travel snippets

The beginning of the day this morning was not one of the lightest. The gray sky above Berlin met with the news of the fire of Dastgeer Sahib, a Sufi shrine in the centre of Srinagar, the summer capital of kashmir. 

The shrine is one of the symbolic landmarks of the city: a massive structure made of carved wood, with tall spires, papier mache decoration, large chandeliers hanging over the prayer room. 

In the complicated tale of Kashmiri syncretism, Dastgeer Sahib is a symbol of tolerance and coexistence: an emblematic trait of Sufism in general and a point of pride in the specific  Kashmiri declination.

In a country plagued by inter-religious conflict, the coincidence of the fire with the beginning of a large and highly contested Hindu pilgrimage has a sinister taste. No conspiracy theory, the two events are totally unrelated: it is just a cynical serendipity.

The fire of Dastgeer Sahib is one of those news that doesn’t quite make it to the global news. Still I thought, that Dastgeer Sahib would deserve a little epitaph, a little thought - even just in passing.