Manan Shah
“Autumn cannot be measured in days or hours. Autumn is a period of weather, a state of mind, a feeling in the blood and the bone” – Medford Mail Tribune, Oregon, August 30, 1954
Harud: Autumn- the fall, a season following the summer starts in September, first greeted by paddy fields turning pale from lush green to crimson and gold whereas, falling leaves in mid-November from a tall standing chinar is mesmerising. Mornings, usually cold and misty with a cup of nun-chai (Salt tea) adds to the flavour of the season while evenings, generally warm, dusk brings a cold breeze along. People start to collect firewood for Hamam, a traditional heating system found in Kashmiri households. Whereas, Smoke coming out of chimneys and children playing and crushing the leaves beneath is a sight of joy.
Places like Nishat, Shalimar and south of Kashmir University campus bear a testament to this colorful season where Kashmiris visit more often and rest their grief with the falling leaves. However, the true essence lies within the people who share a bond of thoughts, feelings and self-expression to the season. From taking pictures under the chinar trees to walking barefoot on the leaves, it has its descriptive meaning which can vary from one’s perception.
From harvesting apples to saffron, it represents a symbol of community kinship when all members of the family come along and work in the fields. Grovers begin to pluck walnuts from mid-September, an early indication of Harud. Kashmiri walnuts which are superior in quality are then dried and sold at profitable prices. In Kashmir, walnuts start to flower in Spring, though the fruit grows rapidly, it takes time to mature. The fields of Pampore, the saffron town of Kashmir, bloom with Purple flowers of ‘Kong’, saffron, ready to harvest. Yet again signifying Harud, adding more colour to the symphony of the season.
The season brings the winter delicacy of Hokh-Syun back to the street; vegetables dried under the sun during hot summers are bought and sold in markets to curb the shortage of food supply during the winters as the snowfall blocks the roads and highways, therefore, restricting the supply of vegetables. However, the improved transportation has substantially confined the consumption of Hokh-Syun to the outskirts. In Srinagar, people consume it to suit their taste rather than as a necessity unlike in the past.
The spirit of the season is such that it evokes and represents different emotions among individuals. Harud, as may seem beautiful, for the many, it revives the memories of the dead and the deceased. Nature represents emotions whilst colours bring them to life. Red, golden and orange; vibrant colours of the season resuscitate their emotion and often narrate their stories. The aura of the season is such that it practically forces you to revisit the memory lane.
The Mughal gardens stretched across acres in Srinagar, is perhaps one of the finest places to experience harud. Tall trees, mostly aged chinars, tell stories. They bear witness to the tyranny and years of conflict. Each falling chinar, burning in red; represents the struggle, resilience and death. A constant reminder, everything comes to an end; empires crumble.
Image: Mir Yasir Mukhtar
There is a sense of solitude in Harud. Time seems to decelerate and with each second you encounter your thoughts. Thoughts that were chained and in shambles. It nourishes different aesthetic genres of artists as one among them evokes a poet. Not surprising, if you see a man like “the Chinar” itself; aged, sitting beside a tree, listening to Raj Begum or Bashir Dada. Just like that, it brings you peace. “Wadaan wadaan prucsh mye poshe bhaghow. Su yaar kati chui; Che kayazi tanhaa, mye Hard waawan dilas dyutnam; Yuthui yi haal e jigar mye bhoawum”. (The wailing flowers enquiring my agony; Where is your beloved, why are you alone? Autumn Zephyrs consoling my being, Once I sang her my tormented melody)
For some, Harud breaks into the garden of remembrance. A long walk under the magnificent trees of chinars may remind you of love or an idea of love. It romanticizes the very existence of a person. A slight reminder of unkept promises and broken hearts, where imagination takes a new flight while the reality is put to rest. An emotional rollercoaster that takes you through love and longing. Harud is like poetry.
The sight limits one to the confines of what the past meant, it is silence and stagnancy, but also life as the ‘fall’ ignites hope seemingly absent as hands are held closer, a moment of stillness as a child’s stands photographed to save moments when death meant another living, conversations quiet and loud behind the mighty chinars wearing a look of red.
Harud bids a farewell with trees shedding leaves in late November. The season depicts dread and sorrow. However, at the same time, it gives hope for new beginnings. The spring, when flowers will bloom again when winter will be a memory. A reminder, ‘to end is to begin’. “Wand chali, sheen gali baeyi ye bahar”. (Winter shall pass, snow shall melt and spring shall come).