culture
Hours after Zubin Mehta had finished conducting the Bavarian State Orchestra to considerable acclaim at the Shalimar gardens in Kashmir last weekend, the general manager of the orchestra, Nikolaus Bachler, struck a flat note.
This had turned out to be an "embassy concert," he said unhappily, organised for an "exclusive, elitist crowd" and not for the people of Kashmir as the orchestra had imagined it would be. Mr Bachler was referring to the invitations issued by the German embassy in New Delhi to a select audience of about 2,500 people.
Unwittingly, he was also echoing the sentiments of Kashmiri separatists who had boycotted the concert and had called upon the people of the Kashmir valley to strike not only against the event, but against its organisers and its masterminds, those in Delhi and Srinagar, as well as in Berlin and Brussels.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who led the anti-concert protest, argued that the German musical evening would have the effect of changing the world's perception about the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir. Mehta indirectly rubbished the idea, insisting that art was meant to be a bridge that united people, which is why he and the Bavarian State Orchestra were there in the first place. The state's chief minister, Omar Abdullah, pleaded that for one evening, Kashmiris should let the music flow and soothe their decades-long trauma.
Over the last few days, many commentators have discussed how Beethoven, Haydn and Tchaikovsky shared space with birdsong in the Shalimar Bagh, a garden built by the Mughal emperor Jahangir in 1619 as a memento of love for his wife, Nur Jahan.
Here, beside the Dal Lake, the sculptured pavilions that stand in the terraced gardens and the cool mountain air epitomise the "heaven on Earth" reputation that Kashmir has held for centuries. Last Saturday evening it was enough to gasp at the sheer beauty of the place, let alone the music.
But the truth is, that Mr Geelani was right, even if Mehta was well-intentioned.
Mehta has performed all over the world and in several controversial situations, including in Sarajevo and the Palestinian territories. He has started a music education programme for Israeli-Arab students and is the music director for life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Addressing Mr Geelani through the press in Kashmir, Mr Mehta said in ungrammatical Hindi, Geelani sahib, hum toh aapka dost hoon. Geelani sahib, I am your friend.
Mr Geelani's apprehensions that one performance can change the perception of the disputed character of Jammu and Kashmir are not entirely misplaced. The fact is, the European Union has been severely critical of India's abysmal human rights record, especially in Jammu and Kashmir.
By organising such an event in the same region, indeed by allowing the Indian government to partner with Germany, the European Union was seen as indirectly accepting the Indian state's control over this part of Kashmir.
Certainly for India, this was an opportunity to prove its credentials. For at least 25 years, since the insurgency in Kashmir began in earnest and in which thousands of Kashmiris died, several thousand went missing and innumerable people were subject to the worst torture and Delhi fought a long diplomatic battle with several European capitals.
The Indian government argued that Pakistan instigated, funded and trained militants to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir and forcibly convert the local population to the anti-India cause, but few bought the story. In recent years, the killings have become substantially fewer but the Indian state has refused to address the root causes. So when the German ambassador in Delhi suggested that Mehta perform in Srinagar, Delhi could hardly contain its excitement.
Four people were killed in the south Kashmiri district of Shopian on the day of the concert. It was a reminder of the fragile peace that is characteristic of the region today, a peace that can disintegrate at any time.
Equally, Mehta's presence in the tormented Kashmir valley was the equivalent of applying balm to the soul. It brought home to the Kashmiris how isolated they had become from the rest of the world.
None other than the verse of Amir Khusrau, the Indian subcontinent's most famous medieval poet, "if there is heaven on earth, it is this," is inscribed on a black marble pavilion in the Shalimar Bagh, close to the site where Mehta performed on Saturday evening.
Aptly, Mehta also opened another door for reconciliation. Next time he visits Kashmir, he would like to perform in a stadium, so that everyone could come and hear the music, Mehta said, indirectly acknowledging the criticism that the concert had been restricted to a privileged few.
Still, Mehta's presence in Kashmir, to heal hearts and minds, will only be served if the government of India can expand the space for peace by beginning a real political dialogue on greater autonomy with separatists such as Geelani and other Kashmiri leaders. State elections are barely a year away and mainstream political parties are already gearing up for the fight.
Bringing the separatists back into the fold, channelling their resentment and their struggle over the decades and giving them a real stake in the political process will undoubtedly require plenty of energy from India's senior political figures. The question remains whether Delhi is really up to that challenge?
Jyoti Malhotra is a political and foreign affairs analyst based in Delhi