Srinagar, October 15
It is a week after the October 8 earthquake and Srinagar wakes up to a chilly morning. The sudden drop in temperature has everyone get his coats and jackets out.
In Uri and Tangdhar, earthquake victims would have huddled in makeshift shelters, the luckier ones possessing tents and warm blankets, which reached more people on Friday. There are still a few villages in Tangdhar, which have not been accessed.
The aftershocks continue and people again rushed out of their homes last night. But there is a general atmosphere of normalcy, even cheeriness, as people go about their weekend business. Students attend schools and colleges, and there are many tourists.
At the famous Dal Lake, most of the houseboats stand empty, but there are many takers for a boat ride. “In fact, I see more tourists than last Saturday, when the quake happened”, says Salim Tunda, a Kashmir-born German citizen. “People are enjoying themselves”.
The victims have not been forgotten. In many places, lorries are still being loaded with relief material, ready to make their way out. A group of students from Nundrishi College in Srinagar, are out on their monthly picnic, at the Mughal Gardens overlooking the lake.
The college has many students from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Surinder (Ropar), Sunila and Sheeta (Shimla), Aman and Rupinder (Batala) eat their rotis in the warm sun. One of their teachers is from Amritsar.
The earthquake was frightening, and many slept in the homes of the Principal, when aftershocks continued to jolt them out of their sleep. “We do miss our folks this far from home, but this place is indeed a paradise”. Militancy didn’t deter them from coming here to study.
“What is there to be scared? We are from Punjab”, says Paranjeet. Militancy is not something Kashmiris talk about, understandable given the militants’ penchant for violence against whoever they consider is an “informer”.
Incidents continue, in Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu, and Srinagar, which witnessed a woman fidayeen bomber on Thursday. “These days, very few are from this side of Kashmir - maybe only one in a hundred”, estimates Ghulam Mohinuddin, a village chief.
Militancy has become a bit of a ‘dhanda’, he adds, with vested interests paying out money. The United Jehad Council released a statement yesterday slamming the praise being given out to the Indian Army in the aftermath of the quake and attesting to Pakistan’s “selfless love for Kashmiris in particular and humanity in general”.
There are still rumours of a big earthquake coming. “There is one coming on the 17th, isn’t there?” asks a schoolgirl. She is reassured to learn that such predictions are not possible, though geologists do anticipate a “big one” given the stresses building up in the Himalayan fault lines.
“It is all fate”, pipes in a bystander, and a general fatalism, either about quakes or bombs and bullets, seems to pervade the Valley. Till today, none of the schools and colleges appears to have given out any pamphlets or information about the dos and don’ts during a quake.
Further, around the lake is the renowned Hazratbal Shrine, which suffered minor damage to its spires in the quake. There are tourists here too. A couple from West Bengal, who came here yesterday, subject themselves to a security check as they join worshippers making their way into the shrine, which possesses a hair of Prophet Mohammed.
The revered object is taken out to be shown only during special prayers, and that is handled by Ghulam Hassan Bandey, the second Imam in the priestly hierarchy at the shrine. Bandey, who traces his family lineage back to the Bandey who brought the Prophet’s hair from Bijapur, Karnataka, says: “Maybe God is punishing us for our sins, but right now the victims need help, and that help is coming from India and elsewhere.”
