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Writer's pictureSoldier Stories Of Kashmir

Paradise Lost: Re-imagining Waadi-e-Kashmir

Gurvir Singh Kahlon


Prologue


Pakistani poet of dissent, Habib Jalab had this to profess in 1990 -


Nasheeli aankhon, sunehri zulfon ke desh ko khokar main hairan hoon, Wo ziqr Waadi-e-Kashmir karte hain

 

Kashmir is a Paradise
Photo By Vimal Chandran

After losing the land of enchanting eyes and golden tresses, I am

astounded they still dream of Valley of Kashmir’



Kashmir – a Paradise Lost, why is it so?

Shenanigans of a devious plan? It seems all the more so



Riddled down the ages, with violence so gore!

Who benefited from it all? You are not sure

Generations led astray, many a dream shattered

False Promise of freedom, yet the mind remains shackled

Many a youth wasted, with grave consequences

Young lives destroyed, but they have no conscience



When will you Realize, Rise up and Reject

The call to arms, so futile, so abject

Will this touch a chord, nay ring a bell?

Save the gen-next, from the ominous death Knell



Pity the toddler, clinging to a billet riddled grandfather

For them life doesn’t matter, all cheap cannon fodder

Rally around ye youth of Kashmir, come to terms with life

Fight the demon unleashed from yonder, the conflict and strife



Kashmiriyat and Sufism have come to grief

Gather your wits, rally around these beliefs

What the neighbor does, why doesn’t it raise your ire?

Abandon those who repeatedly stoke the fire



Deluding you, many a promising life snuffed out

Why are you silent? Why is there no shout?

Against those, whose intent was never pure

They have doomed you already, will destroy you for sure



Look deep within, introspect and then decide

Who is genuinely with you, ‘Humsaya’ by your side

Those who have not progressed, will never let you do so



With bared fangs, that do not show



Inject the lethal dose, and poison your mind

Corrupting you, putting you in a dilemma, a bind

The future is yours, wake up and grab it

Find meaning in this life, re-imagine Kashmir around it



Dispel the Woe! Which has befallen Kashmir

Regain paradise Lost, the glory of land of seer!

Spread Kashmiriyat, goodness and divinity sublime

Prosper in peaceful surroundings, find heaven in this life!



 

Epilogue


“Jisne apna mulk nahin sambhala,

Who kakh tumhe sambhalega!


Jisne apna ghar jala dala

Tumhe sooli pe chadah dalega


Jiska wajood insaniyat se juda hai

VO mulk, tumhe barbaad kar dalega


Kaisa alam hai yeh bekhudi ka

Kashmiriyat ko Dehshat mein badal dala hai!”

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