Frequent restrictions and undeclared curfews in the old city is giving rise to an evening life, as people throng shops to buy essentials after restrictions are lifted in late hours. Aliya Bashir reports.
It is eight O’clock in the evening and Abdul Rashid Khan, 75, a resident of Wantapora in old city is peeping through a window to check whether the curfew outside his home has been lifted.
“Give me the basket. I’ll quickly sell the vegetables,” said the vegetable vendor to his wife. Khan sells vegetables going door to door in adjacent localities. “There is no tomorrow in Kashmir. One has to manage to sneak through the congested lanes even in the dark.”
His wife, Zooni, 70, had just filled the basket with fresh vegetables they grow near their single-storey mud house.
Zooni seems a bit worried to let Khan go out in the evening after the curfew is lifted, but, she has reasons to be content with it.
“He will have a stroll for a change which will keep him healthy and will earn some money to buy medicines for both of us,” she said.
Khan is one of the vendors, who by their services keep the hope alive in the city localities under long siege.
“I get lot of blessings from people who are in a dire need of vegetables as they cannot go to different shops due to frequent curfews and strikes,” he says. “These days I am being provided money at the same time, unlike in normal days. This really encourages me.”
Raheel Hatam, 37, a butcher who runs a big meat shop in narrow lane of Mehraj Gunj in old city says the curfew relaxation in evenings provides a much-needed relief to the people. “Otherwise, it becomes very difficult for them to come out of their homes as the situation remains tense in the day,” he said.
Hatam said that his customers come individually or in groups from both close and far off areas, some in cars, to purchase meat.
As dusk falls, the markets get abuzz with shoppers in Malaratta, Nowhatta, Rajouri Kadal, Aali- Kadal. The main roads as well as lanes are flooded with people.
From grocers to medical stores each shop witnesses a rush or queues of people. Still others can be seen busy in gossips on shopfronts and roadsides, apparently taking a break from their confinement at home.
Outside a milk shop in Rajouri Kadal, scores of people make a beeline to buy milk.
“It has become a habit now to purchase milk and other essentials in the late hours. The night life is a thing of past in Kashmir But, now we are seeing a shift from day to night due to clampdown in daytime,” said Gulzar Ahmed Naikoo, a resident of Nowhatta, who was carrying a jug of milk in his right hand.
Farooq Ahmed Gagroo, 42, is very busy with his customers and tries to finish off with quick services. He promises to provide cheese next day for the customers who couldn’t buy it today because the stocks had exhausted.
“I promise, tomorrow I’ll definitely provide you with cheese,” Gagroo said with a gentle smile.
Gagroo’s is a famous shop in the old city known for its quality cheese and milk.
Similar scenes are seen in drug stores opposite Gagroo’s shop.
“My father is not well. We have to give him an injection regularly. But, we are fortunate enough as things gets relaxed at night,” said Ishtiaq Rasool, a resident of Naid Kadal who had accompanied his father to this shop. “We really pray to God that things should remain calm at night otherwise it’ll become very difficult for us to venture out of our home.”
Few women are walking briskly to buy food and some with their families even to visit their near-ones in the evening, which becomes quite impossible in the day.
“We get bored whole day at home. So we somehow manage to visit some of our close relatives who live in near-by localities to spend some time with them,” says Fahmeeda Jan, a resident of Khawaja Bazar in old city. “These days evenings are compensating to some extent as a respite.”
The relaxation in the evening witnessed people swarming on roads to purchase essentials in the old city.
Many people complain that some shopkeepers are exploiting the situation by jacking up the prices of essentials.
