Srinagar, July 5: In the wake of prevalent situation frequented by police restrictions and Hartals, the people have started lending a helping hand to each other in these “testing times”.
 Apart from pooling edibles, the Srinagarites seem to have taken a lead in raising funds at Mohalla levels to assist their “brethren in need”.
 The helpfulness towards the brethren reminds many of the similar endeavour during the Amarnath land row of 2008 when the Kashmiris offered edibles to each other during the economic blockade.
 This time, at hospitals like the SMHS, the locals have raised community kitchens where they often prepare traditional Kashmiri meals – the Tehri (Haldi rice) –for the attendants of the hospitalized patients.
 “People from far off areas are admitted at the hospital and it’s not possible for their attendants to get food from outside given the curfew like situation. So we volunteered to prepare Tehri for them,” said Ghulam Muhammad, a volunteer while preparing the Tehri at adjacent Nawa Bazar locality.
 Why Tehri? “It’s easy to cook and you don’t need to any vegetables to be served along as the rice tastes good with Haldi alone,” the volunteer replied.
 The men and the local women jointly work for the community kitchen.
 But the female folk seems to have a limited job at the big kitchen raised on the streets.
 “We only dice onions for the Tehri, the rest of the work, the men themselves do,” said some women sitting outside a house at densely populated Nawa Bazar.  
 The food was cooked on a Choola fuelled by firewood collected from the area.
 Besides, in a major development, Mohalla committees have constituted relief groups.
 The trend got impetus after Hurriyat (G), on Saturday past week, asked the people to donate two kilograms of rice and Rs 5 per family towards the committee.
 From Nowhatta in Shahr-e-Khaas to uptown Hyderpora and Pir Bagh, the relief committees have been mobilized by the locals.
 On Sunday, as markets reopened for a day after 10 days of siege, the Nowhatta locals collected funds from the shopkeepers.
 “Immediate fund collection from the shopkeepers was of vital importance because we didn’t know when the markets will open again,” said a group of people belonging to a Mohalla Committee adding the locals were also making the donations.
 The volunteers said given the continued turmoil coupled with unemployment, there was an exigency to have relief committees.
 “If we Kashmiris start helping each other at local level, we will be able to bear with the testing times and nobody will live empty stomach,” they explained.
 A similar scene was seen in the uptown Pirbagh.
 The residents of some colonies in this south City area volunteered to carry the rice packs and Rs 50 to a nearby Masjid where they dumped the stock.
 “It’s a good beginning that we the people have realized that we need to help each other in the hour of crisis,” the locals said.
 Residents of Karan Nagar have also started working on the lines.
 Pertinently, for quite some time till his arrest, senior Hurriyat leader  Syed Ali Geelani had been asking the people to “strengthen the institution of Baitul Maal” at local levels.
 Observers say Kashmiris have always been known for their helpful attitude.
 “One may give the present endeavor a new name, but help for the brethren is as old as Kashmir,” said a poet living in Makhdoom Sahib locality.
 “For centuries, Kashmiris are known to raise Langers (Community Kitchen) etc to help each other,” he added.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 5 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 5 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 6 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST