Noon Chai – A Sweet Beginning

First published on Samavar.

They say you have a perfect start to the day when you praise the Lord, see the sun rise, hear the birds singing the songs of the morn. But, in Kashmir, something else, inevitable and irreplaceable marks the ideal beginning of the day apart from these.

There is no morning without Noon Chai, there is no afternoon/evening without Noon Chai.

Noon Chai – usually marketed as Green Tea, the name seeming to be a misnomer as we always see it in a Pinkish Red hue – is the special salt tea which we, in Kashmir, have to have, religiously,  twice a day. In the morning, it serves as the breakfast along with Lawaas, Bakerkhaani, Kulcha or a Girda – all different varieties of Kashmiri bakery collectively known as Tsott.

In the afternoons, stretching into evening in the winters, preferably around 4 or 5 the hot steaming Noon Chai serves as a refresher even when temperatures soar upto 34. And if there are some hot and crispy Moinjgool handy, the experience of Noon Chai becomes ever more memorable.

The mystery or, more preferably, the mystique of the Noon Chai amazes me till date. Despite being salty, it is the pre-requisite for the sweetest of starts of any day for Kashmiris.

Noon Chai and Kashmiris have such strong a connection, or should I say Noon Chai is too tasty to ignore, that even pilgrims to Makkah and Madina take along at least some quantity of Noon Chai with them. So much so that students coming back from hostels or from outside Kashmir are first of all asked, “Did you have Noon Chai there?” Having Noon Chai is worth the long wait which precedes, while it is getting prepared, considering that it is preferred over the sweetest of the sweet beverages available at a particular time.

And Samavar! What better thing to prepare Noon Chai than a Samavar! I sometimes wonder the romantic cliché, “made for each other” fits perfectly for the combination of Samavar and Noon Chai, Kehwa being the other claimant to the duet, nevertheless, for a later time to discuss!

The Internet Sabbatical in Kashmir!

It is 2013 in Kashmir and Telegram is a thing of past in India as it is collaborating with Israel to introduce 5G technology; 2G Internet in Kashmir survives at the mercy of a man tweeting from the hills. In, India youth recharge their phones with SMS packs promising a thousand SMSs for 20 odd rupees. In Kashmir, during certain days (sort of Sabbath in biblical terms), people still have to travel some 50 odd miles away from home to check email on someone else’s broadband connection. Those who don’t travel have to reveal their best kept secret – passwords – to friends, cousins or in the worst case scenarios, to a stranger who owns a broadband café, on phone and have a ‘glimpse’ of their mail via phone. I wonder what we would call this. Telemail? Or Telegram again? But the login is not complete yet! In addition to the password, one needs an additional verification code, to be sent preferably on SMS, to have an access to the account. This, because one has been clever enough to have had this 2-step verification On for his account just to take control in situations like these. Yes, that God-forsaken SMS which stands exiled since the time Change was promised last time! So, one has to discontinue the Telemail call and wait for that verification code, kind enough of Google to send it by voice call.

“Abu! I still remember that Telegram which Dadaji had sent from Hajj during his second trip.” It read, “We are all well!” As Aabid put this question as well as the answer on the breakfast dastarkhwaan, his Ammi retorted, “Do you plan to send a similar one when you are abroad?” I don’t know whether Aabid’s mother asked this in sarcasm, with internet services standing shut or she was just being emotional. But it did redirect Aabid’s thoughts to the fact that he was expecting an important mail from the university regarding his arrival there and as well a mail from the embassy regarding his visa. “Now what?”, he thought because in this case he need not just check the mail, which he could do via a phone call, he needed to reply as well. At this moment he would have liked to use the same phrase for India which Aamir’s father in The Kite Runner used for the Russians.

