The only difference between this lockdown and the previous ones is that we now cannot speak to people outside, which so far was a source of happiness, and a means to share our pain Lockdown down has been a way of life for us in Kashmir.
We have experienced it for three decades in different forms. It’s now almost like a way of life for us though you never really stop yearning for “normal" life.
I remember the first time I heard this word. I was 22. It was 2008, and the television channels were reporting the unrest and demonstrations in the Valley that followed the transfer of forestland to the Amarnath Shrine Board to set up shelters for pilgrims trekking to the shrine.