Autumn has set in, giving Kashmir its colour of gold
By: Tariq Shah VOV
Srinagar
Autumn is a gold season for the people of Kashmir in many ways. It is the season of plenty for the locals as they start harvesting including their fruit.
For foreign tourists especially from Europe, Autumn used to attract them to Kashmir and they used to enjoy the stillness in all ways including the crystal clear waters in the snow fed streams of Kashmir.
One of the great things to watch in the month of October is the colour of gold to the Chinar leaves as they start falling on the surface of gardens and even on the streets.
The real canvas for the film shooting during the autumn used to be Baghi-Naseem or known as Naseem Bagh, which is the university of Kashmir campus, as it used to give a new look to the tourists and visitors.
It was Yash Chopra who immortalized Naseem Bagh campus in his film Silsila when he shot the song during the autumn under falling Chinar leaves forcing thousands of people not only to watch the film but to visit Kashmir and see this amazing garden on the banks of Dal Lake with hundreds of mighty Chinars.
In Mohabbatein, the same family of Chopras, immortalized the gold colour Chinar leaf by keeping it even on the posters of the film.
Autumn season was a huge attraction to the Nehru family to visit Kashmir. Before her death in 1984, late Indira Gandhi visited Kashmir in the autumn season as she enjoyed the stillness of life in this season.
It is now many autumns that Kashmir has witnessed only stillness but no watchers. Even now the springs go without any watchers in Kashmir as the tourist footfall is nil.
Post August 5, 2019, Kashmir has witnessed only the depression and no life not to talk of tourism. Even in this current autumn season there is no activity either in the tourist’s huts or in the houseboats and it seems that autumn has set in permanently in the lives of Kashmiris.
