EMBROIDERED CASHMERE SCARVES AND SHAWLS :

Against the will of its inhabitants, Kashmir is one of those places in the world that has become shrouded in mystery and there is a risk that writing about it will only make it worse. As Kashmir is in a permanent state of war, it is highly inadvisable to go there. The inhabitants suffer from all the ills that such a situation entails, such as constant electricity cuts and communication and organisation problems, to mention only some of the factors that are keeping the region in a pitiful state of economic under-development. The lucky ones who could afford it have left the region to escape this collapse. So, there is enormous nostalgia conducive to the spinning of legends, not only among Kashmiri émigrés but also among the British who, in the days of the Empire, considered Kashmir to be a sort of paradise on Earth with an ideal climate and superb landscapes, not to mention among the Indians, who have gone to endless trouble to hold on to part of the region. If Kashmir has managed to struggle on behind a veil of almost mythical accounts of the region, this is in large measure due to the patient labour of its craftspeople, because the craft tradition in Kashmir is perhaps more brilliant than anywhere in India, and that really is saying something. (...)