Word: valleys
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...small shop in Paris, is consistently snubbed by the insular and snooty French oenophile establishment. So he sets out to prove that offerings from other countries, which he unsuccessfully stocks, can equal those of the previously unchallenged French vintages. This leads him to California's Napa Valley, where he seeks wines that might fare well in a blind tasting he plans to stage in France. There he finds, among other good wines, a Chardonnay bottled by cranky Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) at his debt-ridden family winery. You probably don't need a spoiler alert to see where this tale...
...cave is a gigantic challenge to managing the logistics of the pilgrimage - not only is it perched 4,000 meters (12,000 ft) above sea level where rain, snow and landslides are common, it is also plunk in the middle of the insurgency-ravaged Kashmir Valley. And with ever greater numbers of pilgrims coming in (so far this year, over 500,000 pilgrims have already visited) the government reasoned that more temporary shelters were required. And so on May 26 the ruling Congress-led government of Jammu and Kashmir decided to divert 100 acres of forest land to erect such...
Muslim hardliners complained vehemently against what they alleged was an attempt to create "Israel-like" settlements of Hindus to change the demography of the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley. (It would be a daunting feat for even the most fanatical of such alleged settlers - the area is uninhabitable for much ofthe year.) But once the fears spread, protests in Kashmir grew. The government eventually backed down and revoked the shelter order on July 1. That, in turn, led to a backlash from Hindus in the Hindu-majority Jammu region of the state, with right-wing parties including the BJP jumping...
...demonstrators clashing with the police in what many say is the largest mass agitation in the state since the 1990s, when the insurgency was raging. This week, at least three protestors have been killed and scores injured. On Tuesday, Hindu protesters blocked traffic on the main highway, leaving the Valley short of food, fuel and medical supplies, and leaving Kashmiri fruit-growers seeing their produce rotting instead of heading for markets in the rest of India...
Manoj Joshi, author of Lost Rebellion: Kashmir in the 1990s, says all parties are equally to blame for dividing the state along religious lines. "And by blockading the Valley, they [Hindu hardliners] are making the Muslims more insecure and making them lean towards Pakistan." Joshi says, "It is a very dangerous game. One wonders how far they can go on playing with national interest...