Honestly, they ‘have been more sinned against than sinning.’ Distraught at the plight of a million people with bright minds and deft hands this Shakespearean quote knocked my mind while walking through the streets, lanes, and bylanes of the heart of Srinagar city. None but the people they catapulted to power after big struggle and sacrifices have betrayed them and[Read More...]
Mythical or folklore tales have been a part of all ancient societies & communities. Such stories are still told verbally & even otherwise in writings, songs, paintings, etc, in many societies & communities to keep up their old traditions of culture & art. Romans had richest mythical history, so had Chinese & Arabs. But if you look at any of these[Read More...]
(Repealing of Article 35-A creates an apprehension among Kashmiris of being swept away by the rich from the mainland. On the contrary, Kashmir may turn into something which no one could have imagined!) The controversy regarding the article 35-A has now been in the news for sometime. The shut downs called by various organizations to show the resentment of the[Read More...]
(For past some time the officers in the state administration are being shuffled like a pack of cards which renders them ineffective) Apart from various political and security issues, the State of Jammu & Kashmir is bedevilled by lack of governance and unresponsive administration. Both the issuers emanate from the virtual absence of accountability which is a direct offshoot of[Read More...]
Like many other bibliophiles, the iconic bookstore, ‘The Kashmir Bookshop’ on the Residency Road had also become my haunt. Similar to some morning visitors to the India Coffee House, I also had become an avid dust jacket reader inside the bookshop and had developed the habit of flaunting my knowledge about books over a cup of hot coffee. The bookshop[Read More...]
Shortly before the termination of his rule in 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Hindu ruler of Kashmir, was known to have toyed with the idea of converting Sonawar, a quarter of uptown Srinagar, into a lake to accord a unique peculiarity to his palace, Talay Manzil (Abode of Fortune) of sitting between two lakes, the other being the famed[Read More...]
Flag is not a mere piece of fabric that flutters about in the breeze. It represents the feelings & ideals of the people for that for which it has been created & thus stands for. The first Kashmir flag was adopted by the first largest political party of J&K Muslims, All J & K Muslim Conference, which was formed in[Read More...]
Acting on the recommendation of Mountbatten, the British Government on 3rd June, 1947, announced its plan of partition of India into two Dominions of India & Pakistan. The Indian Independence Act, 1947 enacted by the British on 18th July 1947 gave legal recognition to the creation of the two Dominions. Under the Act, British suzerainty over the provinces including 584[Read More...]
Some days, back on social media network Facebook, someone posted a black and white photograph of a handsome turbaned man draped in an up-button black coat. The picture looked straight into the eyes of the surfers telling terrifying tales of suppression of the yester years. It had hundreds of likes and dozens of shares.It generated scores of euphoric and[Read More...]
During the heydays of European colonialism, ‘the beautiful valley of Kashmir inhabited by ugly Kashmiris’ was the standard signature of a European travel narrative about Kashmir. Nevertheless, no European travellers attributed the term ‘hypocrite’ with Kashmiris. One would presumably understand the lack of agency among colonial subjects in imagining their identities. Their stereotyping of Kashmiri people was, therefore, understandable and[Read More...]
