By F. Ahmed, IANS
Haran (Jammu and Kashmir) : Not to be beguiled by the pleasant autumn sun, Sattar Sheikh, a 77-year-old Kashmiri, foresees a harsh winter this year. And he is banking on his ‘kangri’ to keep his home and hearth warm.
To provide fire for his kangri – traditional earthen fire pot covered in a willow wicker basket that Kashmiris even carry under their cloaks – Sattar has gathered heaps of dry leaves of the chinar tree in this north Kashmir village in Ganderbal district to make charcoal.
Dried leaves of the magnificent chinar provide ideal charcoal to Kashmiris and this traditional practice is safe from electric power cuts or technical interruptions. Chinar, also known as the Oriental plane, is a very large, wide spreading deciduous tree.
“I have been trained in the art of making charcoal from chinar leaves by my late father. It is an art because you have to know the exact time when to extinguish the fire so that the leaves are not burnt down to ashes,” Sattar told IANS.
“There was no electricity in this village when I was a boy. We lit our homes with oil lamps and filled our kangris with the charcoal from chinar leaves,” Sattar recalled.
Living in a small mud house in his village, Sattar makes brooms and winnows to make a living. The so-called fruits of development and prosperity haven’t reached him.
“My father also made brooms and winnows, so do I. Yes, my grandchildren go to school and I pray they do better in life,” he said.
As autumn gradually changes into winter with night temperatures falling down to just one degree Celsius, chinar leaves are being burnt to convert them into charcoal across the countryside here these days.
Master Habibullah 69, a retired schoolteacher who lives in the nearby Chanduna village, said: “Till the mid 1980s, the government used to supply firewood to us for use during the winter months. But as forests started vanishing here, the practice was stopped.”
While Kashmiris living in summer capital Srinagar continue to depend on electricity for lighting and heating purposes and LPG cylinders for their cooking needs, the majority of villagers here still rely on traditional, time-tested practices like charcoal filled kangris for warmth and using firewood to lit hearths for cooking their food.
“We use dried leaves and cow dung cakes to light our hearths. The kangri is still our best bet against the biting winter. These things do not fail you as they have stood the test of time,” said Sattar as he sprinkled water on some half burnt chinar leaves to make charcoal.
Making hay while the sun shines seems to be the rule for Kashmiri villagers.
Those living in the big towns and cities, however, will depend on the administration for electricity and LPG cylinders during the winter months.
“Electricity is erratic especially during the winter months. Closure of the Jammu-Srinagar Highway often results in shortages of essential supplies here. But then we have no alternative other than depending on the government for these things,” said Mohammad Shafi Khan, a bank officer who lives in Buchpora area of the city.
Couldn’t the benefits of modern life be somehow blended with traditional practices to make life comfortable in the Kashmiri winter?
“Unless we regenerate our forests, preserve our lowland plantations of willow and poplar trees, start small poultries and dairies in the villages, it is not possible to become self-reliant,” said Habibullah.
“Depending on the government for everything is living a life of borrowed comforts,” he argued.