Kashmir: ‘Electoral Politicians and Polo Ponies.’
Punchline Kashmir: Electoral Politics and ‘Polo Ponies’ Z.G. Muhammad Sometimes meeting an embittered politician, enables one to peep into a domain of politics that otherwise remains obscure. Moreover, on occasions sharing experiences about such meetings helps in analysing the games behind popping up of new characters like mushrooms during rains with alternative narratives for fortifying the ‘hegemonic discourses’ at the time of elections in the State. More it also helps to understand how multiple forces, ostensibly … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Kashmir Scholars: Revisit The Past And Tell The Untold Story
PUNCHLINE Scholars Must Revisit By Z.G. Muhammad Some friends, are opposed to the idea of relating the history of the land, old or of the recent past to the current ‘dominant discourse’ or the contemporary ‘people’s narrative’. They have the right to do so; everyone has the right to hold an opinion. Nonetheless, to quote Frederick Douglass, a nineteenth-century American social reformer and leader to end slavery in America. ‘It is essential to keep a record of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk, Point of view
Last Iconic Artisan Mohammad Amin Kundangar And My Days At Daribal School
Nostalgia Daribal School and Last Iconic Artisans ZGM The ‘hint of sweet spring was in the air; it was the first day of March’ after long vacations school had opened. Nonetheless, the heaps of frozen snow still littered the lanes, blankets of snow covered many mud roofs in our Mohalla and the latticed windows pasted with brown paper and old newspapers were even shut. Those days, glass window panes were a rarity, most of the houses … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Kashmir’s Young Ambassadors – Songs and Music Is Their Language
PUNCHLINE Kashmir’s New Ambassadors By Z.G. Muhammad Like many others in my tribe; opinion writers and columnists, guided by screaming headlines I am also oblivious to the urges and aspirations of our youth. That there is a strong undercurrent in a whole generation of them to use music, arts, literature, theatre and modern mediums like Instagram and YouTube for telling their stories, and articulating their pain and agony. I understood it first time some six years … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
Meeting Downtown Boy On The Champs-Elysées Paris
Nostalgia Downtown Boy On The Champs-Elysées ZGM Every one of has a treasure trove of reminiscences. I love to share them and make my friends nostalgic- nostalgia, I believe is cathartic. I don’t know; it is the job of the scientist to decide if nostalgia could be described as autobiographic, episodic or semantic memory. Nevertheless, it is something that takes us down the memory land instantly, at an unimaginable speed. Sometimes, a whirlwind that all children lovingly … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
Mohammad Din Fauq Chair And Kashmir University
PUNCHLINE ‘Fauq Chair’ For History By Z. G. Muhammad A group of our scholars, writers and historians expressed their deep concern about the academic inertia that has beset most of the universities. For having authored many books on history, literature and contemporary politics some of them are recognized as credible voices of the state. The concern was expressed more than a decade back at a seminar organised in connection with the importance of 13 July 1931 in the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
Nimble Hands That Created Marvels Out of Wood
Nostalgia Carpenter with Nimble Hands By ZGM I was introduced to the nimble hands much before, my younger sibling and I began with our tender hands looking for pearls in Kawa-Shup (shells) in the dunes of driftwood in the firewood store of our house. I was introduced to them before; I could walk without my mother holding my hands. My first introduction to the skillful hands, which I admired in later days of my life was … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk