[Reader-list] 2nd posting

[Sarai Independet Fellowship]

Second Posting:Shrinking Public Spaces in a City of Bunkers

Hi All,

Over the last few months I have been exploring Srinagar, though other commitments kept taking me out of the city. Primarily I was walking through the city, interviewing people on the way and spending time at the secular and the sacred landmarks in Srinagar. I am tempted to get into the specific descriptions of what I found on the way but to brief I barely mention the places and some general conclusions, while keeping the narratives for the final presentation.

One important realisation has been the need to re-look at the very title of my fellowship. I have felt like deleting the ‘Shrinking’ word at occasions, when I faced breezes of individual freedom in the mundane occurrences like a careless political 
talk chat at a coffee shop in Lal Chowk, the city centre; the growth of snooker
and cyber cafés presenting an escape to the local youth or the expanding the
limits of the ‘normal time’ to return home by an hour or so.

But other instances of discovering Srinagar prove that the invisible and the visible entry signs are still staring at us. Be it entering Srinagar via the Jammu-Srinagar highway, visiting the Shankaracharya temple a little ahead or roaming through the remains of Moghul prince Dara Shukhoh’s library, known as Pari Mahal, you come to realise that most of the markers of Srinagar’s history have turned into barracks inaccessible to the average resident of the city. 

The spaces are not shrinking just physically but in the mental domain too. While cricketing times relaxed the soldier’s and the militant’s fingers on the rifle trigger, 
 the general elections and the subsequent increase in violence has again shrunk Srinagar like a fist closing in on sponge of humanity. And beyond the political ups and downs, the city remain in a constant mixture of calculation and caution against free, reckless verbal and physical behaviour, like a child conscious of the watching of gaze of an adult watching over.

I hope to ‘complete’ my exploration of the Srinagar by June and intend to make the final presentation a mixture of stories, which would best represent these months of loitering in the city and the analysis of it all.

Looking forward to your suggestions, 
Best,
Basharat
Independent Journalist,
Srinagar,
basharatpeer at rediffmail.com