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| Shalimar Ghat Road By By Samuel Bourne. ~ 1860s |
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| Shalimar Road, Feb, 2014. |
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Shalimar Ghat Road. Then and Now.
Hora Kola Tonch ~ The Pied King-Fisher
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| At Nagin Lake, at the house of a friend. Feb, 2014. |
The Pied King-Fisher (Ceryle rudis leucomelanura)
Kashmiri name:
Hora Kola Tonch
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Previously:
Kashmiri names of Birds of Kashmir
Kingfishers Catch Fire, Rumer Godden, 1953
“Two little bulbuls were sitting on a wall,
Quarrelling and pecking, quarrelling and pecking,
Quarrelling,
Quarrelling,
Pecking pecking pecking pecking.
This is more than flesh and blood can stand.
Now all that is left
Is the tail of one bulbul
And the beak of the other.”
A white woman takes an old house of a pandit on lease and decides to live ‘poor’ in Kashmir with her two children. She loves Kashmir and its people. She thinks she can make a new beginning here. But the British woman is too ‘meddling’, too ‘uncontrollable’ and can’t help herself trying to correct the locals and their ways. Soon enough the alien community in which she lives is vying for her attention, everyone wants ‘mem’ on their side. The age old rivalry between the clan of Dars and Shiekhs burn even more feverishly and leads to new polarizations. Unknown to the foreigner, the simple fact of a white woman living alone by herself in a house in Kashmir causes tiny ripples in social fabric of the natives, soon enough a wave of inane violence engulf her ‘Dilkhush’ world. It is a Kashmir in which no one person truly understands another person, or even tries. Or rather, it is a world where there are only frivolous misunderstandings which lead to serious tragic consequences. A Kashmir where everyone is innocent but also guilty. Guilty of an undefinable vaporous thing called simple human emotions of beings living in a complex modern world. A world where a person can poison you in a mistaken attempt to make you love them.
The novel came out of personal experiences of Rumer Godden when she moved with her children to a place called ‘Dove House’ in Kashmir in 1941. She went on to live there for three years. ‘Kingfishers Catch Fire’ is also one of the few works which she later went on to disown a bit. The work seems to be a product of pure raw emotions of living in an alien society that can appear hospitable as well as threatening at the same time. The finale of the novel comes out of a true incident in which Rumer Godden’s (in her words ‘mad’) cook tried to poison her.
The depiction of Kashmiri society by Rumer Godden is brutal. It is as if no one cared for anyone, everyone seems mean and indifferent. Pandits don’t get along with Muslims, Muslims don’t get along with each other. Everyone is worried about their relative poverty. The only redeeming quality they all seem to possess is their simplicity. Which of course if accidental because the modern world hadn’t caught up with them. It is a simplicity that Rumer Godden’s main character Sophie wants to emulate, it the modernity that Sophie wants to escape, she wants to be poor, she wants them to see how rich their really are, but all her attempts are bound to fail.
The way the story unfolds with its stages of innocent enamourment with Kashmir, trying to adjust and change the place for better, and the creation of mess in which everyone wishes you were never there in the first place, it does make one think that the story is an allegory on British engagement and disengagement with the Indian Sub-continent.
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| The Dove House, the model for Dhilkusha, Sophie’s mountain bungalow. [I believe it is the ‘Ishber’ area, which finally became more inhabited in the late 60s and 70s] |
Photo from: Colonial Strangers: Women Writing the End of the British Empire By Phyllis Lassner (2004)
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You can read the book ‘Kingfishers Catch Fire’ for free here at Open Library
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Previously: The Anita Desai’s parallel story that takes place in a house of a pandit in Kasauli when pandits were the new ‘angrez’ of recently independent India: Fire on the Mountain, 1977.
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How those old Kanz Mool photographs were actually shot
Because there are hundreds of these photographs with ‘native women with pestle and mortar, pounding rice’…every photographer worth his salt had to have this shot in his Kashmir inventory…
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A questing man with camera came,
And Kashmir maiden fled in shame,
Her heartbeat quickening in her haste,
Her twinkling bare feet keeping pace.
The, feeling safe from distant arms,
She, woman-like, did feel her charms
And, courage held in tight-gripped calm,
She slowly, fawnlike, came again,
And gave him face and form and name
And Kashmir maiden fled in shame,
Her heartbeat quickening in her haste,
Her twinkling bare feet keeping pace.
