Nights In Baramulla: Writing Letters Never Meant To Be Sent newsclick.in

In the more than one month of communication clampdown imposed on Kashmir, every aspect of life in the Valley has suffered. The economy has been shattered, colleges and universities remain shut, parents are cut off from their children studying outside Kashmir and children are unable to reach their families in the Valley. There is also a medical emergency, as international media reports indicate, which the political dispensation in Delhi has been denying.

Amidst all this gloom, there is another section of society that is feeling alone and depressed, and those are the couples of Kashmir. The married, the boyfriends and girlfriends, those engaged, and those who would have been engaged or married, if not for the events that unfolded on August 5. On that day, a security lockdown was imposed that ended communications within the Valley and between the rest of the country and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

Just like the parents from Kashmir who tried (often in vain) to get in touch with their children during this breakdown in communications, the young are also trying their very best to reach out to their loved ones. This story of couples who are finding it difficult to communicate with each other begins with a revival: The art of letter-writing is making a comeback now that SMS, phone calls and WhatsApp have been ruled out by state diktat. The old pen-on-paper love-note is back, and that is what these couples hope, will keep their love going too.