Ignoring the State Department

Srinagar, Kashmir (India) - What a shame that war and political turmoil has plagued this beautiful place. Tucked into the Himalayas and centered on a great lake, Srinagar is lovely.
I'm staying with Monzoor's family on their houseboat, the Snow Goose. You enter from a dirt road through a metal door and walk across rickety wood planks fashioned into a narrow bridge. On the left there is a room and a tiny kitchen. On the right, a small bedroom and a large sitting room. Not much furniture, just carpet and pillows on the floor.
Walk a little further down the wooden bridge and you'll get to the houseboat. Rows of houseboats are parked along the lake, dividing the water into avenues. The boats have English names, such as Happy England, Star Ruby and Denver.

(The view from the House Boat Snow Goose, where I'm staying)


(The full moon rising over the Himalayas, as seen from the Snow Goose)

Three generations of the Shalla family live in this humble complex. The parents, two of their five sons, a daughter-in-law, and two grandsons. One of their two daughters is visiting for a while with her husband and 16-month-old daughter. The other daughter, her husband and two kids come by often. (In Muslim families, the sons stay with their family while the daughters leave and join their husband's). The other three sons live abroad.
I often daydream about my whole family being in one place, but I picture Sunday dinners together not every meal together. I couldn't imagine being on top of one another like that.
The Shalla Family is immediately endearing. They offer me a place on the floor of the kitchen and the mother puts a pillow behind my back. The walls are painted green and the cooking area is tiled floor to ceiling with little shelves of pots and cups and tins of flour. I'm fed an egg with tomato and an endless cup of Kasmiri tea.
The women don't talk much; they don't know much English. The men are fairly fluent.
They laughed at my hesitancy to come to Kashmir. I told them that the US State Department warns that it is too dangerous for travel. That my insurance doesn't cover me while I'm here.
They nodded, knowingly.
Like so many others living with political conflict, their sentences often begin with 'before'.
Before the problem, there were many tourists in Kashmir.
Before the problem, there was a bridge here, but it was destroyed by the Army.
Before the problem...
Monzoor didn't intend on staying in Australia for more than the three months on his tourist visa in the late 1980s. But "the problem" began while he was there. His family said they would send word when it was safe for him to return. Years passed and now he is settled Down Under.
Soldiers on the streets of Srinagar stand as guards and symbols of the precarious peace. This beautiful place has more than once nearly brought Pakistan and India to war, and though it's been quiet for a few years, nothing is settled.
Nothing, except that life goes on.