Where the heck was I?

Hey folks!

I apologize for getting myself totally out of internet for the last weeks but I could not just help it. I was away to the valley of Kashmir, settled around the Dal Lake for a week and half and took a city bus to places in and around the city of Srinagar.

I tried a lot of things: photographing beautiful kids in Hijaab, reading the history of gardens outside the gates, riding a pony up a small mountain, taking a random countryside bus to see River Jhelum flowing quietly through a valley, read Kashmiri newspapers every morning and becoming so stressed as to whether to click photographs or just witness silently places around lakes that I made it a rule to leave behind my camera and leave behind a strong itch to re-visit sometime in near future.

But this is not my personal blog…what do I have to share in this blog on climate change?

On 4th July I picked up a copy of Greater Kashmir, the largest circulated English daily of the valley and the headline stuck me like the arrow on apple. It read:

“Rice Production to fall by 30% due to Climate Change”

Never in mainstream English newspaper in India, despite having resided in more than ten Indian states, I have found a climate change issue making its way to the front page in bold font. This valley depends heavily on glacier water to produce rice and by the end of the century it has been estimated that the Himalayan glaciers may run out.

Sometime later I tried talking with a native guy who was responsible for my dinner. “Sir, in this valley…every lake you see…gets its water due to God’s grace. The ice up the mountains melt down to give us water throughout the year. In winter we get lesser water since water freezes…One day when all the ice is consumed, this valley I fear will dry up.”

Everyone will die, all it matters is how we live a happy life. So, in case some of you are still trying to run away from the sublt responsibility then: The ice will go away, but let’s throw them up so fast.

If you are not an environmentalist, not even an amateur one, then I suggest you to travel Kashmir. You will at least for once believe in science and think, can I save this valley forever…for some more decades…