Dear All
This photograph brought torrents of memories of Kashmir to my mind. The lady Musalmanian, in this picture is setting her shop on the shores of Dal Lake:

The Nadur is symbolically as significant to us as is the Chicken to the Punjabi Tandoori cuisine. Nadier Yekhin, Nadier Palak, Nadier Vaustahak, Nadier Gaddah,Choak Nadier & the most famous Nadier Muenji & The Nadier Churmah. After Dumaloo, nadier churmah was always in great demand by baraties in a khander saal. It was also a less messy thing to distribute & any one of the severing brigade in a khander saal (old style in a sitting position) would seize the first opportunity to handle its distribution as it offered opportunity to put a few pieces in the mouth stealthily without anybody noticing. Sometimes however the crunching noise will give the game away!
I remember two profound thoughts composed by poets of the yore, associated with Nadur,a brittle stuff in its mature form, that is retrieved by hanjies from the Dal and Anchar lakes.The fare from Anchar lake was considered of lower quality than from the Dal. The famous bhakti kavi Swarg. Krishnajuv Razdan Sahib(1850-1926)),put the verse this way in one of his very famous poems which he is believed to have written extempore during a Dal-Saer by a dunga. These are the opening lines:
Sara Kor Samasar, Na-durui Drav
Dal Mo Hoshi, Chetki Pamposh Tschaw
After great evaluation & discrimination using faculties of mind & intellect, we found that the physical universe as it has been created, is not at all durable & everlasting ..……’Na’ means ‘not’ & ‘Dur’ meaning ‘strong & durable’. “Na” & “dur” together meaning lotus root which comes from Sar(a water body) and “Sara karun” means evaluation & assessment. Do not get distracted & lose your senses (Dal Mo Hoshi), but admire & remain entranced by the lotus like bloom of your Consciousness. Symbolically, it suggests that the samsara offers beautiful & irresistible attractions & pleasures like Dal lake offering Nadur a delicious padarath…. but these are impermanent. Enjoying worldly pleasures will certainly deflect our attention from the main aim of seeking Parmanand because world can only offer opportunities of just securing anand. The poet has beautifully used the pun on the words by bringing Dal ,Pamposh, Nadur & Sar together in the poem.

The other verse or vak that again uses the pun on the words very beautifully is as follows. Its author is not known to me:
Aanchari Bichari vichaar vonun, Nadur chiv the hey-yew ma
Teebooz trukev tim laig vanani, Na-Dour chuh the hey-yew meh
The lady hailing from Anchar Lake (Anchari),innocent,not endowed with wisdom(Bichari) is hawking around Nadur. While she implores you to purchase (hey-yew ma), she unknowingly is also making a profound statement (vichaar vanun) about the temporariness (Na Dur) of the world. The subtle meaning was easily appreciated & picked up by the wise,Trika Shaivites (trukev booz) who preached impermanence of the physical world &,therefore, advocated that one should not get attracted towards its physical charms(hey-yew meh i.e. do not purchase even though unlimited kinds of pleasure are available in the world because these will bind one to the world & hence, there is no salvation).
{Note: I have tried to recollect the actual phrases or the words of this Vak, as accurately as I could. I am not very sure if it is really this way. In Melbourne where I presently live, no one is available to help me out? Could anybody help, please? But I cannot restrain my thought process when it comes to anything to do with Kashmir or any aspect of life or living in Kashmiri.}

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ZUV CHUM BRAMAAN GARAH GACHA HA