The, feeling safe from distant arms,
She, woman-like, did feel her charms
And, courage held in tight-gripped calm,
She slowly, fawnlike, came again,
And gave him face and form and name
~’Of Hills’ by Tom Ashley Lakeman, 1944.
Sketches and water colors by Miss Patty Aberigh-Mackay, 1915
From ‘A Sketching tour in the valley of Kashmir’ by Miss Patty Aberigh-Mackay for Studio International (1915-16), Volume 66.
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| A Nullah (canal) on Dal lake |
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| Autumn on Dal Lake |
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| Hari Parbat |
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Hari Parbat from Dal
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| Hindu Temple on Dal Lake |
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| Huts in Shadipur |
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| The Mar Canal |
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| On the Dal Lake |
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| Tsrar |
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| Tsrar, 2011 |
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Legends of Kashmir (1982) by Edna Machanick
Edna Machanick lived in India from 1951 to 1955 and often spent months on houseboats of Kashmir. Here she collected these tales from Pandits and Muslims. Much later, she illustrated and published the stories as ‘Legends of Kashmir’.
The stories included in the book are:
The Birth of the Lakes of Kashmir (A pandit folklore about origin of Springs in Kashmir, this one is about a place called Khrew, which once had more than three hundred springs and now only about eight remain. Th story and the place…some time soon)
The Rajah and the Snake Princes, rather famous story of Ali Mardan Khan and his Chinese Snake wife, also given in the most authoritative work on the subject, ‘Folk-Tales of Kashmir’ by Rev. J. Hinton Knowles (1888)
Phutu, the Dwarf. (‘Foot Two’ of English), is rather funny tale of an unlikely hero.
Lelemal
The Farmer’s Wife and the Tiger
She who became the Sister of the Prince. An interesting tale in which an evil Afghan prince is reformed after he takes a Pandit woman as sister. The story gives the name of the evil Prince’s father, who is a thorough good fellow, as ‘Sultan Jannulabdin’. An obvious reference to Zain-ul-Abidin, the Budshah. However, in this story, it is the Prince who suffers from an ailment (a curse) and is cured by a Pandit woman whom he had earlier disrespected.
The King of the Crocodiles. About a girl who is almost force married to a Crocodile who doesn’t turn out to be a bad guy.
The Princess of the Green Chili. This one about a little Chili lady raised by a Jinn. A typical ‘put-to-sleep’ Kashmiri tale involving birds.
The illustration by Edna Machanick are truly imaginative and give the magical feel of the story and the place perfectly. The only other illustrated version of Kashmiri folktales is by ‘Kashmiri folk tales’ (1962) S. L. Sadhu in which local talent was utilised, but the illustration by Edna Machanick are more expansive and detailed.
It is amazing the places our tales have traveled. Tales we have forgotten. It is amazing the places I have to recollect them from. This beautiful book of Kashmiri folktales come all the way from South Africa. The name Edna Machanick is much respected there is even a scholarship awarded in her name to female undergrad students.
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Kashmiri names of Birds of Kashmir
Based on ‘The Birds of Kashmir’ by Samsar Chand Koul, 1939.
