Kashmiri Culture and Animals - June 09

Kashmiri Culture
This is a collection of photos which capture to some degree some aspects of Kashmiri culture I found interesting and very different from New Zealand or the USA. The maze of waterways and canals here is so extensive, so complex, and so well-regulated that this simple footpath bridge I would cross most mornings on my way to the shops was under water only two days in 10 weeks. I joked with Imtiyaz when we found our bridge impassable without wet feet one morning that I would have to have a word with the canal man. There is a man in charge of all the water levels in this area. And if something goes amiss with the canal on or near your property, you will soon be on the receiving end of his abuse. He has a very big responsibility, especially at rice planting time.


Razor wire. Everywhere. Along with barbed wire, and men with machine guns that look deceptively like innocent plastic toys. They are not.

Interesting and sometimes humorous trucks, sometimes with words that make me wonder what they really meant to say.
























Happy Rice
The saffron coloured yellow rice mixed with nuts and spices is handed out to strangers on the street or road when a family is celebrating something. I love this tradition! Twice in 10 weeks I have been blessed with it.

















Milk delivered in cans.
The big truck of milk cans was in Srinagar. My shopkeeper in Wayil fills my small can I think from a cow very near by. Sometimes the milk is cow-warm. One day there was no fresh milk available in Wayil village at any shop. Were the cows on strike?























How people can live on $2 a day.
I don't know how they can do it, but prices of things here are so very much cheaper than in New Zealand or the US. A quart of milk is 16 rupees, or 50 cents NZ. Even parking is cheap. In the capital city, with very few parking lots, they still only charge 10 rupees, or about 20 cents US for all day parking!!!














Helping strangers.
One day on our way back to Wayil we had a flat tyre on the van/ambulance. Sami took the wheel off and left to get it fixed. As I stood by the van, a man across the road returned home on his moped. He came out of his gate shortly after, and invited me in to rest. How wonderful! We had an interesting dicusssion, and I was served water and melon. Turns out he was a retired employee of the Social Welfare Department. I always carry with me a brochure for the Hope Centre, so I gave him a copy. He was very interested in Sami's work.
















Vegetable gardens
With so many hungry herbivores on the loose everywhere, it is very important to protect the vegetable gardens. Kashmiris do this by making stout fences out of branches. There are these little islands of vegetable gardens in the middle of the rice paddies.
















Kangri Baskets
This is a better photo of the Kangri baskets,used to keep Kashmiris warm in the winter. Or on a cool summer morning!
















Spinning Wheels
On our way home one night from dressing Permeena's leg, we stopped at one of Sami's relatives' house for a quick visit. They had a spinning wheel there, so I thought you might like to see the Kashmiri version:





























Animals and Other Creatures
Nothing is wasted here. When the garlic is harvested, the cows are fed the greens. I wouldn't want to drink this cow's milk for a while, though. Wouldn't the taste come through??














I shared my room with this very large and fearsome looking spider. It or a cousin may have bitten me one night. I woke up from a painful bite on one shoulder, which took a while to heal.
















It is easy for birds to get inside the Hope Centre. One enterprising sparrow family built a nest in the physical therapy room, and one morning I caught a baby trying to get outside. I showed it to a couple of children who were at the centre, and when it was time for me to release it, it didn't fly away immediately! Perhaps it felt warm and protected in my gentle embrace - like its recent nest, perhaps? It flew off just fine after I took its photo!

I have been seeing these most interesting birds around, and finally got a photo of them. They are hoopoes














One morning I walked outside the Centre to find two puppies huddled together for warmth under a chair by the front door.








They were very cute, and I think may have been left behind by their pack during the night before. Sami said we should keep them and feed them. But they disappeared by the end of the day. Every big family has a story about the child that got left behind at the park, or gas station, etc....












Social Welfare Cheque Distribution
Sami and I were invited to attend a very important event in the life of the poor people of Kashmir. The annual distribution of welfare and scholarship money. Kashmir is very much a cash based society. So I shouldn't have been surprised to see the wad of bills being parceled out into envelopes for this event!
















I was asked to take photos of the people being given their money. I tried my best, but there was lots of media at the event, and I had to elbow my way into a decent position for a photo. And they were handing out the money way faster than my poor little camera flash could recover! I was taken by this elderly disabled woman who was sitting up front by the podium.
I would have liked to have had tea with her.

























The event ended suddenly, and all the bigwigs left the room with the media. By the time I collected my things, Sami had disappeared. I followed the sounds downstairs, and someone pointed out Sami to me, struggling to get past the guards downstairs. What was going on???














I had no interest in trying to fight my way through this mob, so decided to wait outside. But one of the dignitaries spotted me, and got me inside, where I found Sami and the media crowded around the Minister. His father is a big politico, which is why the media is so interested in him. The handing out of the cheques was just an excuse to interview him about his father, it appeared.