When Valley came alive on Baisakhi

Back in 1976, Capt Jitendra Kumar and I were part of an Army Aviation flight in Assam. I hadn’t quite realised that it was April 13, Baisakhi. We were to fly to a firing range in Arunachal Pradesh to practise taking artillery shots from the air. After a gruelling hour and a half, we landed briefly to compliment the gunners for good shooting and took off homewards.

Advertisement

Shortly after takeoff, the helicopter engine flamed out with a bang. Warning lights lit up the instrument panel and the chopper began losing height rapidly. We were barely 300 ft above the ground and in the narrowest part of the valley over a stream gushing through jagged rocks.

Years of conducting emergency drills then came to the fore. In a flash, I decided to head for a clearing beside the stream. The chopper hit the ground with a thud. We shut off the fuel flow to prevent a fire and rushed out. Officers and men soon arrived as angels to rescue us on that auspicious day. We were uninjured but pummelled because of the hard landing — and happy to be alive!

Fast-forward to a quarter century later, I was at my favourite haunt — the Kashmir valley. As part of finding ways to bring normalcy to life in the Valley, it was important to meet ordinary people often to get a feel of the local sentiment. I was shocked to learn that the people had not visited any of the world-famous gardens of Kashmir for over a decade because of the threat of terrorist activities. Thus, a time-honoured tradition of visiting the gardens on Baisakhi was in danger of extinction.

In February 2002, Muzaffar Ali of Umrao Jaan fame had held an excellent programme featuring Sufi singers and dancers from India and abroad in Delhi. Mindful that Sufism had always been an integral feature of Kashmiriyat, I felt that a similar performance in the gardens could be a good way to revive the old tradition. I broached the idea at the meeting of the Unified Headquarters, where everyone supported it. Next, I rang up Muzaffar sahib, who responded that he would love to do something for Kashmir, and pro bono at that. The then Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, agreed to inaugurate the event, which was held at the Nishaat Garden.

It was a huge success. After the performance of the main artistes was over, young men and women jumped onto the stage and continued to sing and dance long after the scheduled time. The detractors, who were hoping to get contrary views from among the audience, were disappointed. A young man said, ‘Aaj to yahan aisa mahaul hai ki jaise Taliban ko shikast mili ho!’, enthusiastically referring to the Taliban’s defeat in Afghanistan a few months ago.