The Bush chat (Saxicola torquata)
Cinclidae (Dipper Family)
The Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus roseatus) (erythrinus wrongly given as crythrinus)
Kashmiri name:
Gulob Tsar
The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus parkini)
Kashmiri name:
Tsar
Order – Herodiones Family Ardeidae
The Common Heron (Ardea cinerea cinerea)
Kashmiri name:
Brag
The crow family (Corvidae)
The Raven (Corvus corax tibetanus)
Kashmiri name:
Botin kav
Khata in Leh
Common in Ladakh region
The Jungle Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos intermedius)
Kashmiri name:
Diva Kav, Pantsol Kav
Can be seen around higher reaches of Pahalgam
The House Crow (Corvus splendens zugmayeri)
Kashmiri name:
Kav
The Jackdaw (Corvus monedula monedula)
Kashmiri name:
Kavin
The Red-Billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax Pyrrhocorax)
Kashmiri name:
Wan Kavin
The Yellow Billed Magpie (Urocissa flavirostris cucullata)
Kashmiri name (in Lolab valley):
Lot Raza
The Tit Family (Paridae)
The Grey Tit (Parus major kashmiriensis)
Kashmiri name:
Ranga Tsar
The Crested Black Tit (Lophophanes melanolophus)
Kashmiri name:
Pintsakon
The Babbler Family (Timaliidae)
The Streaked Lavghing-Thush (Trochalopteron lineatum lineatum)
Kashmiri name:
Sheena-pi-pin, The Snow Whistle
The Bulbul Family (Pycnonotidae)
The White-Cheeked Bulbul (Molpastes leucogenys leucogenys)
Kashmiri name:
Bill-bi-chur
The Himalayan Black Bulbul (Microscelis psaroides psaroides)
Kashmiri name:
Wan Bulbul
The Creeper Family (Certhiidae)
The Himalayan Tree-Creeper (Certhia Himalayana)
Kashmiri name:
Koel dider
The Wall-Creeper (Tichodroma muraria)
Kashmiri name:
Lamba dider
The Thrush Family (Turdidate)
The Bush chat (Saxicola torquata)
Kashmiri name:
Dofa Tiriv
The White-Capped Redstart (Chaimarrhornis leucocephals)
Kashmiri name:
Chets tal,
Kumidi in Kolahoi area
The Plumbeous Redstart (Rhyacornis fuliginosa fuliginosa)
Kashmiri name:
Kola Tiriv
The Black Throated Thrush (turdus atrogularis)
Kashmiri name:
Wanda kostur
Tickell’s Thrush (Turdus unicolor)
Kashmiri name:
Kostur
The Himalayan Whistling Thrush (Myiophoneus temminckii temminckii)
[Lawrence’s The Song Thrush of Kashmir]
[Lawrence’s The Song Thrush of Kashmir]
Kashmiri name:
Hazar Dastan, Kava Kunur
The Flycatcher Family (Muscicapidae)
The Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paadisi leucagaster)
Kashmiri name:
Young and female, Ranga Bulbul
Adult, Fhambaseer (cotton flake)
The Shrike Family (Lanidae)
The Rufous Backed Shrike (Lanius schach erythronotus)
Kashmiri name:
Hara wataj (wataj means executioner, the bird name is used also as a phrase in Kashmiri for someone mean)
The Campephagidae Family
The Short Billed Minivet (Pericrocotus Brevirostris Brevirostris)
Kashmiri name:
Wozul mini
The Drongo Family (Dicruridae)
The Indian Grey Dronga (The King Crow) (Dicrurus leucophaeus longicaudatus)
Kashmiri name:
Gankots, Telakots
The Warbler Family (Sylviidae)
The Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus stentoreus brunnescens)
Kashmiri name:
Kurkoch
The Pale Bush Warbler (Horornis pallidus pallidus)
Kashmiri name:
Dofa Pich
The Oriole Family (Oriolidae)
The Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus kundo)
Kashmiri name:
Poshi Nul (flower mongoose)
The Starling Family (Sturnadae)
The Starling (Sturnus vulgaris humii)
Kashmiri name:
Tsini-hangur
The Myna (Acridotheres tristis tristis) (The sad grasshopper eater)
Kashmiri name:
Hor
Cinclidae (Dipper Family)
The White Breasted Dipper (Water Ousel) (Cinclus cinclus kashmiriensis)
Kashmiri name:
Dungal
Dungal
Family Fringillidae
The Black and Yellow Grosbreak (Perrisospiza icteroides icteroides)
Kashmiri name:
Wyet Tont
The Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus roseatus) (erythrinus wrongly given as crythrinus)
Kashmiri name:
Gulob Tsar
The Goldfinch (Carduelis caniceps caniceps)
Kashmiri name:
Sehara
The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus parkini)
Kashmiri name:
Tsar
The Gold Fronted Finch (Metaponia pusilla)
Kashmiri name:
