Mashal-e-khu’er – the children of lesser god but part of pageantry
Nostalgia ‘Mashal-e-khu’er The Luxury of time was the beauty of our childhood. We were not couch potatoes, but free as birds having liberty to perch on high or low branch and sing our songs like a nightingale. We had freedom of Iqbal’s hawk to fly unimpeded high in skies at our sweet will. ‘To have a happy childhood is the luckiest thing that can happen in one’s life. That way our whole generation despite being … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
On Article 35-A ……….. and the ‘Violence of Interpretations’
PUNCHLINE Article 35A And ‘Violence of Interpretations’ By Z. G. Muhammad We have a story, with a beginning, middle and end- but it is the end that is confounded by “the others,” who have their ‘meal tickets in the pursuit.’ For confusing the end, they not only collaborate with the coercive forces in strengthening the ‘hegemonic discourse’ but also indulge in what academic’ describe as the ‘violence of hermeneutics.’ The ‘others’ that is the tribe of political … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
Bridegroom on A Colt: Only Rich And Influential Could Afford White Stallion
Nostalgia Bridegroom on A Colt ZGM I have an unbreakable bond with my childhood. That perhaps holds true about everyone. Often on festive, even not-that-jovial occasions, I instantaneously get connected to my childhood. ‘Childhood memories’ as someone has rightly said ‘come crashing like a wave, and one reaches to them with arms out to grab them, to catch them, hold them close,’ and I take great pleasure in sharing them with my friends; young and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
From Downtown Boy: Of Great Kulfiwala Ama Budda
Of Great Kulfiwala Ama Budda The taste of yesteryears still makes my mouth water Nostalgia by ZGM The room, I opened eyes for the first time, the clay daubed green walls that greeted me with a smile on my first day in this world, the window that allowed golden sun rays to stealthily steal into the room to kiss my rubicund face for the first time are now no more there. The house I was born in has … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
New Delhi Banishes Foreign Journalists from Kashmir-Why?
Foreign Journalists Banished Reporting Kashmir Z.G. Muhammad The story of contemporary Kashmir would have remained under wraps, marked as “classified,” “top secret” never to be told to the world. But, for some journalist living true to their professional ethics, it was reported. Annie Gowen, graduate of the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas recipient of Human Rights Press Award of Special Merit 2018, with just one tweet worth … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
The Wailing Museums Of Kashmir: The agonized story of parents of martyred children
Punchline The ‘Wailing Museums’ By Z.G. Muhammad On a couple of times, I noticed a man wearing grief on his face as withering leaves on hackberries on graveyards strolling on dusty lawns of the Srinagar court. At some other times, I had spotted him silently sitting in corners of the canopies erected by the human rights activists or the resistance leadership to mark the world human rights day and remind the world about the human rights violations … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Shamala Mufti’s Memoir And My Nostalgia
Nostalgia Connecting To A Memoir ZGM Everyone has a tale to tell and a nostalgia to share. Nostalgia is cathartic. Nonetheless, it is equally a life-writing that goes beyond biography. It not only ‘encompasses everything from the complete life to day-in-the-life, from the fictional to factional’ but it also connects us with others and their immediate past, social and cultural moorings. Some days back, a doctoral thesis by one of our young United States based scholar … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take