Living in Kashmir 1979-80: People, Places and Memories
Trucks
These workhorses of the roads were dominating and colourful, dodging and weaving through the tightest of spaces. Their highly decorated bodies were covered in a wide variety of patterns and iconography. Their progress was noisy, horns blaring and loud music playing. |
| 1979 - Hajira, Pakistan |
The most alarming of all were the log-carriers, often perilously overloaded and sometimes seen with their front wheels bouncing clear of the road as the sheer weight of the cargo overcame the truck’s forward momentum.
Through Srinagar, the trucks would negotiate an ever-shifting obstacle course of bicycles, taxis, and sacred cows that wandered the streets quite unconstrained and entirely unbothered.
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| Navigating the streets |
Trains
The Indian train network first established by the East India company, grew rapidly through colonial times. It is now one of the largest in the world, essential to the daily lives of millions.
In 1979 we travelled by train from Delhi to Agra. The train journey nowadays is much quicker but our slower trip let us view the villages and activities in the fields at a more sedate pace. The Taj Express slower in those days, took about two and a half hours.
As the train trundled past the track embankments, the absence of any public facilities for those living nearby was noted. Locals with their backs to the train, exposed rather more bare skin than one might ordinarily expect to encounter or indeed want to see!
Taxis
The small black and gold Morris Minor taxis were part and
parcel of our everyday life. No matter where one wanted to go a taxi was always
available. Many had no meters, or claimed theirs were broken. Negotiating a
fare before setting off was always the sensible course. The larger Ambassador,
based on the Morris Oxford, offered a rather more comfortable alternative for
longer journeys.
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| Morris Minor in the bazaar |
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| The Ambassador |
The three-wheeled Lambros (tuk-tuks) were everywhere, their great
virtue being an ability to squeeze through the narrowest of lanes where no four-wheeled
vehicle could follow. We occasionally found this particular advantage
somewhat alarming.
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| The 3 wheeler |
The Tanga
These vehicles which had been popular in the past were fast disappearing amongst the motorised traffic.
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| The covered cart |
Did you ever get to ride in a tanga? I cringed when I thought of the truck with its front wheels off the ground. I’ll bet you were a superb bargainer after your year in Kashmir.
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