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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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BOOK REVIEW: SHAWLS AND SHALBAFS Of KASHMIR – AN ALL TIME BOOK BY DR AB.AHAD
Legacy of Kashmiri Shawls and Their Unsung Artisans By Z. G. Muhammad Kashmir’s timeless grandeur is often symbolised by its towering Chinar trees—silent witnesses to the region’s history, culture, and changing seasons. In autumn, the Chinar’s leaves turn a fiery tapestry of colours, captured by Shakespeare’s phrase ‘ripeness is all’—the pinnacle of life’s rich experiences. In Shawls and Shawlbafs of Kashmir: Legends of Unsung Heroes, Dr Abdul Ahad draws a striking parallel between these magnificent trees and the artisans who have, for generations, woven the legendary Pashmina shawls, only to be forgotten like autumn leaves turned to dust. The plight of the Shawlbafs of Kashmir has been a tale of unending penury. Through introductory remarks, readers are taken on an odyssey that spans thousands of years, highlighting the people behind the shawls. His deeply … 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 »
Latest
Echoes From The Past: As Fresh As Today- Review Of When The Dawned By Som Nath Zutshi – Reviewed by Z.G. Muhammad
Book Review Echoes From the Past- Fresh as Fresh as Of Today By Z.G. Muhammad Lull and literature cannot coexist. Literature is like water from a gushing natural spring, finding its way even by slicing through stones. It eventually bursts like a volcano when forced into a lull. Once literature breaks the shell of inertia, imposed or otherwise, it travels through decades … Read entire article »
Kashmir: Theft Of Holy Relic Of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) Demystified By Z.G. Muhammad
Book Review: Theft Of Holy Relic Demystified. Name of the Book: Kashmir Shock Fury Turmoil Theft of Prophet’s Relic Outrage and Spin-Off Author: Khalid Bashir Ahmad Publisher: Gulshan Books New Delhi/Srinagar Pages: 446 Price Paper Back: 795 By Z.G. Muhammad Writers often find themselves irresistibly drawn to certain subjects, especially those shrouded in mystery and intrigue. When a topic is veiled in mist and fog over time, it … Read entire article »
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 … Read entire article »
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 »