Through the device of a trek from Gulmarg to the frozen lake of Al-Patthar high up in the Himalayas across the span of two days, Sorrow of the Snows lays bare the life and daily ordeals of a peasant labourer Hasandeen, who rents out horses to visitors and trekkers. Hasandeen s story of deprivation and helplessness gradually evolves into the story of every poor farmer in India who rests the responsibility of his happiness or sorrows on the shoulders of God. Although set at a time before the present unrest in Kashmir began, Ashk s novella hints boldly at the impending political storm which overtook Kashmir less than a decade later.