Aman lived in Srinagar in a joint family. His grandparents, uncles, their wives and children.. all living under the same roof, in a big wooden house near Dal lake. His father was running their family business of making shawls with his uncles. It was not that much profitable but they were happy with what they earned. Sometimes they had to reduce the expenses at the end of the month, but no one complained with that.
Aman used to play with his cousin sisters and brothers and lots of
other friends. Everyday was like a carnival to him. Going to school in the
morning, returning with friends after few hours, and then a whole day of
playing until the evening set in.... Going to school was very tough in winter. It was
time for snowfall, everything outside their house was white with ice, and the
roads were blocked. Their school used to continue for few days with that, but
finally it was time for winter vacation, Aman’s favourite time of the year. He
and his friends threw snow balls at each other, used to fall while running
over the snow, again got up smiling and started to play. One thing they all
loved to do was skidding down the hills.. Some parts of Dal lake was frozen in winter and they used those as their skiing field. He loved to make new friends. He specially
loved to make friends with the tourists who came to visit Kashmir, new friends everyday. His father
did not like his habit and he warned him not to talk with strangers, but Aman
was Aman, and no one could stop him from making new friends, even if he’s a total
stranger. His parents were surprised when they used to go out with him. He talked with almost everyone along the road like he had known them for years. Sometimes he and his friends used to
take a shikara ride with his uncle and pick flowers from other shikaras which were selling flowers
and vegetables in the lake.
Then everything started to change.
