. I belong to an army family. As much as the children have heard the mention of Kashmir in our homes, hardly any other house would have heard about this part of India. These discussions escalate even more on those days when any family member is posted in Kashmir. Many times this place sends terrible, shock-like information to the families of the soldiers.

A different fear has been woven about Kashmir as if every person there is waiting for the people hanging a gun on their shoulders. As if every person there is with Pakistan… People from those parts of India, give somewhat a similar upbringing to their children, who do not know Kashmir at all.

I wanted to go to Kashmir long before, but the family and friends never let me go. Therefore this time, I firmly decided to visit Jannat-e-Kashmir. I was married, the corona was over or it came down from dangerous levels and the biggest reason was the removal of Article 370 in Kashmir, after which many restrictions were imposed on Kashmiris. It is too scary to think that life can be run without the internet. The government had systematically removed Article 370, which is still being opposed on a large scale. As a journalist, I was excited to take stock of the political crisis and the mood of the people stemmed after the removal of Article 370.

I wanted to watch people's lives closely. If my phone does not have a 2-hour network, I feel so helpless. It is horrible to think that for almost two years, the mobiles of the Kashmiri people have been breathing with the help of the 2G network.  If this happens to us, as it is going on, then you guess what kind of democracy it is, where the voices of the people are suppressed. India is among the top countries in the world in shutting down the internet of its citizens, which exhibits a bad situation.

How would the people of Kashmir face these difficulties? Three months of lockdown after Corona's knock brought the already shaken economy to a bad state, in such a situation which Kashmir has been going through such conditions for years, how terrible the situation of its citizens can be! How would they earn? Will they be teaching children too? We Indians, without even looking for the proper solutions to these questions, had even decided to buy lands in the valley. These conditions were when the employment crisis in India has reached an unprecedented situation. The unemployed are fighting for employment in different parts of the country.

Ultimately, the decision had been made and I had started packing my bags to go to Kashmir. Usually, Indian families say that 'good girls do not go roaming, they consider their house as temple and husband as God!' I too had heard this and to answer this, I was going on a trip to Kashmir with my ‘God’ aka ‘Prabhu’ aka ‘husband’. Absolutely, in an Indian woman avatar. The hand full of bangles, a big red tika on the forehead, and with vermilion on my head, I departed for Kashmir. Before departure, words like- terror, danger, Pakistan, and jihadi- which had been tamped in our minds through various TV channels, all of a sudden started revolving in our head now. However, my 'Prabhu' was more scared than me! Well, it was my responsibility to console him, so I consoled. Meanwhile, we had fixed everything, the days of our visit, the driver, place, and the hotel all.

To be continued...

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A river's journey

A river's journey

Gori Ganga (also Gori Gad) is a river in the Munsiari tehsil of the Pithoragarh District, part of the state of Uttarakhand in northern India.

Gori Ganga's principal source is the Milam Glacier, just northeast of Nanda Devi along with the Glaciers of the Ralam River, and the Pyunshani and Uttari & Dakshini Balati Glaciers that lie on the western face of the Panchachuli Peaks.

The alpine trans-humant village of Milam is located one kilometer below the snout of the glacier. Here a left-bank stream called Gonka joins the Gori. The valley provides the approach route for access to peaks such as Nanda Devi East, Hardeol, Trishuli, Panchchuli and Nanda Kot.

The Gori is also fed by glaciers and streams flowing from the eastern slopes of the east wall of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary.

The Kalabaland-Burfu Kalganga glacier system also flows into the Gori Ganga Valley from the east.

Many waterfalls are also found in the Gori river on the way from Munsiyari to Jauljibi.

During the rainy days, the Gori river becomes flooded and has also caused many losses.

Gori Ganga joins the Kali River at Jauljibi.

In the local language

The Gori river valley is very beautiful.

The principal rivers joining the main trunk Gori river are Panchu Gad, Burfu Gad, Lwa Gad, Poting Gad, Ralam Gad, Jimia Gad, Suring Gad, Madkani or Madkanya and Ghosi Gad.