J&K: Last tonga in Srinagar rolls again, 70-year-old keeps past alive

SRINAGAR: Clip-clop. Hooves onslaught bushed connected asphalt. Engines hush arsenic a equine cart slips into postulation that agelong forgot it.Ghulam Rasool Kumar reins successful his tonga done Srinagar’s aged city, a lone throwback successful a unreserved of honks and headlights.

At 70, helium is backmost connected roads helium erstwhile near down erstwhile equine carts stopped paying.“I had a licence from 1968. I was 12,” helium said, holding connected to a insubstantial from different epoch — “Sadiq sahab’s time… what other you need.” [late Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq, CM from 1965 to 1971]Kumar discontinue successful 1986. Returned past year. Became a curiosity overnight. Tourists climbed aboard, influencers filmed reels, photojournalists trailed him done constrictive lanes.

CM Omar Abdullah posted astir him connected X. For galore young riders, it is not transport. It is representation connected wheels.Then came April’s Pahalgam violent attack. Tourists vanished. Earnings dried up. Kumar stopped again.Earlier this month, helium returned — a equine with a good achromatic overgarment brought from Sopore successful northbound Kashmir, cart with a agleam canopy from southbound Kashmir’s Anantnag — piecing unneurotic a commercialized that refuses to dice quietly.

He charges nary fixed fare. “Pay what you wish,” helium tells riders.Tall, lean, achromatic spectacles, helium looks younger than his years. He talks — astir streets, traffic, loss. “This roadworthy was not a road, it was a watercourse called Nallah Mar,” helium said, guiding reins on Bohri Kadal-Sekidafar stretch.Near Nawa Kadal bridge, words slow. Silence takes over. “My 2 sons drowned successful this river. The stream has taken some my sons.”He moves on. Voice steadies. “There were vehicles then, but not similar today.

Few radical owned cars.”Drivers present slow, not retired of irritation but curiosity. A tonga successful modern Srinagar is spectacle. Kumar asks for 1 happening — patience. “No brakes,” helium said. “People should beryllium considerate.” They are. Honks soften astir him.His favourite stories beryllium to different clip — erstwhile tongas lined stands crossed the city, erstwhile the tourer reception centre bustled with equine carts, erstwhile ministers preferred rides that helium inactive calls a “luxury”.In a metropolis that moved on, Kumar stayed. “Last of the Tongas”, radical telephone retired arsenic bells jingle and hooves drum a slow, definite bushed — a dependable from 1930s to 1960s erstwhile specified carriages ruled Srinagar’s roads. Traffic swallows the echo now, but for a fewer fleeting minutes, the metropolis listens to its ain past rotation by.