Veteran visualists—like celebrated lensmen—would say, while explaining the significance of reflections, shadows and shades in life, “They make the picture perfect.” Driven by the same photographer’s curiosity, The Indus Post’s photojournalist captures different replication of life and objects in Kashmir in this nine-framed photo essay.
Text/photos by Aamina Altaf
Sauntering through the serpentine Nallamar Road in old Srinagar, I saw this spectacular view of a lake temple. The lake—called Brari Nambal, on whose banks the benign emperor Badshah would set his sightseeing stage once—might be dying its own death amid facelifting and littering, but the island temple retains its ancient charm, thus making it a signpost of some distant past, now part of an oral legend.
At a stone’s throw from the place of worship, a lad in early twenties was having a gala time. It was a shower-soaked sundown, and Srinagar streets wore a cursed ghost look. In a place where shower hardly summons starry-eyed sensations now, the glimpse was an exception and perhaps, a hope amid despair.
The dazzling reflection of the mighty Chinars on the Dal Lake might be a cliché capture, but then, the way it continues to turn heads around, speaks of the spell and sway it commands on the life.
The mirror image of snow-draped mountains on frosty waters of Dal Lake is another spectacular scene to behold. No wonder then why artists, time and again, make sure to canvas it.
Away from the Nature’s spell, I saw a ‘tila’ embroidery shopkeeper looking towards Khanqa-he-moula shrine in the fabled old city, with an unwavering faith in his eyes. His belief made one believe, as if all his pain and agony would vanish soon. Power of faith is indeed robust.
It was a picture with two different stories—one fake and another real, making one imagine the world beyond one’s grasp.
A bridge in the interior of Dal Lake offers lovely vista, but the pain of locals living nearby in shanties in this bone-numbing cold simply deflates much of this sense of recreation and romanticism. Life, they rightly say, is unfair.
But then, the nature has an ability to conceal the bigger woes with its enchanting countenance. Here is one, which I capture when Shikara’s reflection fell on famed Nigeen Lake.
Eventually, everything boils down to lived experiences in the valley of Kashmir. So, here it is: A depressed soul in search of peace.
