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.
Nature had laid a white sheet on every leaf and bud. It was appearing as if several tons of cotton have been scattered from the sky. Evenings in Kashmir are very cold, and because we had gone there in winters, they were much colder and teeth-chattering...
On entering Chashmashahi Garden, I found a Kashmiri guy who would take photographs of people and in just 50 rupees process them and give them back to his customers. In many cities in India, especially at the tourist spots, you can find such photographers easily, though today the technology has finished the work of these people to a great extent.
Seeing us, he started insisting to get photographed. He was speaking English so fast as if he was some salesman of a Delhi-based firm. He was really an interesting character. In a conversation, he revealed that he lives near JNU in Delhi and has come back to Kashmir during the Coronation period. Further on asking, he introduced himself as Junaid.
Junaid was doing an internship in a newspaper in Delhi, but in the Corona period, his internship stopped thus he had to return back to Kashmir. Junaid's story excited me so much that I accepted his offer of taking photographs.
After getting the photo session done, I asked Junaid that 'You must be having trouble making money?' But Junaid's answer was completely opposite to my question. He answered politely - 'No, ma'am, I'm happy here. I am with my family and earning more from there’. He further added that he does photography only for a few hours and then partakes in his family work.
Junaid was also involved in the small business of carpet selling and dry-fruit besides photography to earn money. Hearing this, I asked him jokingly to give me some work too, so that I could stay in Kashmir … He started laughing loudly, then we all started laughing. My ‘Prabhu’ too… Whose participation till now was just limited to listen to the conversations. Before bidding him goodbye, I took Junaid's number and insisted to him that whenever he comes to Delhi, he should definitely meet us.
With this promise, I and my ‘Prabhu’ went ahead. After marriage, Kashmir was our first destination together, so we desired to make it a memorable one. This is often the case. Couples want to make every trip immortal, so like other couples, we also fired snowballs at each other ... Laughed, and returned back to the hotel. This was our first day of loafing around in Kashmir.
We both needed to know and understand each other so that we too could write our own memorable story… Building a garden would surely be an expensive deal. When we returned, we were totally exhausted and were enjoying the night of Kashmir while talking about this memorable day.
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