Experiencing Chillai-Kalan: My First Harsh Winter in Kashmir. Kashmir has always been a land of stories, seasons, and silence. But experiencing it during Chillai-Kalan, the harshest winter period in Kashmir, was something no photograph or film could ever prepare me for. In January 2021, around 20th January, I visited Kashmir for the first time — right in the middle of Chillai-Kalan, when the valley experiences its coldest days of the year. Coming from Mumbai, a coastal city w