Kashmiri Pandit migrant opens restaurant in North Kashmir, receives warm welcome

Akash Dhar (second from left), with his restaurant team

LANGATE (KUPWARA): At the centre of Langate's main market in north Kashmir's Kupwara district stands a brightly lit restaurant with modern decor and eight neatly arranged tables. In one corner, 29-year-old Akash Dhar welcomes customers with a smile. His eyes remain open though he cannot see. Two weeks ago, Dhar - whose Kashmiri Pandit family had migrated from J&K as violence peaked in the 1990s - tentatively opened 'Taste and Treats' restaurant. However, he was hardly ready for the response he would receive from the local community. "It has been incredible," he beamed. "My landlord, Bashir Ahmad Beigh, won't take any rent from me and customers are trooping in," he told TOI. Starting a business back in Kupwara "felt like a natural step", said Dhar, who had made several attempts to qualify for the civil services but couldn't.

‘We want eatery to do well and hope this will encourage other Kashmiri migrants to return’

After all, his mother Chandra Dhar is from Handwara, about 4km from Langate, and his father Ashish Dhar is a “Langate native”. The family left for Jammu three decades ago where Dhar was born in a migrant colony. Dhar’s vision began deteriorating when he was a child. His parents took him to Delhi, where doctors diagnosed him with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative genetic eye disease that typically begins with night blindness, eventually leading to total blindness. His younger sister has the same condition. Both, however, pursued higher education. Akash graduated from University of Jammu and completed professional computer courses in Delhi. His sibling is studying music. An accomplished cricketer, Dhar represented the J&K blind cricket team in 2022.

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“It seems like this (the restaurant) is what I had always been waiting for,” Dhar said, as one of his employees, 22-year-old Yasir Aamir, nodded approvingly. “A neighbour told me about this restaurant,” Aamir said. “I applied for the job and got it. I am happy, so is my family.” The restaurant’s manager, Irfan Ahmad Lone, is upbeat. “We are getting customers from different areas,” Lone said. “Yesterday we had guests from Ganderbal. There were Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits. Some came from Srinagar too.” Latief Ahmad Ganai (30), president of the local market association, thinks so too. “We all want Taste and Treats to do well,” Ganai said. “We hope this will encourage other Kashmiri migrants to return.”