The deeper lake whose clearer water tends to take on bluish tint. Hence the name.
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Stayed at Yaseen’s Mascot Houseboat. He first started reading the blog back in 2010, coming for a post on origin of houseboats.
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Nagin Lake
Fragments of a Persistent Dream
Video: Half shot about 3500 Kilometers away from Kashmir. Half in Kashmir.
Background score: An old recording of a Kashmiri song by Raj Begum
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Majrooh’s Paradise
Continuing with the theme of Kashmir as Paradise…
Aye Cheshmay Tamasha Jhoom Zara
Aye Cheshmay Tamasha Jhoom Zara
Ab Waqt e nazara aa pohcha
Kashmir may do din jeenay ko
Kashmir ka mara Aa pohcha
Firdaus kay ghum ho janay ka
Kuch gham na karey
Adam say kaho
Akhir ko tumhari jannat may
Farzand tumhara aa pohcha
Line of Majrooh Sultanpuri (1919 − 2000) delivered (in a bombastic manner) by Dev Anand in Teen Devian (1965). The scene has a mushaira held on a houseboat in Srinagar. Majrooh was last of the great urdu poets claimed by film world as a lyricist.
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| Poplar Avenue From Francis Frith’s album. Around 1850s to 1870s. via: Victoria and Albert Museum. |
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The Dal Lake Where the Lotus Lilies Grow
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| The Dal Lake Where the Lotus Lilies Grow from
‘Wild flowers of Kashmir’ by B. O. Coventry (1923)
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Kashmir 75-76
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| Back waters of Dal Lake by Bill Strong. October 1975 |
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| ‘On road to Gulmarg’ by Bill Strong. January 1976 |
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| ‘View from Shankaracharya Hill ‘ by Bill Strong. January 1976 |
Checkout his complete Kashmir Album over at Flickr here
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Kashmir by Robert Baden-Powell, 1915
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| Baramulla |
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| Background, Fort Hari Parbat, Srinagar |
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| Beaters at lunch during a hunt |
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| Kashmiri Carriers |
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| Kashmiri Children |
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| Doonaga |
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| Design of a Doonaga |
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| Plaits |
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| Breakfast Camp |
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| Liddar Valley |
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| Entrance to the Liddar Valley |
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| Pandritan Temple ruins |
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| Post Office and club at Achibal |
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| Sunset |
From ‘Indian Memories: Recollections of Soldiering Sport, Etc.’ (1915) by Sir Robert Baden-Powell
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Harwan Reservoir, 1930s
The flip side of reads:
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| “near the Dal lake banks close to the garden of shalamar” |
Readers were easily able to identify the place as old Harwan Reservoir. The structure still stands.
Mahmud Gami’s Azme
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| from a book published in 1959 |
The following song by Mahmud Gami [1750-1855] may be given as an example of a real love song, though even this can be interpreted in Sufi wise. The story goes that Gami wrote the song about a girl of Kutahar (a village in the Maraz pargana of Kashmir) named Azme, and that it became the occasion of trouble for its author. Complaints were made about Gami, and his father reported the matter to the Tahsildar of the district; but the poet explained that Azme meant ‘to-day’ and that the whole song had only a Sufi significance.
Azme
‘Azme lil am vuchh-haet vare
‘Azme hawih di dare, lo lo, ‘Azme…
Azme, love of thee came to me, fortunate vision!
Azme, show me thy face, O darling. Azme love of thee…
Shangas augam van kati prare
Badnam gos kutahare, lo lo, ‘Azme…
Say where shall I wait, in Shangas or Naugam?
An ill name I got in Kutahar! Azme love of thee…
Achhavala neb am brang kutahare
Lachha baedi laegim kola tare, lo lo, ‘Azme…
I sought thee in Achhaval, Brang, Kutahar –
Lakh of hardships I suffered, my darling! Azme love of thee…
Rokh chon sazaposh guli anare
Chashma chani kya chhi ab, dare lo lo, ‘Azme…
Pomegranate thy cheeks, or saza-posh-
How dark are thine eyes, my darling! Azme love of thee…
Guma hatsa bomba chani kya chhi moj dare
Nasti chani kari mare, lo lo, ‘Azme…
Shining thy brows as though with sweat-
How many a one thy nose has slain, my darling! Azme love of thee…
bar taq bhit kong-posh tsaran
Melum chhum na kanhzi ra’e, lo lo, Azme…
Sitting by the door, choosing saffron flowers,
I know not for whom, my darling! Azme love of thee…
Kolagam indrah kya chhi nam dare
Tsakra chhas bedare, lo lo, ‘Azme…
What a famous spinning wheel is there in Kolgam,
Matchless its handle, Azme love of thee…
Indarad chonis rapa sanza tare
Vucch-vaen ta ga’e bemare lo lo, ‘Azme…
Silver are the strings of thy spinning wheel,
Those who see it fall ill with wonder, my darling! Azme love of thee…
Zovilis tumalas dogdivare
‘Azme Hund sarvi qad rutiye lo lo, ‘Azme…
Skilfully pounding the rice so fine,
The good shape of the cypress has Azme my darling! Azme love of thee…
Nol kya chhuy tse lalan trotiye
‘Azme Hund van kapan tsotiye lo lo , ‘Azme…
Bright is her dress as a pearl,
Short are the plaits of Azme, my darling! Azme love of thee…
Zovilis mastas Kaugan fidivare
Vankan karay shumare lo lo. ‘Azme…
Slowly combing her hair so fine –
I will count up thy plaits, my darling! Azme love of thee…
Sor lok yem ga’e avare lo lo, ‘Azme…
[Probably a missing line]
Kamadev has passed through Kutahar,
All folk must yield (?), my darling! Azme love of thee…
Mahmud Miskina ha Van prare
Badnam gos kutahare lo lo, ‘Azme…
Hapless Mahmud, where shall he wait for thee?
An ill name I won in Kutahar, my darling! Azme love of thee…
~ From ‘Thirty Songs from the Panjab and Kashmir’ (1913) by Ratan Devi and Ananda Coomaraswamy.
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Kshemendra’s Smayamatrika by Edward Powys Mathers
Although Edward Powys Mathers is more famous for ‘Bilhana: Black Marigolds’ (1919), which was later used by John Steinbeck for dramatic purposes in his American novel ‘Cannery Row’ (1945), Edward Powys Mathers was also one of the first translators of Kshemendra’s Smayamatrika.
His english version came out as ‘Harlot’s Breviary’ in volume 2 of book ‘Easter Love’ (1927).
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The book was available at Digital library of India but the reading method provided there is not too easy. So I have recompiled and uploaded the book to archive.org
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Cashmerian Dancers, 1926
This postcard came with no date and only description: ‘cashmerian dancers’.
