The Fish Market, Fear and Friendship

Living in Kashmir 1979-80: A Year of People, Places and Memories

The Fish Market in Rawalpindi

The fish market in Rawalpindi was a unique experience. Surrounded by the strong smells and a cacophony of sounds we came upon those remarkable men seated on a platform with a large carved blade held between their toes. Each fish was taken in hand at the blade's tip and drawn downward in a single, practiced motion, filleted with a skill so precise and so swift that it was theatrical. We watched entranced by the motion. The fish arrived overnight from Karachi, on ice.

I have no photo of this memorable place but the best representation Gemini could make for me, provides some idea of the scene.  We remember the blades with more curve and the top end had a wooden piece which was held in the mouth to keep the blade steady.

Imagine this repeated over and over and let the smell of the market assault your senses.

AI generated image,
the blades had no wooden handle as opposed to the one shown here

Fear of Skylab

Skylab was the United States first manned space station, a science lab in orbit around the earth so astronauts could live and work there for weeks at a time. As its orbit dropped closer to earth, NASA knew it could only partly control where it landed on its return. By July 1979 the media frenzy stoked the fears of the people that this huge piece of space debris would cause devastation.

It was, after all, just a year since a Soviet spacecraft had scattered radioactive debris across the Canadian wilderness. 

The people in Kashmir were afraid. In Srinagar as the date of re-entry approached, shops were shut, bazaars deserted, shutters closed and the streets usually bustling with life were almost silent. The hush that settled over those familiar lanes was deeply eerie, the kind of silence that speaks louder than noise. 

Skylab, as it happened, descended to earth far away, scattered in pieces across the red dust of Western Australia. Kashmir breathed again.

As Artemis 2 currently ventures far above us, it seems timely to remember Skylab.

Friendships, food and fun

Amongst the cohort of military observers there were officers from Finland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Administrative staff brought yet further nationalities into the mix, and mealtimes could feel like a small tour of the world. 

With our Irish friends there was always the certainty of two different dishes of potatoes served with meals.

 
Kashmiri acquaintances offered quite different pleasures: Rogan josh, fragrant with spice, rich and deeply aromatic. The roti bread was a regular part of our diet. Loaf bread was available but heavy and laden with sugar.

 
The Finnish observers had constructed a sauna, and an invitation to experience it was not to be declined. The intensity of the heat was striking, as was the notable absence of clothing, a rather novel initiation for me. 

At the end of his posting, one of these Finnish friends left the mission in his big red Oldsmobile with wife, daughters and mother in law aboard. The 1979 Iranian revolution was just a few months old. They covered their windows with posters of the Ayatollah and drove home through Iran. 

Our Australian colleagues provided comfort and easy companionship in difficult times and we enjoyed a couple of barbecues alongside flowing streams.

Water damaged photo, 1979 Australian struggling with a barbecue

The PX store at Headquarters was a a place where families, friends and men returned from distant field stations could converge, exchange news, and simply be in one another's company for a while.

Frames

Before leaving the subcontinent, we had four pieces of delicate leaf-portrait art framed. A dark green background against gold painted frames preserved these pieces. Framing was both effective and wonderfully inexpensive.

Pen and ink portraits of a Pathan tribesman and woman were framed in black with a white border. These works hung on our walls in many places through the years. Time, as it does, had its way with them. Age brought discolouration; household moves brought breakages. They no longer grace any wall of ours, but the memory of them does, that memory has not yet shattered.

This post first appeared on earlieryears.blogspot.com by CRGalvin