August 4 was a long day for Ghulam Hussain, a waza, or master chef. At a house at Bemina in Srinagar, he had to pound meat and spices and prepare gravies for an elaborate wedding feast, called a wazawan, to be held the next day. The following day came a momentous political event: the revoking of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and the imposition of a prolonged communications lockdown. Meat is the star of the wazawan, for both Muslims and Pandits, although with different recipes. Between August and October falls the wedding season as well as festivals such as Id, and the calendars of the wazas fill up weeks in advance.

Source: The Hindu October 19, 2019 18:33 UTC