The writer had used a lot of descriptive language to show the differences between the areas and show the beautiful Kashmir as well as the poverty that had struck Qazigund. Qazigund is known as the entrance to Kashmir and is very different from what the author described Kashmir as.
The author describes Kashmir's sky as “the milky blue sky in which we rediscovered the drama of clouds.” This is showing how the author's opinion of this area is calm and colorful as he goes into depth about the shade of blue that the sky is. The author even said “Kashmir was coolness and colour,” this is again showing how highly he believes in the beauty of this area and makes it sound like all of Kashmir is like this specific area.
Qazigund on the other hand, had a much different description from the same author despite it being known as “The Gateway of Kashmir.” The author describes the poverty and poor living conditions that people in this town have to go through. For example the author said “and a smell in the cold air of charcoal, tobacco, cooking oil, months-old dirt, and human excrement.” This is a very different description than what the author had originally described Kashmir as. The author even mentions “the foolish widow had made her cow climb up
to the roof,” she had done this because grass was growing quicker on their roofs than anywhere else.
The language that Bill Colegrave had used had been very strong and heavily expressed his feelings on both areas despite them being part of the same place. These descriptive words were complete opposites. For example the author had described the people of Kashmir as “It was men wrapped in brown blankets against the morning mist, the bare footed shepherd boys with caps and covered ears on steep wet rocky slopes.” This image that the author places in the reader's head makes the reader think about the calm mood that is in this area. The author describes the people of Qazigund as “Buses packed with men with red-dyed beards were going in the direction from which we had come.” This description makes the reader believe that Qazigund is a lot more crowded and that everybody wants to leave the town based on the bus that is going where the author came from being full.