Adult, Tyok
Young, Taer
The Green Finch (Hypacanthis spinoides spinoides)
Kashmiri name:
Saboz Tsar
The Meadow Bunting (Emheriza cia stracheyi)
Kashmiri name:
Won Tsar
Hirundinidae (Swallow Family)
The Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Kashmiri name:
Katij
The Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Kashmiri name:
Katij
Motacillidae (Wagtail Family)
The White Wagtail (Motacilla alba hogsoni)
Kashmiri name:
Dobbai
The Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea melanope)
Kashmiri name:
Khak Dubbai
The Yellow-headed Wagtail (Motacilla citreola citreoloides)
Kashmiri name:
Ledor Dub-bai
Alaudidae (Lark Family)
The Little Skylark (Alauda gulgula guttata)
Kashmiri name:
Dider
Order – Pici Picidae (Woodpecker Family)
The Green Woodpecker (Picus squamatus squamatus)
Kashmiri name:
Koel Makots
The Pied Woodpecker (Dryobates himalayensis)
Kashmiri name:
Hor Koel Makots
Koel-Ku-Kor (tree hen) Koel Tatak in Lolab area
The Wryneck (Iynx torquilla japonica)
Kashmiri name:
Viri Mot
Order – Anisodactyli (Coraciadae Family)
The Roller (Coracias garulla semenowi)
Kashmiri name:
Nila Krash
Meropioae Family
The Bee-Easter (Merops apiaster)
Kashmiri name:
Tulri Khav
Alcedinidae (King-Fisher Family)
The Blue King-Fisher (Alcedo atthis pallasii)
Kashmiri name:
Kola tonch
The Pied King-Fisher (Ceryle rudis leucomelanura)
Kashmiri name:
Hora Kola Tonch
The Upupidac (Hoopoe Family)
The Hoopoe (Upupa epops epops)
Kashmiri name:
Satut
Order – Coccyges Cuculida (Cuckoo Family)
The Pied Crested Cuckoo (Lamator jacobinus)
Kashmiri name:
Hor Kuk
Order – Psittaci
Psittacidae (The Parrot Family)
The Slaty Header Parakeet
Kashmiri name:
Tota, Shoga in Lolab valley
Order – Striges The Strigidae (Owl Family)
The Indian Barn Owl (Tyto alba Javanica)
Kashmiri name:
Rata Mogul
Order – Accipitres (The Birds of Prey)
The Pandionidae Family
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus haliaetus)
Kashmiri name:
?
Gypidae (The Vulture Family)
The Himalayan Griffon (Gyps Himalayensis)
Kashmiri name:
Grad
The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus percnopterus)
Kashmiri name:
Patyal
Falconidae (Birds of Prey)
Pallas Fishing Eagle (Cuncuma leucorypha)
Kashmiri name:
Gada Grad
The Black-Eared Kite (Milvus migrans lineatus)
Kashmiri name:
Gont
The Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Kashmiri name:
Bohar
Order – Columbidae Family Columbidae
The Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis meena)
Kashmiri name:
Wan Kukil
The Ring Dove (Streptopelia decaocto decaocto)Kashmiri name:
Kukil
Order – Gallinae (Family Phasianidae)
The Chakor (Alectoris graeca chukar)
Kashmiri name:
Kakov
Order – Grallae (Family Rallidae)
The Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus parvifrons)
Kashmiri name:
Tech
The Purple Coot (Porphyrio pollocephalus pollocephalus)
Kashmiri name:
Wan Tech
The Common Coot (Fulica atra atra)
Kashmiri name:
Kolar, Kav-put
Family Jacanidae
The Pheasant-Tailed Jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)
Kashmiri name:
Govind Kav, Gair Kov
Family Charadriidae
The Common Sand Piper (Tringa Hypoleuca)
Kashmiri name:
Tont Kon, Kula Kavin
Order – Gaviae Family Lardiae
The Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias leucopareia indica)
Kashmiri name:
Kreu
Order – Herodiones Family Ardeidae
The Common Heron (Ardea cinerea cinerea)
Kashmiri name:
Brag
The Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax)
Kashmiri name:
Bor
The Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus minutus)
Kashmiri name:
Goi
Order- Anseres-Ducks Family Anatidae
The Mallard (Anas platyrhyncha platyrhyncha)
Kashmiri name:
Male, Neluj, Female, Thuj
Order-Pygopodes Family Podicipidae
The Dabchick (Podiceps ruficollis albipennis)
Kashmiri name:
Pind
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Some additional names from ‘The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial Industrial, and Scientific: Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures, Volume 3’ by Edward Balfour, 1885.
