JAMMED JANUARY

As mercury dropped to a record low consistently, Kashmir faced the harshest winter in thirty years. With cascading effect on every sphere of life, Saima Bhat chronicles the hardships faced right from lack of mobility to management of frozen pipes

- Saima Bhat

In her mid-twenties, Salma Jan, a domestic help in Srinagar, wanted to go to her home in Yusmarg on January 20. She reached Chrar e Sharief bus yard around noon. She knew she had to walk the distance of around 17 km so she could reach her home.

But she was disappointed when one shopkeeper told her to avoid going to Yusmarg. “It has snowed more than five feet in the area,” he told her.

She also noticed that no vehicle was going to Yusmarg.“The snow was not removed from the roads. I was mentally prepared to walk the distance but as the shopkeeper, who is known to my father, asked me to avoid it, I was left with no option.”

The family, where she works and stays had traveled to Delhi on the same day. “It snowed heavily this year so I also had an idea that it must be more in Yusmarg. I was trying to call my family but all of their phones were switched off,” she said. “All of our relatives live in the same area so I had no other place to go”.

Then suddenly an idea struck her mind and she called one of her previous employer, who extended a helping hand and agreed to keep her at their home.

It was after three days that she managed to contact her family.“Can you believe instead of scolding me they appreciated my decision. They told me the snow was of my height and my father had to dig a tunnel through the snow to reach out to our domestic animals,” she said.

This winter was the harshest in the last 30 years, with Central Kashmir experiencing the coldest January!

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