Page 8 - seniors today november 2020

“However, bigger opportunities came after
he became the prime minister. I had become
a journalist and was a war correspondent in
Kashmir when Pakistan invaded in ’47-48. I
used the camera as the tool of my profession
as much as the typewriter. During the
fourteen-month invasion of Kashmir,
Nehru paid many visits to Srinagar and
the war front. Later, after the ceasefire of
January 1 1949, he would visit for political
reasons or for short holidays accompanied
by his daughter, Indira Gandhi, and
At the Aeodrome in Srinagar with the Air Officer Com- sometimes his grandsons Rajiv and Sanjay
manding
came along.
at a personal level. But my experience with “For the next seventeen years, I became a
him was entirely different. Perhaps I was familiar face in the Nehru household and
lucky; perhaps I had more opportunities was accepted as such by his entourage,
than others. I lived and worked in Kashmir personal physician and security officer. In
while Jawaharlal was riding the crest of those days, there was no need for the strict
popularity as leader of Indian National and all pervading security that exists today.
Congress and later as Prime Minister Those were the days of charismatic and
of India. Partly because his ancestors popular leaders. Once the VIP gave his nod,
belonged to Kashmir and partly because there was no difficulty in moving about—
he avidly loved the outdoors and the all you needed was a press identity card.
Himalayas, he loved visiting Kashmir Camera wielding journalists were few and
as frequently as possible. Although his far between. In a war zone, accreditation
first visit was in 1916 when he spent his with the defense ministry was necessary—
honeymoon at Baltal on the Kashmir end of
Zoji pass. His first major political visit was
in May 1940. I was a student at the time.
“I was fascinated by his charm, friendliness
and popularity. In 1945 he visited Kashmir
to participate in the annual session of the
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference
organised by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.
Nehru was accompanied by Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad—the then Congress
President—and the ‘Frontier Gandhi’, Khan
Abdul Ghaffar Khan. After the session,
Panditji and Khan Badshah went on a trek
up in the mountains nearby. I was lucky to
get an opportunity to catch up with them
one day. At the Awantipur ruins outside Srinagar

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