Amid raging protests in Jammu and Kashmir over the Amarnath land row, the Amarnath yatra came to an end on Saturday. Forty seven-year-old Ishwar Chand Verma and his wife Shoba Verma are all smiles. Back from the holy cave, the Vermas say that their ninth consecutive Amarnath Yatra has been a success, in spite of all the controversy and violence over the land transfer issue.
Ishwar says, “It felt great. We didn’t face any security-related issues. The people here are really nice.” It’s not just the Verma's; their entire group of yatris agreed that it was only the weather, which played the spoiler, for the local population went out of its way to ensure a comfortable journey.
Thirty-year-old driver Abdul Razak and his family have been offering their services to the yatris for as long as he can remember. "I'll die but won’t let anything happen to the yatris. They are our guests and we have been playing hosts for generations now,” Razak says. “Our family has been doing this for years. We have made the yatra successful,” he adds. Razak says that the ongoing land row reduced the number of yatris in July and August. It’s heartening to know that the generations-old bond between the yatris and the locals not just exists, but is still going strong.
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