Autobiographical Notes 3: My Days in Bombay
Nostalgia Meeting the Arzoo Man ZGM It was a dreamland. For many of many of my friends, it was a fabulous city that neither they nor their fathers had ever visited but only heard about it from those few in our Mohalla who visited this city of seven islands for selling silver trinkets, carved and embroidered crafts. Their fathers, grandfathers had shared with them lots of stories about Lahore- the city of splendor and culture. But, after having … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
Ominous Shadows in Jammu- Leaders Rise To Occasion
Punchline The Ominous Shadows In Jammu and Kashmir It presages something cataclysmic is in the offing that has the potential of tearing apart the social and political fabric of the state beyond repair. It should send alarm bells ringing across the divide. Moreover, it calls for serious attention, far beyond a tweet or a post on the social media or a statement in the newspaper. In fact, the case of rape and murder of the eight-year-old … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
An autobiographic Note-2, Downtown Srinagar in Bombay
Nostalgia Khusrow on Sale By ZGM On my landing in the metropolis, the city I had dreamt about visiting and living in during boyhood, I felt ‘all that I am is driftwood for the sea.’ Seeing seas of humanity coming out of the Church Gate and Victory Terminus Railway stations, fears haunted my mind- it will soon engulf me. The grandeur of the Gothic style architecture of the Victoria Terminus- VT railway station as every commuter … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
An Autobiographical Note- Tryst With Progressive Writers.
Nostalgia Tryst with Progressive Writers ZGM Our childhood, in many ways, was the antithesis of William Henry Davies famous poem ‘Leisure’ in which he laments; ‘What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare, We had a lot of time to stand and stare, and watch a thrush singing in the bush, look for cuckoo’s eggs in bulbuls’ nests in the ivies cloaking neighbor’s house and chase swallows flying on the deserted … Read entire article »
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Showcasing History – Rebuilding Citadel of Kashmir Freedom Struggle
PUNCHLINE Showcasing History By Z.G. Muhammad Thirty-three years back, in December 1985, by sheer luck, I had landed in Paris. The State then was ruled by a ‘defection’ government. It was a government of just eleven legislators turned ministers who had deserted their party for ministerial berths and earned sponsorship from New Delhi. In this fifteen-month old government, bureaucracy ruled the roost. In one of the meetings, I also won a favor of a senior bureaucrat- a visit … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk, Point of view
When Grandmothers and Mothers Glued Their Ears To Radio Trarkhal
Nostalgia Our Love for Radio Trarkhal. ZGM Sitting in the window of his workplace with lenses as thick as magnifying glasses in steel frame tied to his ears with thick cotton threads, he weaved dreams on Pashmina Shawls with a needle and silken threads. Moving his needle with precision as swiftly as wings of a hummingbird, and often looking into a neighbor’s vast pomegranate garden in full bloom he sounded like reciting Rumi’s poetry, “Come to the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Kashmir-Talk
Our Poet, Scholar Teacher Pandit Pitamber Nath Dhar Fani
Nostalgia A Pandit Poet Teacher By ZGM Sometimes, for ‘angelic pureness’ of our times, I start believing that we were children of the medieval times. That lived in kinship with nature. The sun rising behind the Zabarwan peaks splashing everything with gold and through latticed windows stealthily entering into our bedroom, woke up my siblings and me. The ringing bells of goats and ewes and herdsman calling loudly goat’s and ewe’s milk for two annas two ounce reminded … Read entire article »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk