BENGALURU: While Kashmir has been in the news for the last few months after the revokement of Article 370, the debate on it has become conversation starters for many. These conversations are often in the cozy confines of our drawing rooms. But a few like photographers Kounteya Sinha and Deboshree Ganguly decided to frequent the place during troubled times to see what they can do to help the situation. From their visits to Kashmir, they have brought out a calendar, an attempt to showcase the other side of the place. “I first went to visit two friends who run a hotel in Kashmir when the tension broke out to get a first-hand idea of the situation,” says Sinha, a former journalist who has frequented a number of conflict zones over the last 17 years.
For Sinha, the greatest tragedy of a place is when we forget them. “Nothing destroys it like isolation. Abandonment, as a result of conflict and disaster – man-made or natural, causes its decay. Its lush golden sunsets or the magically whistling woods go silent. How long can a tearing performance last in an empty theatre? But the recent turn of events, whether for better or for worse – only time will tell – has left this living paradise empty. This is when cultures, customs, tangible and intangible traditions and folklore are lost,” he says.
The calendar comprises several images, including that a of a girl listening to a radio which says ‘Sabse Badhiya Signal’, that Sinha captured during his visits.
Unlike traditional calendars, this one dates from October 2019 and not January 2020. This, because the duo want people to plan their travel right away.
The name of the calendar, Project Bismillah, came about after Sinha came across a server in Baramulla, who would say ‘Bismillah’ anytime before he served a meal or even a glass of water.
“I have loved Kashmir and Ladakh deeply. I am not willing to leave it alone. This body of work is to remind the world what unimaginable beauty runs through the veins of Kashmir and Ladakh. It is to ask people to return to this paradise now – to give it back its much-needed sense of identity, dignity and empowerment. Our return will be a vehicle both to rebuild its economy and society. It will show them we care,” he says.
Ganguly points out that the calendar comes at a time when India is deeply divided debating what could be Kashmir’s and Ladakh’s fate post the government’s decision to revoke Article 370. “We have a responsibility. If we return to Kashmir, stay in the house boats, travel fearlessly, there will be income for a few people. If more people travel, more income. More income means running kitchens which in turn mean less anger, frustration and violence. This would create an amicable environment for the government to do its bit and make Kashmir the prosperous place it has promised,” she says.
Like Sinha sums it up, “Like John Milton had said in Paradise Lost, ‘Long is the way and hard, that out of out Hell leads up to light. Awake, arise or be forever be fallen’. Let’s not lose paradise again”.