There has been more bad news for ordinary folks in Kashmir, especially women, craft-persons, artisans and handicraft sellers. Those who grow fruits and dry fruits, apples, almonds, walnuts, and various kinds of exotic flowers like lavender and saffron, used for multiple purpose, for delicious food recipes, to cosmetics and medicine, have also been impacted adversely.
This bad news has been relentless since statehood was snatched from Jammu and Kashmir, and this beautiful state has been practically divided into three, by a thoughtless and arbitrary decision taken by the BJP government in the Centre since August 2019.
Indeed, with polarisation in mind, the Hindutva regime seems to have created a sinister social division, especially in Delhi and the Hindi heartland, thereby putting Kashmiris from outside their state, coming for work, trade and business, in a difficult and insecure position.
One of them have been the shawl-sellers who arrive in Delhi and other parts of the country before the winter season to sell shawls across the city, crying out in the lanes and bylanes of the city, and criss-crossing residential societies and markets, where they are well-known among the locals because they are annual visitors.
They are much liked for their honesty and the brilliance of the material they sell at reasonable prices. This year, however, it has been tough.
Mostly a family and community affair, it is the nimble fingers of their artistic, disciplined and hard-working women, mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, mostly in remote villages across the valley, and much beyond urban Srinagar, which create these brilliant works – no less than beautiful works of art.
Their inherited craft is transparent, meticulously and painstakingly crafted, and created with patience and rigour after working for days and weeks.
And not only shawls, or the sublime pashmina shawls which the rich buy, the pherans for women and men, full dresses, summer dresses for women, among other exquisite hand-made products are loved by the urban middle and upper classes in India.
“Young girls and women love to wear the pheran on top of blue jeans these days,” said Nadeem, with a smile. “Even in the mild cold of September-October, they can be worn with chappals,” he said.
The pherans have a typical necklace like broad, embroidered, artistic design which adorns them, and they come in all sorts of colours, soft and sharp, saffron, green, orange, prussian blue, red, and of course black – which is loved.
The art around the neck is so meticulous that it takes days to carve them with fingers – something the great women artists/dress-makers of Kashmir do.
And they are not expensive, given the hard work which goes in making them, unless you choose to buy it from a fancy showroom. Here the Kashmiri shawl-seller comes to your doorstep, sits inside your home, while you, happily, collect your neighbours to choose from this beautiful bounty, at reasonable prices.
This has often been based on a human and shared relationship with the Kashmiri shawl-makers and shawl-sellers. They are respected and given the dignity, and the neighbourhood waits for their arrival each year, especially women. Before weddings or family functions, they are eagerly expected. And you can always give a shawl or pheran as a precious gift to a friend or relative.
However, sadly, this year has been particularly bad for Kashmir shawl-sellers, who carry their big baggage on their shoulders, and walk the lanes of far-flung residential societies in Delhi. Especially after a bomb blast near Chandni-Chowk-Darya Ganj in Old Delhi in November 2025. This is the time when the peak season begins for the Kashmiris, and the blast came as real shock for them.
The explosion, reportedly in a small car, around the bustling intersection of Chandni Chowk, opposite the Red Fort near the Jama Masjid metro station, killed eight people while scores were injured. Chaos and fear prevailed in the entire crowded area.
Some Kashmiri doctors were blamed, among others in Kashmir, and it was alleged that a Pakistani terrorist group was involved. This created distrust and anger here, and insecurity and panic among Kashmiri craft-persons, including shawl-sellers in remote villages.
Consequently, most chose to stay away from Delhi and other towns in the Hindi heartland, especially Mussourie etc in Uttarakhand, which has kind of become a new hate lab for the Hindutva forces. Several incidents of violence and hate speech have been reported against Kashmiri traders in Mussorie, a favourite haunt for tourists.
“Bad news after bad news,” said Khurshid. “We are hit from all sides – ordinary folks from Kashmir. How will we survive if we can’t sell our shawls and pherans? The fact is people still want to buy from us – they know we are not terrorists!”
Said a woman resident in an East Delhi society: “This is an ugly propaganda campaign spread by vested groups and individuals who believe in hate politics against the minorities. We are secular citizens, and we hold no such views. We look forward to our Kashmiri shawl-sellers each year before winter. We appreciate their great art and craft, we respect the women who make it with such diligence and patience, and we nurture no ill feelings towards them.”
“If terrorists have done a blast, catch them, punish them, why hold an entire community of decent Indian citizens guilty? Why hound them like this?”
(This article was first published in Independent Ink under the heading ‘A Pheran over Blue Jeans’.)
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