Great Snow Pheasant
Kashmiri name:
Gor-ka-gu and Ku-buk-der
Impeyan, or monal (Lophophorus impeyanus)
Kashmiri name:
Male, Lont and Ham, female
Chukor (Caccabis chukor. Gray)
Kashmiri name:
Kau-kau (see Koul’s naming)
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Still some more from ‘The Valley of Kashmir’ (1895) by Walter Lawrence, (who does point mention that Kashmiris, even if they loved them, had little knowledge about birds around him)
The Snow Partridge (in Gilgit, Koreish)
The Himalayan Snow Cock (Ram chikor of sportsmen ; Gurka-kao in Kashmir)
The Chikor Partridge (Kashmiri, kak)
Lophophorus refulgens. The Monaul Pheasant (Kashmiri, male Sunal or Suna ‘ Murg ‘ ; female Haum)
The Simla Horned Pheasant (Rang RawuI of some Kashmiris; Riar in Hazara)
The Kashmir Pucras Pheasant. Commonly called Koklas
The Bald Coot (Kashmiri, Kolar)
The Laughing Gull (Kashmiri, Krind)
The European Common Tern (Kashmiri, Kreu)
The Curlew (Kashmiri, Golar)
The Woodcock (Kashmiri, Zar Batchi)
The Grey Goose (Kashmiri, Ans)
The Ruddy Shielddrake (Kashmiri, Tsakao)
The Shoveller (Kashmiri, Honk)
The Gadwall (Kashmiri, Budan)
The Pintail Duck (Kashmiri, Sok Pachin)
The Widgeon (Kashmiri, Shiewrni Budan)
The common Teal (Kashmiri, Keus)
The Blue-winged Teal (Kashmiri, Kulkilar)
The Red-crested Pochard (Kashmiri, Tur)
The White-eyed Duck (Kashmiri, Harwat)
The Smew (Kashmiri. Gagur)
The Lesser Cormorant (Kashmiri, Mung) [The word that triggered this post thanks to a recollection by my grandmother]
The European Cuckoo (Kashmiri, Shakuk or kuku)
The Eastern Calandra Lark. (Fall in Kashmiri.)
The Indian Great Reed Warbler (Kashmiri, Karkat, Kurkoch of Kaul )
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Some from: Grierson, George Abraham. A dictionary of the Kashmiri language. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1932.
(f.-kröshü -क्रा&above;शू&
Vinden och floden (The Wind and the River),1951 by Arne Sucksdorff
sabzaar gulzaar
Vinden och floden (The Wind and the River),1951 by great Swedish filmmaker, Arne Sucksdorff. Based on the life of boat people of Kashmir. Lyrically capturing the songs and images of that life in one of the most beautiful films ever made on Kashmir.
Arne Sucksdorff visited India in 1950, it seems with the objective of documenting the life of its working people. Out of this visit came two films: Village Hindou (Hindu Village) about the lack of water in an Indian village, and Vinden och floden (The Wind and the River), about river life of Kashmir.
The film begins with a quote (missing in the extract above) which summarises the vision of the film, “Når de tunge pramme stages op ad Jelum-floden, sker det under en storslået dialog mellem Allah, Mennesket og Skønheden. (When the heavy barges poled up the Jelum River, she does so in a magnificent dialogue between God, Man and beauty.)”
The music of the film, a blend Kashmir folk and India Classical, is by Ravi Shankar, who was yet to attain international acclaim back then. He was working with AIR at the time and probably artists form AIR station Srinagar were used for creating the sounds.
The film begins with scene of a Hindu ascetic mediating atop a hill in Srinagar. Down below, the city is brimming with scenes of lyrical songs of life. A life sustained by a river that quietly flows through it and weaving a web of ecology in which people seem to be at peace. A peace for which people thank their benevolent gods.
It is a way of life that is now almost over. Jhelum has been cleared of its boat people and their ‘slums’. [a view from 2014, what the river looks like after the ‘cleanup’ of boat people]
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| Winter 2014 |
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Extracted from ‘Uma Vida Dividida‘ (2001).
locchaar
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Karewa
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| Karewa Feb 2014 view from next to a patrol pump between Avantipur and Srinagar. Tree are being felled as part of road widening and multi-laning process |
