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STORY OF MY FATHER
My Father. I had bid farewell to a multi-coloured Watanigour willow walkermade in Islamabad. I don’t know if a rouht phitrawan (bread breaking) ceremony was arranged on my first step without a walker, as was the tradition. I had inherited the walker from my elder brother Mohammad Yousf, and it was passed on to my younger sibling Ghulam Hassan. Along with a walnut wood crib, a mace with quartz head, an old lantern, an old gramophone record … Read entire article »
My Days in Bombay- Looking for spiritual solace in film nagari
Haji Malang My Days in Bombay – A spiritual Journey My Days in Bombay- Spiritual Journey of Downtown Boy Looking For Inner Solace in Film Nagari Off To Haji Malang ZGM Many spiritual experiences can’t be captured in words. Offering late-night prayers during sultry days on an islet with the soothing breeze blowing on all sides from the Arabian Sea had a unique spiritual elation. Perhaps, it was as good an experience as that of whirling … Read entire article »
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NOOR SAHIB AN ICONIC TEACHER
Noor Sahib An Iconic Teacher Zahid G Muhammad # Noor Sahib: An Iconic Teacher Zahid G Muhammad I see a parallel between books and teachers. We read many books, admire quite a number, and love only a few. As someone once said—quite well, I might add—books shape our lives and increase our understanding, and there comes a phase in life when we deride a book that once influenced and shaped our thinking. That, I believe, holds for teachers as well. Almost one-third of our lives are behind the ramparts of schools, colleges, and universities. It would be fair to say we pass these years away from real society on a sort of island, where our companions are a few classmates and buddies, our superiors are our teachers, and our superior boss is the school headmaster … Read entire article »
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Kashmir Cultural Notes – The Rice-man Chefs of Kashmir The Rice-Man ZGM Other than politics, which has continuously been picking our minds like woodpeckers on tall pine trees, gossip about wazawan dominates our discourses during the … Read more »
Hassan My Younger Sibling- An Obituary On My Childhood —
Nostalgia Hassan My Younger Sibling An Obituary on My Childhood ZGM He is gone. My other half of … Read more »
Ambassador Yusuf Buch: As I See Him
Yusuf Buch, as I see him In search of a genuine intellectual voice PUNCHLINE by ZG Muhammad Some time back, … Read more »
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Summing up SRINAGAR (Book Review)
ZGM’s Nostalgia shapes into a book bringing alive the stories from the city that once was Kashmir in … Read more »
Is Asking For Collective Instrospection Blasphemous In Kashmir
Z.G. MUHAMMAD ‘I stumbled when I saw’. On seeing leaders committing faux pas of far- reaching implications, I … Read more »
Who Divides Them?
What Divides Them? Or Should I say who divides them Z.G. MUHAMMAD In larger political struggles, it is the … Read more »
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Mothers Are God’s Blessing. My Mother-Part III
My Mother Part III She had not been to a school. In the desert of illiteracy that had been the fate of the overwhelming majority, both men and women, particularly women, she had not been a lone traveller; she had a swarm of companions. Of course, in her generation, some exceptions were fortunate to have been admitted to a Christen Missionary School; one of them had been my mother-in-law. She would be nostalgic about the days when she, along with some other girls of her locality, embarked on a boat at Nawa Kadal Ghat for the school near Fateh Kadal, the third bridge on Jhelum- ferrying the girls to the school was arranged by the school … Read entire article »
My Mother Part II
My Memoir: Story of An Ordinary Man My Mother Part II You often smile when you look back at your childhood and giggle at your innocence. There is a lot of thrill in reminiscing about innocent acts and beliefs from childhood. Did we not believe, and believe with complete faith, that red beetles with black dots in lush green turf at Khanaqah Naqshbandi and Jamia Masjid were a Khuda-Sobin Batha-Phul—His staple food? Did we not eagerly wait for a feather of peacock kept inside a book to multiply after putting some sugar crystals in the book? It’s never too late to enjoy a happy childhood. Anything connected with childhood is joy incarnate; it may be grandmother’s souvenirs in … Read entire article »
MY MOTHER PART I
My Mother Part- I My Mother My mother told me that I witnessed the Kashmir saga from the womb. She repeated it often, along with some bitter things connected with my birth. I did not understand what my mother wanted to convey. Perhaps, I was too young to understand the stories that ran parallel to when I had tumbled into this world with my shirt-button-sized bluish-brown eyes half shut on a chilly February Monday, precisely at seven mornings when the sky was ominously cast with dark clouds. The sun was still buried behind the Zabarwan hillock. As I became older, I assumed it was a parable, fable, or myth that Mother was telling; after all, our entire tale … Read entire article »
My Memoir: My Uncle – Part VI Search for Spiritual Solace by Z. G. Muhammad
My Memoir: My Uncle VI My Memoir: My Uncle VI It may also be true for other parts of the city and villages. As mausoleums and Khanqahs dotted downtown Srinagar, some trees also had a halo mystique around them that added surrealness to the atmosphere. Myths also had been woven around some of them. Some huckleberry trees on the vast expanse … Read entire article »
My Memoir: My Uncle And His Spiritual Experiences Part V
My Memoir: My Uncle Part V By Z. G. Muhammad In our part of the city, the ambience, architecture and spirituality were blended into a ‘soul-repairing whole.’ The glistening golden minarets of mosques, hospices and mausoleums dominating the skyline in sync with the hymns emanating from them played a role in shaping the downtowners’ faith, beliefs and attitude towards life. Even the most robust and sturdy with herculean sinews were tender as tendrils at their heart. Even the toughs, roughs and rugged in the society melted like icicles in sunrays on seeing the suffering fellow folks. They outpaced the “elite” in rescuing people in distress and disastrous situations- fires, floods, earthquakes and road accidents. When the “elite” watched … Read entire article »
Story of An Era: Story of My Uncle Part iV
My Memoir: My Uncle Part IV Of Unique ecstasy, words fail Z. G. Muhammad He was like a bouquet. It would be fair to say he was an assortment of beautiful flowers, as varied as narcissus that heralds springs and chrysanthemum that greets winter with its diverse colours- each colour having its uniqueness. I am talking about my uncle, who loved to live a worldly life and relish the pleasures the world offered while remaining subsumed in the spiritual world. He was courage incarnate and had a booming voice that struck awe. The word timidity was not part of his lexicon; he taught me how to fight this malice, prologue to cowardice and eventually to a weak personality. … Read entire article »