I have been to Kashmir many times, especially with my family, in the '70s.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
In India, there are lots of places that I love, but my favourite is Kashmir.
I've never seen anywhere in the world as beautiful as Kashmir. It has something to do with the fact that the valley is very small and the mountains are very big, so you have this miniature countryside surrounded by the Himalayas, and it's just spectacular. And it's true, the people are very beautiful too.
If you look at Indian movies, every time they wanted an exotic locale, they would have a dance number in Kashmir. Kashmir was India's fairyland. Indians went there because in a hot country you go to a cold place. People would be entranced by the sight of snow.
Kashmir, the 86,000-square-mile region in India's north, both is and isn't the India of the popular imagination.
When I was little, I grew up in a place called Hertfordshire, which is just near London, but out in the country, and I visited Pakistan in the summers to go and see my family on my dad's side.
I come from an enormous and very close family. I have over a dozen aunts and uncles in Pakistan, dozens of cousins. I have many close friends. I have received so much love in Lahore that the city always pulls me.
As a historical legacy, the Kashmir conflict has been an outstanding issue for more than half a century.
I am not only a Parsi, I am a Kashmiri too.
Free and fair elections have again demonstrated that Jammu and Kashmir is part of India, and the people want to remain with it.
I was in Kashmir last weekend. Went to visit one of my sweaters.