Ba chus Dal,
Mat karito mein Dull.
Ba chus saaf ta paak,
Mat karito mein ganda ta mokur.
Kuta faida detmun mein tuhe,
Yen peth tuhe aach muchraiwa,
Gara mein tuhe nadir ditmoun,
Bei detmun gair.
Os na Lawrence theek wannan,
Yeli su dal kis damanas peth os behwaan,
Sonchaan os qudratan
kem kem niyamach bakshay emis insaanas.
Yem zan gair ta pumbach meinz chuo labna yeiwaan.
Saabit chu gazsan, emset qudratsanz shaan.

(I’m Dal,
Don’t make me dull.
I’m clean and pure,
Don’t make me polluted.
I have given you so many benefits,
Since you have opened your eyes.
Sometimes I gave you water lily stems (kind of vegetable),
And chestnuts.
Lawrence was right in saying,
When he used to sit near the Dal.
He used to think,
Dal has given various kinds of varieties to we humans,
Which is apparent through chestnuts and lotus stems,
All this makes us realise the beauty and charm of nature)
While the daily routines of the people have been disturbed and greatly affected due to the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, it has been observed that a large number of people are refreshing their minds by spending some time by driving through the sublime boulevard road. The weather and the beauty both attract the people to spend time near the centre of beauty of Kashmir: Dal lake. Few days back, I also got the opportunity to visit the Lake. There were many people wearing smiles on their faces under the masks and had all the happiness filled hearts cherishing the happy moments. People enjoyed each minute of the day taking as much precautions as they could take amid the pandemic. When I looked the blue wealth of Kashmir (Dal Lake), a mixture of joy and sorrow crossed my heart. At one end of my mind, I was amazed to see the serenity and purity of the Lake and praised the Creator but on the other end of my mind, I was very disheartened to see the carelessness and greed of humans that has made the Lake more like a corpse. I thought that the Lake could teach us to be calm like it’s surface, kind to the level of its depth, pure like its purity, gentle like its soothing flow but we humans are only unready to adapt it.
There, I could feel every drop of the water crying to ask for help, to get out from it’s miserable life. The Lake seemed to fake a smile apparently but not truly inside. The brilliantly blue Lake is dying a death everyday, yet giving the maximum to its people from the depths of its skin. It’s loyalty is to be praised. The purity few decades back was such that one could see the species under its immense depth as if looking through a lens but now a thick layer of taint is covering its surface. We humans are turning a blind eye towards the causes of dullness of the Dal. Each one of us look over it’s loss of life, takes a minute to realise what actually the cause is and inspite of knowing the cause of destruction, we are turning a blind eye towards it and continue to give pain and death to the Lake.
Last year on 21 Dec 2019 I conducted a survey on Dal lake near Dalgate no 2. I happened to meet a very old man named Mr Rashid (name changed) about 90 years old. He was the person who had started his life and was approaching his life’s autumn in Dal lake only. This elderly man had as much experience as that of the strongest Chinar standing in the beautiful Char Chinar in Dal lake. When I asked him about the changing beauty of Kashmir, his smile turned into sadness. His eyes felt so low as if they spoke of irreversible heart wrenching stories. He seemed quite disturbed and the first thing he told was “kehin chu na rudmut baki (nothing has been left)”. According to him in his early childhood days,the lake had such a purity and freshness that one good use the water for drinking and cooking purpose too. He was so much lost in explaining the beauty of the lake that his eyes glistened. He said that the lake was such that actors and actresses used to shoot film shots there. He spoke of such species that we hardly find today. He spoke of such vegetation that we hardly know. The thought that distrurbed him was about the shrinking size of Dal. Mr Rashid said that the Dal was so much large in size that if we looked from one side of the lake the other corner of Kashmir was easily visible. The experienced man said that the major reason behind the degrading health of the lake is our avarice and nothing more. I was so much sad about all this that I decided to do a bit towards the growing misery of Dal from my side but then the pandemic hit the world and everything came to a stand still mode.
The Dal Lake is a beautiful, deeply blue lake that is cupped with the lofty snow covered mountains, lush green shadowy trees and its water is grand mirror like that is all the reason for its beauty to be praised about. Walter R Lawrence in his book ,“The Valley of Kashmir ” gives us a description of the beauty, gentleness and mesmerizing view of the Dal. In it, he writes: ‘The Dal Lake measuring 4 miles by 2.5 lies close to Srinagar and is perhaps one of the most beautiful spots in the world. The mountain ridges which are reflected in its water, as in mirror, are grand and varied, the trees and vegetation on the shores of the Dal Lake being exquisite beauty. (To be Continued)

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