Kashmiri arts and crafts include woollen products, hand-woven silk carpets, Pashmina shawls, wooden art-ware, papier-mache, and other embroidery works, which are very popular in India and outside. Kashmiri cloth merchants sell their products through‘Pheri’, which is a traditional method of walking on foot and approaching the customers directly with their products, which seems to be an exciting contrast to the modern era of big malls and retail outlets. From building trust and familial bonds with their local customers, they have been part of the growing population of seasonal migrants for whom the city is their second home. Around 300-400 Kashmri cloth merchants generally come to Guwahati from November, stay the entire winter months, and return to their home state by March, when the warm climate begins. We conducted this study during the Covid-19 Pandemic, where we discovered that only about 150 people managed to come to the city. Some have come to the city for the last 20 years, while some are just a year old as a migrant. Having faced tough lives in their hometown due to internal conflicts and lack of employment opportunities during the winter months, Guwahati, like many other places, offers them scope for some income generation. The paper focuses on the state of affairs of the Kashmiri migrants concerning their livelihood and adaptations in Guwahati and also their experiences of the pandemic. Further, it also navigates the more considerable concern about internal migrants and their problems, especially in Northeastern India, particularly regarding the state's apathy regarding their overall development.
