The Kashmir Dialogues
By M S Nazki
Peace begins with a smile and someone, somewhere about the children!
-‘A smile puts you on the right track. A smile makes the world a
beautiful place. When you lose your smile, you lose your way in the
chaos of life.’….(Indian Army Northern Command to the children of
J&K)!
-‘More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More
blessed, less stressed. More love, less hate.’ This is what the
children in Jammu and Kashmir are saying and their innocence depicts
the same in abundance!’
-‘Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and
believes in the goodness in people.’ That is what the children of
Jammu and Kashmir at the moment are thinking and dwelling upon!’
-‘Peace is the word coined with new wrappers and the Indian Army
Northern Commend front liners who are making the emblems of peace fly
all over Jammu and Kashmir’!
-‘The children want to move ahead smilingly on the pathways of
prosperity and with the Indian Army holding their hands, I do not
think that there is anything to look back!’
-‘Yes kids of Jammu and Kashmir have had plenty of bad experiences in
life but the things are changing since they had to!’ New kids off the
blocks want to change the co lours of future and trust me, the way
they are going about it indicates that only one thing will be there on
horizons of the magnificent mountain horizons of Jammu and Kashmir!’
-‘ The children of Kashmir are screaming joyfully, even if you cannot
change all the people around you, you can change the people you choose
to be around. Life is too short to waste your time on people who don’t
respect, appreciate, and value you. Spend your life with people who
make you smile, laugh, and feel loved.’! That is the message the
Jawaan is telling the Awaam!’
-‘Dare to Be! When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully. When
there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light. When there
is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.
When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway. When life seems
to beat you down, dare to fight back. When there seems to be no hope,
dare to find some. When you’re feeling tired, dare to keep going. When
times are tough, dare to be tougher. When love hurts you, dare to love
again. When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal. When another
is lost, dare to help them find the way. When a friend falls, dare to
be the first to extend a hand. When you cross paths with another, dare
to make them smile. When you feel great, dare to help someone else
feel great too. When the day has ended, dare to feel as you’ve done
your best. Dare to be the best you can. At all times, Dare to be!
This is the story of life, the Truth, and being free’! That is where
the kids of Jammu and Kashmir have done the extremely encouraging frog
leap and it is here where even the inhibited parents (a decade and a
half back they were) but now they (Parents) just want their kids to
get on the pinnacle of glory! The kids like the one in picture will be
the flamboyant examples who will say, ‘We will do it! And we will keep
doing it’!
Children are the fluid colors in the lives of their parents and
honestly speaking when I got the picture I knew it was Sunday’s job!
We had not done much the last week and the reasons were of other
engagements! But such back logs can be completed in a singular day and
that is what we are trying to do precisely!
The picture itself was a smiling beauty and it was far too lucrative a
picture to construct a story and thus the decision was made that it
had to be dome and that is exactly what I did!
I was smiling yesterday, I am smiling today and I will smile tomorrow.
Simply because life is too short to cry for anything. This attitude
can be felt in the kids today and it has come in that they (children
are the dearest to the soldiers!
Indian Army’s message to the Awaam is clear and concise, ‘always find
opportunities to make someone smile, and to offer random acts of
kindness in everyday life.’
Sheikh Sameer
M S Nazki
