KANDURS OF SRINAGAR

I have always been fascinated by the Kashmir Valley and allure of the Himalayas. As someone from the plains, I have always been drawn to Kashmir’s breath-taking scenic beauty, and have returned several times to cover stories in this region. But Kashmir is much more than its beautiful landscape. On one such trip, after winding up an assignment, I decided to explore Downtown, the oldest part of Srinagar, dotted with mosques, Kanqahs and Sufi shrines stretching along the banks of the river Jhelum. Here, in the old mohallas, I took recommendations from the locals about where to find the legendary kandurwans. Kandurs are bakers, who prepare a variety of homemade delicacies in clay tandoors. Similar bakers are also found in Pakistan and beyond, all the way to the Southern Caucasus, in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Tandoor became integral to Kashmir as part of the exchange of cultures along the ancient Silk Route which connected Jammu and Kashmir to Central Asia, Afghanistan, undivided Punjab and Iran. Tandoor is derived from Persian tanur, which means oven. The practice of breadmaking using a clay oven has been around since ancient times, and very little has changed in the way of technique. Kashmiris are, by and large, inseparable from their tandoori breads. Wherever they have settled in India, be it in neighbouring Ladakh or in New Delhi, the kandur has followed. While Leh has an entire lane dedicated to these traditional bakers (loved equally by the Ladakhi as well as the Muslim populations), Delhi also has had a history of kandurs wherever a sizeable Kashmiri population lived in the old city. The smell of baked bread rising from the wood fired tandoor is a tough temptation to resist, more so for any Kashmiri, whose day is incomplete without a breakfast of hot bread. Work in the bakery starts well before dawn, when Downtown is still asleep. Bakeries match their activity to the namaz-e-fajrwhich is usually performed between dawn and daybreak. The first items to be fired on the tandoor are girdas and lavasas, savoured with a refreshing cup of kehwa(Kashmiri green tea) or nun chai(salted tea). After performing fajr, on their way back from the local mosque, elders pick up freshly made girdas and lavasas for the entire family. This way, the kandurwan (bakery shop) doubles up as a community space, where people discuss everything important and trivial, and catch up on neighbourhood gossip. Every locality has their own kandurwan, often more than one. Each member of the family contributes a different task. While the women prepare the dough, men work on the tandoors, and children deliver the breads, often on their way to school. Getting invited to watch the daily activity in a kandurwan is as good as getting invited to their house. It is a busy space, with long hours of hard work. Early morning and late afternoon are the busiest.The warmth of the tandoor is matched by the warmth of the kandur. They were kind and patient enough to let me hang around and document the whole process, explaining to me the different breads they make, how they are best served and what flavouring ingredients are used in their making. For every variety of bread, the tandoor has to be prepared differently. The temperature varies for each type of bread. Around a dozen or so different types of breads are popular in Srinagar, though there are variations in different parts of Kashmir.