Kashmir in Zenith

By: Bishnu Goswami

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

India is a huge country. But it is not apparent to many of its populace. Mercator projection is to blame when we glance at the maps, but other omissions also abound. From the scorching desert of Thar to the bustling metropolis of Mumbai, from the heavy tint greens of Bengal, to the red soil topography of Tamil Nadu, India is a land of interesting differences. To the trained eye, however,this is all but a molecule on the surface of the Indian ocean. The deeper parts of the metaphorical, but amusingly synonymous, ocean lies in things that are not visible by the glances through the iris. The culture, the society, and the micro-politics are akin to krakens of the Scandinavian folklore, albeit real but forgotten by popular media busy counting the pebbles on the touristy beach. In this book, we delve into the first-hand account of a short journey to the head of India, Kashmir, after a short stay in the historically important city of Amritsar. This travel was undertaken more than a decade away when Kashmir was still a princely state and was in a flummoxing state of development coupled with traditionalism and volatile terrorism situations. The author visited this place while he was a young teenager, and the perspectives were of that time.