For a state that crowns the rest of our country, the general disposition towards Jammu & Kashmir and the people that speckle its lush landscape has been far from royal. Years of Tug-of-war between Pakistan and India have left it fraying at its ends and at the end of this (fruitless) strife, the only people who stand to experience the real destructiveness of the negativity are the locals themselves. This is not to say there hasn’t been any platform provided to them—it’s just that the pictures we paint of the state are completely extreme. In between bloodshed and great political strife and trauma, there’s been little documentation of Kashmir’s people that highlights the normalcies of their existence and this is something that eventually intrigued and inspired Kunal Kelkar’s ‘Faces Of Jammu & Kashmir,’ in which he primarily focused on capturing the people of Baltal, a usually deserted locale which fills up at this time of year because it is the beginning of the religious Amarnath Yatra.
As a wildlife and nature photographer, this was a completely new lens for him as far as story angles are concerned but this was exactly what he wanted to do. We caught up with him to find out a little more about his journey and have speckled the showcase of his poignant photos with snippets of his own journey with this project. Ultimately, this was not a structured, driven project—and it was just as much about his love for the humility one experiences in a mountainous region, as it was about these beautiful faces he’s captured.
At a time when mankind is doing the most unthinkable things to each other, a little perspective to humanize strangers from foreign lands has never been more important.
Scroll on to view Kelkar's project in its entirety, interspersed with words from the photographer himself:
“John Muir has put it like no one else, “The Mountains are calling and I must go.” The quote has been heard and read by many but I hold it very close to me. There is something different about the mountains."
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"To me the mountains have always been special. There is a certain enchantment about the landscape, the way the clouds dance around the peaks, the sound of the river gushing to the valley and the pin drop silence at night, all make the experience in the North mesmerizing. With the amount of history and culture we have in our country, one state that had beckoned to come visit was Jammu and Kashmir. Bordering Pakistan and China, with influences from as far off as Persia, this state has a natural aura."
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"As a wildlife and nature photographer, I tend to get pre-occupied in capturing Nature at her best. This time I told myself that I would like to show my friends at home some of the locals as well. Hence my quest began, capturing faces of the everyday folk in Baltal-Kashmir. Baltal is an isolated spit of land off the Leh-Srinagar highway. Most of the year it is barren and covered with snow. No one ventures into this desolate zone, but once a year, from the 28th of June till the 10th of August, Baltal turns into the a bustling campsite. People from all over India congregate at this village making it go from nothing to a recognized location pin on Google Maps because this is the starting point for the Amarnath Yatra and thus it gets transformed into the base camp for pilgrims all over."
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"Most of the locals live in Sonmarg, which is about four kilometers away from Baltal. Nonetheless, it doesn’t take a professional photographer to distinguish between the Kashmiri locals and the pilgrims. Most of the locals are horsemen, having their own stud of mules and horses. Their profession - making sure the pilgrim reaches the shrine on horseback without having any difficulty. This for them means making the 14km trek to the shrine on foot and at the same time coaxing the horse to make it up the mountain with the weight of a hefty pilgrim on its back and once the devotees have received their blessings, making the 14km trek back to the Baltal. Everyday for 44days in the year. The earning of these 44 days is what keeps them going for the whole year ahead."
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"Being a religious trek, the highest one in our homeland, there are quite a few seekers and ascetics that find their way to Baltal, quite a few are shoeless and without warm clothes and yet make the hike to the shrine, having complete faith that the Higher will take care of them. Chanting “Jai Bholenath” as they hike, one can sense that there is a power in these mountains that is unexplainable and hence why they are so mesmerizing."
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"To be brutally honest, the locals that have it the hardest are the Jammu & Kashmir Police. Though most of them are stationed in and around Srinagar, for their 44 days of the pilgrimage, a majority of the force gets transferred to Baltal to make sure there is some order. Working in tandem are the members of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Border Security Force. Duty starts at 3:30am, manning the access gate for the trailhead. The Government allots only 7500 pilgrims per day from the Baltal side and another 7500 pilgrims from the Pahalgam route. Unfortunately this time, the Pahalgam route was still covered with ice and snow, causing a double influx of pilgrims at the Baltal camp."
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"Pilgrims start lining up in front of the gate from 2:30am, waiting for the gates to open at 6:00am. In the meantime, the JK Police are planning their strategy to prevent stampeding and chaos if it does break out. As the access control guards check the pilgrim’s permits they have to constantly usher people back for not sticking to the date assigned or trying to make it through without a legal permit. At this point, it’s not about not allowing people to go visit their God but it’s about trying to control the mad rush of pilgrims that conglomerates at the gate each morning from 6:00am till 11:00am. Rules are rules to the JK Police, in front of my eyes one of the pilgrims told one of the officers that he would offer him Rs.2 lakh in cash to let his group go through permit-free and the officer immediately walked off, yelling a loud NO!"
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"One of the most eye opening sights was seeing all these Muslim porters and horsemen ferrying up the Hindu pilgrims and placing some money in the pilgrims hands asking the pilgrims to make an offering on their behalf as they are not allowed to come all the way up to the shrine. It’s amazing to see how one pilgrimage can bring about a gathering of people from various beliefs together. Yes, I agree the motives behind doing the pilgrimage might vary from pilgrim to porter, but nonetheless it still brings together people of all different sizes, beliefs and economic levels."
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"When it comes down to it, the mountains have a certain easygoing aura around them. There isn’t much to worry about amidst these parts. Dunk your mug in the river and that’s a fresh glass of chilled water for you. Wander around in the pine forests and berries will reveal themselves to you and when you sleep under the sky full of stars, the heavens reveal their true beauty. From the air you breathe to the water you drink, freshness is experienced in everything you do."
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"The Mountains make you realize that you may be a person of big importance in the city, but here amidst these giants you have to become humble. Mother Nature has her ways of making man realize that in the end, she is still the most powerful. The way the vast peaks and valleys belittle you, humility is a given. Every time I leave the mountains I yearn to go back, I feel like they are always calling. The cold breeze against my cheek, the stinging of the clean air as I inhale deeply, the ice water that feels like needles are piercing my skin, the vast expanse of Nature’s glory coupled with the tranquil solitude are some of the reasons that keep beckoning me back to the land of the ice giants."
Scroll on to view more of Khelkar's stunning images:
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Image Credit: Kunal Kelkar
[Kunal Kelkar has been photographing wildlife and landscapes since 2005 and in 2012, he finally made the jump to make it his profession. Thus returning back to India to start his career as a freelance photographer. After being in India for 2 years, Kunal has had the opportunity to photograph for brands like Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan. He also dabbles in some fashion photography and photography weddings. His personal work he holds dearest to him and entails of faces from all over the world and photographs depicting different kinds of culture. His motto is:- "Create like a god, command like a king, work like a slave." You can view more of his work here or here.]