Chilling reality and home truths in harsh winters

The arrival of the bone-chilling winter in the valley signals the time for migratory birds to move towards the plains. Last week our family of five moved from Srinagar to our decade-old winter abode of Gurgaon for the next three months. For centuries, people of the landlocked mountainous region of Kashmir during winters have been migrating to the plains not only to escape the harsh winter’s vagaries but also due to dearth of employment avenues.

In our — and numerous other — case, economics is not the reason to flee the valley, if possible, people will prefer to stay back. Owing to non-availability of basic amenities particularly in the winter, people who can afford or have an avenue to do so, leave the valley in the winter. Despite tall claims of economic development made by each and every government, not much seems to have changed in Kashmir over the years; winter in Kashmir even in the 21st century is most tiring. Come winter, it is the announcement of bleak and black times. When energy is required the most to keep houses warm, electricity plays truant. Jammu and Kashmir can generate 14,000 MW of hydropower; regrettably it is not even able to exploit more than 10% to 12% of its potential. Most of its hydro projects, due to the Indus Water Treaty’s constrains, (in the absence of any storage capacity) are run off water projects. The electricity demand peaks in the winter but at the same time the hydro power generation reduces drastically because of the low discharge of waters in the glacier-fed rivers. On top of it, transmission and commercial losses are as high as 67%, only indicating widespread corruption and perennial inefficiency.

In 2011, Kashmir is still dependent on a single highway — NH 1A connecting Srinagar with rest of the country. Despite trains plying in patches, dependable road and rail connectivity is still a dream. NH 1A at the most is a fair-weather way, few inches of snow forces closure of the road for days, if not weeks, a most common feature even a decade ago. For a litre of kerosene to an egg or for that matter a pill of life-saving medicine, Kashmir depends on supplies from the outside world. And the chances of essential supplies getting disrupted rather frequently are high in the winter.

In the absence of essential supplies and dependable electricity, life in the valley in the harsh winters becomes almost unbearable.
With little hope of change in the near future, it is a sorry state of affairs; this is how life is in the valley during the winter. However, moving out of the valley in the winters is sort of a blessing in disguise for us, travelling always is a new learning experience.

Living outside the valley for a brief period, our children get exposed to an array of different cultures. But this time I was faced with a much perplexing situation. Living in Gurgaon all these years in the much happening and ever developing city, for my adolescent children the shining glass of swanky megamalls and fast, efficient metro system is the reality of India. Coming to terms with the fact that it is simply an oasis, and the poverty-ridden and hugely discriminated vast population residing in villages and urban slums is the real reality was a culture shock for them. Our two children had travelled in a train earlier also, perhaps this time around, for first time they witnessed — rather comprehended, as they are growing now — the deep poverty as well as inequalities. People defecating in the open, sharing spaces with animals, and the foul smell of decaying water all along the route was beyond their comprehension. My 8-year-old daughter in her environment class was taught about the rising levels of pollution in Yamuna.

Seeing is believing, but what she saw — literally a dying river — was more than she could understand. She repeatedly asked me why the water in the river has turned black, like tar. How could I explain to an eight-year-old child, that it was due to the greed of the man? Poverty is not a curse or taboo; it is due to injustice and the more-than-callous attitude of rulers behaving as masters.

People infested with poverty are not the creation of a lesser god, given a chance they are bound to do better than us. But isn’t it a huge challenge for a parent to keep his/her children grounded in humility, seeing other human beings languishing in sub-human conditions?