May you know peace.

Seen, The Prince and Me? Julia Stiles and Luke Mably? Well, if you have , you would have certainly not missed the huge map Stiles has up in her room, in which she has marked the places she wants to go to, to help restore proper medical conditions. I have a similar map in my room, Only its not for medical practice, and nor is it so huge. Nevertheless, it serves the purpose. I have marked all the places I've been to , and all the ones I want to be to. But, more about this later.
Anyhow, one of the first places which I had marked was Jammu and Kashmir, India.
My parents went honeymooning there and my home was adorned with pictures of Pahalgam, Srinagar, Dal lake. And infact still is, though not as much. Before I discovered Paris (virtually)I always thought J&K to be the paradise of the romantics. And how can it not be so? Such beauty on Earth, such pure virginal beauty, at a place not so out of the reach for me, and yet there is a shrill of terror everytime I mention wanting to visit. It is disheartening, how two nations can make a piece of land an ego issue. Forgive me for seeing it as anything more. Its certainly not a religious one, because I refuse to see how any God could ask for millions of innocent lives, and still fit deem to be worshipped. Besides, the population of Kashmir also has a good amount of Hindu citizens. It is not even a political one, because the decision regarding Kashmir was taken a good 63 years back, and there are papers to prove it. Somewhere, Raja Hari Singh is rolling in his grave, but while I agree he could have annexed India earlier, this fight is certainly not because of him. It is because of people who are too numbskulled, incompetent to comprehend the legality of a situation. And when logic, innocent lives, legal documents hold no weightage, you can be sure that its nothing but an ego battle. Because one has wasted a number of years( not to mention, billions of lives, energy and state finances) it would be fruitless to now withdraw, so why not continue wasting more of what has already been wasted, and fight a losing battle. ( You might notice the emphasis on the word waste.) And no, I do not direct this to Pakistan. I direct it equally to both the countries. I do not know who is more at fault, but I do know who is not at fault. The Kashmiri's. the breathtaking land.
Can you imagine living every single day in fear?Living in the heart of such God blessed beauty, yet not having the right to live whole heartedly, without inhibitions, as you and me do?Being fearful not of only the neighbouring country, but also of your own soldiers, your own government, who take a solemn oath in front of Country and God to protect you. The soldiers, who get the most honourable funeral there is, who are revered in the eyes and hearts of every citizen, what do they do? Not be on a constant lookout for danger, not safeguard the country, but brutally rape the women and children of Kashmir. Rape her of her self respect, rape her of the hopes of ever having a fearless life. I would not wish this fear on anybody, and yet some people have only known this fear.
I can only hope that someday this land and all of its beautiful people may know peace. And that someday soon, I can visit.

Don't these photographs look more like a job of photo shop than real natural landscape? I don't know, yet.