Shivering with cold, non-local trucker helped by Kashmiris

SRINAGAR — A video has gone viral on social media websites, including Facebook, in which a non-local trucker is helped by Kashmiri men after witnessing him shivering with cold.

The video, shot purportedly on a highway with many trucks parked due to closure of the road, shows the non-local driver being provided Pheran (Kashmiri gown) and Kangri (firepot) for warming himself.

As per reports, the Srinagar-Ladakh highway remains closed due to snowfall in the area for the past many days. Consequently, many truck drivers are stranded there.

On Monday, while returning from Kargil towards Srinagar, a group of Kashmiri drivers helped an elderly non-local Sikh driver who was shivering because of cold.

Shared by many users on Facebook, the video has garnered lakhs of views over the past few days.

“This is the generosity of Kashmiris which has no other example anywhere in the world,” wrote a user, Adnan Wani while sharing the video on his Facebook wall.

Haroon Mudasir, another user, wrote, “Kashmiriyat is the perfect word to describe the video. This heart-warming video makes me feel proud to be a Kashmiri.”

It is in place to mention here that Kashmiriyat is the centuries-old indigenous tradition of communal harmony and religious syncretism in the Kashmir Valley. Emerging around the 16th century, it is characterised by religious and cultural harmony, patriotism and pride for their mountainous homeland of Kashmir.

Kashmiriyat exemplifies the joint Hindu-Muslim culture, festivals, language, cuisine and clothing in the Kashmir Valley. In the spirit of Kashmiriyat, festivals of Hinduism and Islam are celebrated by adherents of both faiths.

Kashmiriyat, with the Hindu-Muslim unity it encourages, was promoted by Kashmiri Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin; the story of the Kashmiri mystic Lal Ded (also called Lalleswari), in which her body turned into a mound of flowers that was buried by both Hindus and Muslims, serves as an emblem of Kashmiriyat that keeps it alive today.