Rajlakshmi Bhosale was on her way to Srinagar when she got the news of the killing of a tourist in a stone pelting incident.
But the General Secretary of Nationalist Congress Party in Pune and former mayor of the western Indian city let her earlier experience of travels to Kashmir guide her rather be panicked by the news of the death of 22-year-old R Thirumani of Chennai after he was critically injured near Narbal when his vehicle was caught in a stone throwing protest.
Bhosale flew from the hills of Sahyadris in western India via Delhi where as soon as she switched her phone on Whatsapp messages from her son and friends about the tragic death started popping up.
“At the Delhi airport, I was in a fix whether to proceed towards Kashmir or not. Some tourists cancelled their trip midway,” Bhosale said, sitting in a starred hotel overlooking the Dal Lake.
“But my gut feeling that this place is welcoming for tourists and a long association with Kashmir is the reason I am here.”
Bhosale had played an important role in signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Pune Municipal Corporation and Srinagar Municipal Corporation in 2010. She is eager to re-start a project aimed to improve drainage system of house boats in the Lake.
“After signing the MoU we had sent a team of engineers from Pune to work on improvement of drainage in houseboats. Once I am back in Pune, I will meet the civic body commissioner to re-start this project,” Bhosale said.
On Wednesday the former Pune mayor visited Gulmarg along with six more tour group members including her husband. She believes the tourist’s death is just an “isolated incident” which would not hit tourism in Kashmir.
“We met hundreds of tourist families from our home state Maharashra who were sightseeing in Gulmarg. I was overwhelmed to see that tourists are still keeping faith despite the incident,” Bhosale said.
“I feel the ill-fated tourist vehicle the other day was stuck at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Bhosale, who has been keen on exchange of cultural, academic and technology-based ideas between Kashmir and Pune with help of a Pune-based NGO Sarhad, says the unfortunate killing of a tourist notwithstanding, people in Kashmir are quite hospitable.
“I hold a great affection for Kashmir. Our civic body has developed replicas of Mughal gardens in Pune out of love for the Valley. I will definitely continue suggesting the near and dear ones to visit this paradise.”
Bhosale suggests the state government and tourism players of Kashmir should “people genuinely interested in visiting Kashmir don’t miss the opportunity due to the Narbal incident.”
The Congress party leader says conflict in Kashmir should not discourage tourists from visiting the valley.
“The unfortunate part is that national media has been unfair towards Kashmir. Let the J&K government and local tour operators honestly admit to the tourists that yes there is a problem but tell them that there are people who live in Kashmir.”
Among Bhosale’s fond memories of her visits to Kashmir is of meeting children on their educational tours to Pune every winter.
“I often used to host these children from places such as Kupwara, Budgam and Kargil and get to hear some heart wrenching stories from them. They have even visited my house in Pune. For me innocence of these kids is the real face of the Valley,” Bhosale says.
Bhosale who is also planning to visit Pahalgam says visit of late Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad in 2002 to the Peshwa city of Pune for inaugurating a children’s home proved to be instrumental for developing her interest in the Kashmir.
“The MoU we signed with SMC offered a lot of scope for Pune’s civic body to help Srinagar become a better city in terms of garbage management and civic infrastructure development. I feel Kashmir needs to provide a boost to its hospitality industry and overall amenities to become a world class tourist destination.”
