Interview with Kash Gabriele Torsello: Reflections on Kashmir- the forgotten people

Can you tell me a little bit about your background, your childhood and how photojournalism became your chosen career? I was born in Alessano, a small village in south Italy. I have always been fascinated by nature, especially by the seaside. I grew up in my parent’s 24-room house; my Grandfather designed it. He was a great man, open minded, and he inspired me to believe in people as individuals. I never met him because he died long before I was born but my father, used to tell me a lot about him and he also let me use my grandfather’s studio. Here I used to spend most of my time observing his antique collections and browsing through his vast library, books on science, religion, humanity, mathematic and nature. I never took words and ideologies for granted but was more interested in their meanings and roots. My uncle gave me my first camera – a small compact - when I was a teenager, and soon after I read two books from the greatest master of Black & White photography: Ansel Adams. Those books helped me to understand that photography is not just a technique but a language. I was nearly twenty when I completed my studies in business and left my village. By chance I went to Rome and made my first photo-documentary about street life in Rome. The people I was photographing were mainly living in the street and I decided to become homeless too. This was to get closer to their ‘life style’, to understand better their feelings and to take photographs that would tell their story. After this three month project I was commissioned to take photographs for the movie industry. I did this for a year and although it was a good job and very well paid, I didn’t feel satisfied with it, I was not happy with myself. I remember one day I woke up with a thought in my mind: India Sometime later I decided to quit the movie job. How does an Italian journalist end up in war-torn Kashmir? In early 1994 I traveled to India with three aims: to experience life in a remote village, to meet and live with a holy man –Baba- and to travel to a war torn area. At that time I didn’t know about Kashmir at all. It was only when I was traveling from New Delhi to Madras that I heard about the region. During my stay in the south of India, I read about the conflict in Kashmir in the national newspapers. I kept asking people for the reasons underpinning the violence but wasn’t given any explanation. The common answer to my question was the same “It is a very dangerous place, where people get killed…”. The longer I stayed in India the more I fell attracted to Kashmir. On a very long train journey I crossed the whole of India and arrived finally in Jammu. From there I took a bus to the vale of Kashmir, my final destination, Srinagar. You spent seven years of your life in Kashmir attempting to capture the story of a people under siege – how has this experience personally affected you? It is difficult to say in words how the experience changed my life. I witnessed many atrocities but I also encountered human kindness and purity. When I was in Srinagar I felt a positive energy I had never felt before in my life. Since my first day – in the Valley - everything and everyone looked familiar to me. It was this energy and the crimes against humanity that changed my vision and the whole purpose of my life. Once I was back in Europe I was determined to tell the world the story of the Kashmiri people and their daily life. Initially the Italian media were not interested in publishing my book because Kashmir was not high on their agenda, France was the same. Late in 1994 I came to the UK and since then I have been sharing my work with newspapers and magazines around the world –including Italy and France, and also with Human Rights Organizations and UN agencies. In December 2002 I managed to self-publish the first hardcover photojournalistic book on Kashmir ever published in the world. Five thousands copies of ‘The Heart of Kashmir’ have been printed without any sponsors or grants, but with personal bank loans. Did the thought of giving up and returning home ever cross your mind? Home is within me and as long as I believe, I will carry on and not give up. My first visit to Kashmir was during a time when the International Media and Human Rights experts were not easily allowed entry, and I have witnessed a cruel reality. It has been, and still continues to be, quite difficult to expose violations of human rights in Kashmir but I cannot just turn my back on them. What I have seen and felt in Srinagar is too strong to give up. What is your fondest memory of Kashmir? I have lots of memories about Kashmir, and all of them are alive and constantly present within me. I used to enjoy drinking my first cup of tea of the day, sitting on the patio, looking up in the sky and watching the eagles and their wings of freedom. I remember my frequent visits to the Mosque and how relaxing and peaceful it was for me. When it was time to leave my legs were somehow stuck to the ground and it took me some time to stand up and walk away. Another memory is the day I took photographs of a Kashmiri killed under torture. As I was walking away, towards my house, I passed some women who were still deeply upset and crying because of the loss of their loved one. One of them recognized me from the funeral and she looked at me with pain, her eyes were shining with tears, she was crying and shouting at me: “…What are you going to do with those photos, are you going to give them to someone else and nobody will know about us, or are you going to show the world what is going on in Kashmir…?” I didn’t reply but felt her pain and her anger. Can you see any way out for those in occupied Kashmir and what, if anything, can those of us living in the West do to help their cause? The only peaceful solution that I can see is the withdrawal of the military presence from Kashmir. India and Pakistan should let Kashmiri Leaders form an integral part of the peace talks, and ensure that once divided Kashmir is reunited and free from external Armies, Kashmiris will hold what has been promised to them: a Plebiscite I am sure there are many ways of helping them from the West; one obvious way is to expose the violation of human rights in Kashmir, and to make people aware that Kashmir is not just a disputed territory but also a beautiful country with beautiful people. Kash Gabriel Torsello was in conversation with Dr Sangeeta Dhami
The following are comments:
Good article. The journalist probably should have looked more in to details and facts about whose land Kashmir was before the Mughal invasion of India. Yes and very true human rights are abused in Kashmir especially by the Indian army, historically whose land is it? Does it belong to Persians? No! it belongs to the Pandits who are in exile and took refuge in India. It is very sad fact indeed Bharath
Very moving. Sensitive and balanced and non judgemental.Azhar Sheikh
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