The arrival of autumn in Kashmir has gone unnoticed. There are no favourite spots to click pictures. The mighty chinars in Naseem Bagh are lonely. There is no rush of people. The lovers of autumn are invisible in the unending turmoil in Kashmir.
Basira Ahmad, 24, who has grown up around the western shores of the Dal Lake in the Dargah Hazratbal locality, nestled in hundreds of mighty chinar trees and known as Naseem Bagh, says the spot, which would normally be filled with visitors during autumn, is silent and wailing this time.
“Parks and gardens are deserted, flowers blossomed and dried up in summer without spreading their charm and the same is happening with autumn. The beauty of falling leaves, the evening breeze finds no muse these days. Looks like even seasons are in mourning,” says Basira, who along with her two siblings would visit the place often in the autumn evenings but has not been able to do so this time.
The mighty chinar trees in Kashmir are the metaphor for autumn and Naseem Bagh holds a special elegance in this season. It is believed that in summer of 1635, the Mughal emperors in Kashmir planted 1,200 saplings of chinar, all at the same time in a “Char Chinar” pattern — four chinars in four corners of a rectangular piece of land so that a person in the centre would remain under shade at all hours of the day. Later the piece of land was named as Naseem Bagh, which became a unique place for autumn lovers.
“People would sit on the slopes in Naseem Bagh sipping tea and enjoying the view of the Dal Lake. But now there are just dogs there. Visitors would sit for hours in the warmth of the sun discussing and talking with friends but this year everything has vanished,” says Basira.
In the 1950s, during the time of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad — the last Prime Minister of Kashmir — Naseem Bagh was handed over by the Dogra royal family to the civil administration for use as a campus of a university and was turned into the beautiful campus of Kashmir University, which is the highest seat of learning in the Valley. But this time the largest campus has been lying shut for 90 days due to continuous shutdowns and curfew, giving the place a deserted look.
“Autumn was the time of classes, exams. Students would rush from one class to another but today no one is seen as if the whole town is in mourning. Closing of such a big institution depicts the severity of the times we are living in. It is the first time in the state that classes have been called off for such a long time,” says Maira Nazir, a university student who has not been able to visit the campus for the last three months due to the unrest.
Many people long for a glimpse of Naseem Bagh in autumn. “It seems the autumn will pass too and Kashmir would continue to mourn,” adds Maira.
Due to the unrest in Kashmir that started on July 9 after the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani, people have been largely caged in their homes.
In cold unrest, warm Autumn hues go unnoticed
