Sitting in the dark hotel room, staring at long translucent curtain lit by a distant street light, I grumbled, “The travel itinerary has stifled my excitement to explore places and meet people playing by the ear.It’s frustrating me” The trip was planned by each minute. “Kashmir is not a place for spontaneous-travel-theatrics baby. You got to worry about safety for ones” he sleep-muttered from under the blanket. Noticing my fizzled out face on breakfast table next morning, Prashant began shredding the itinerary and winked at my beaming glee. We got down 60 KM away from planned destination, in a town called Anantnag; a famous Bollywood movie ‘Haider’ was set here. I didn’t know what to anticipate from a town not accustomed to back packers. But I knew from previous travels that in such places, people are often welcoming and spoke with uncensored innocence. The bus drop point was lined by barbed wires laid on high compound walls, marking Army cantonment on one side, surging sense of patriotism in me. Police station, hotel and a cell phone recharge shop on the other, characterizing domesticity. We began walking uphill towards the downtown, with wish to stay with localities and know their culture if luck favored. As we walked I could sense eeriness about the evening silence in this town. Men in firhans (long kashmiri cloak) walked heavily and alone. In rare case we saw group of two-three catch up hastily, and disperse at once. We caught their attention and got ignored as quickly. Nothing felt usual about this place anymore. We stopped by the only open-bakery with a street facing front, to quieten our growling stomach. The bakery resembled a forgotten antique. The unattended walls inside had gathered dust, furniture had withered, glass display had stains and the grey bearded old man behind the counter looked uncaring. Prashant asked “What is this called?” pointing at the greasy glass display. “Kashmiri bread. But nothing will be served until Iftar. Its Ramdan”, he replied refraining from serving us food. His intrusive gaze made us uncomfortable and we left instantly. As we began to leave, a man from behind patted on Prahsant’s back, in a stern commanding voice he said , “Change your clothes right away. Do you have other clothes?”. He introduced himself as Muhammad Hussain, a Policeman. Prashant immediately changed his camouflage T-shirt into a plain orange Polo. This wasn’t the Prashant I knew; he wouldn’t budge to anyone’s command. It was result of fear instilled by series of events happened that evening. Muhammad Hussain continued, “The town is vulnerable right now. It isn’t safe to be here. Civilians pelt stones at Army. You can be mistaken to be army in camouflage and get a stone or 2 hurled at you. So avoid wearing camouflage strictly” revealing to us the complex state of ‘disputed valley of Kashmir’. This got me curious more than anxious. After all, I was the imperishable youth (I knew nothing could harm me), chasing these ucommon travel experience to write about. I raced to match his footsteps and slyly asked “Why do civilians pelt stones at the army and why is the town so quiet? “ “It’s a long story of series of political blunders that has resulted in implicit hate amongst civilians for the Indian government. They’ve heavily militised Kashmir, which strangle’s civilian’s basic freedom. This town is notorious for its stone pelting and curfew episodes. Today’s declared as curfew with Section 144 codes which prohibits congregation of people in town. That’s why the streets are quiet” he said like a matter of fact. Prashant and I exchanged a dreadful why-the-hell-did-we-drop-here look. We had landed ourselves in major peril. Kashmir is placed globally for 2 things - picturesque beauty and its polar, terrorism. There’s often curfew declared in towns, which turns entire place into a zombie land. Shops, schools and offices remain closed. People stay home and the entire town suffers fall in economy, resulting in Poverty. There’s hardly any money with people for maintenance and development. In my brief Kashmir visit, I spoke with people and tried understanding their reality. Had I stayed longer in Kashmir, I would manage a much refined view of situation there.