Enforced disappearances and Kashmir have a very interesting relationship. There aren’t many places in the world where the term ‘enforced disappearance’ is used as mainstream as in Kashmir. People who spoke up, whose subversive activities threatened to disturb the law and order were to be silenced, hence the disappearances. Until recently it was limited to the physical disappearance of a person from the scene but now there is an added dimension to it – disappearance from the virtual world. All of a sudden, in the flow of emails, tweets, posts, messages, you disappear – without a trace. You cannot even check whether all the conversations had ended or not. The person at the other end simply has no idea what has become of his messages which are not getting any reply!

The blocking of mobile internet services at will by the state is yet another example of feed-and-choke mechanism of which we have become a regular victim. First we are made so much dependent on a particular commodity or service and then they choke us at will. Be it the supply line of public distribution commodities like rations, LPG, or Petrol or the export line of Kashmir’s horticultural produce both can be choked by a bunch of unscrupulous elements on the warmer side of the Banihal Tunnel anytime. And now mobile internet is the latest casualty. Ever since mobile internet was fully operationalized in Kashmir, in 2008, it has led to a decrease in the wired internet connections and rapid proliferation of mobile internet subscriptions. This, because people naturally opt to be wireless than be connected by a wire. So, now it becomes easy to block access to the majority of internet users.

Talking about the latest internet blockade. When internet services were blocked last time in Kashmir during curfew, they were fully operational in the Jammu region. But this time around, the region under curfew was Jammu and Kashmir became an undue casualty of internet blockade. The reason may as well be technical only but either way this points to the fact that we have been made dependent to such an extent that we don’t even have the freedom of accessing the most basic necessity of life in present day world – after Air, Water & Food – Internet!

14-08-13

Ramadan, Muslims and 'Ramadan Muslims'?

The month of blessing Ramadan is here, among us. It is the third day of Ramadan in Turkey, second day in Middle east, Europe and Americas & it is the first day of Ramadan here, in the Indian sub-continent. But, most importantly it is now Ramadan throughout the world notwithstanding the one or two day difference. And it is a blessing from Allah that we are witnessing yet another Ramadan in our life!

It is a blessed month and we can see that people who are otherwise not so keen about attending the local mosque for the 5 daily prayers step out towards the mosque even before the regular mosque goers do. And it is a fact which i witness in my own neighbourhood, MashaaAllah! There is an overall feeling of piety, righteousness and sobriety. It feels as if we can say Imaan is in the air!

But, one thing, i have seen some people indulging in is the belittling of the efforts of those Muslims who could not participate in the acts of worship in the previous 11 months but are more than keen to do them in this blessed month. So much so that these people call the less-practising ones as 'Ramadan Muslims'. I am talking about the efforts of those Muslims who observe Hijab in this month, attend the mosque regularly, may grow a stubble on their faces, may even don a skull-cap or do whatever they deem to be 'Islamic' in this month. This very title 'Ramadan Muslims', i feel, is pretty derogatory and can have a negative effect on those who try to act upon Islam to the fullest in this month. This may even lead them to forsake the Ibaadah in this month as well.

It is very much possible that Allah accepts these very acts of worship from the 'Ramadan Muslims' and gets pleased with them and accepts them completely bringing about a complete change in their lives. And it is very much possible that the acts of those people who are steadfast throughout the year may not have their deeds even accepted by Allah owing to their cynicism and looking down upon others. It is important to see here that there are two things which contribute towards the evil deeds of a person - Satan and the Nafs (the inner self). And since Satan is not able to intervene in this month, it is clearly evident that these very 'Ramadan Muslims' are more in control of their Nafs than those who criticize them, despise them or look down upon them with cynicism. This is because the qualities of undue criticism, despising and looking down upon others are acts which smack of  a grave spiritual illness!

My whole point of writing these lines is that even if you are the one who attends the mosque regularly everyday at the accorded times, even if you keep the beard, wear the skull-cap, even if you do the Hijab throughout the year, do not look down upon those who try to do the same in this month having let go of these acts in the past year. This because, as they say, "well begun is half done"! What better beginning for righteousness, piety and sobriety than in Ramadan itself!

Wish you a Ramadan full of blessings!