As Jammu and Kashmir enters its fourth day of communication lock-down, Kashmiris living away from the Valley can’t help panic over not being able to contact their loved ones back home.
Amid all this, well-known Carnatic singer from Chennai, TM Krishna’s Tweet aims to capture the mood of Jammu and Kashmir. Krishna has recited Kashmiri-American poet, Agha Shahid Ali's, popular poem 'Postcards from Kashmir.'
The audio clip he tweeted out begins with a no answer tone, signifying the millions of phones in Kashmir that do not ring right now because of the ongoing communication black out.
The poem reads:
Kashmir shrinks into my mailbox,
my home a neat four by six inches.
I always loved neatness. Now I hold
the half-inch Himalayas in my hand.
This is home. And this the closest
I'll ever be to home. When I return,
the colors won't be so brilliant,
the Jhelum's waters so clean,
so ultramarine. My love
so overexposed.
And my memory will be a little
out of focus, in it
a giant negative, black
and white, still undeveloped.
As Krishna reads out the verses, all throughout in the background the pre-recorded voice of the telephone operator saying ‘number is currently not available’ is repeated again and again. The Tweet has attracted a lot of attention since yesterday.
While some appreciated his innovative way to put his point across while others questioned his motives.