Autumn Scenes   Nostalgia When Autumn Cometh ZGM       My siblings, my mates and I happily said goodbye to ‘stunning summer afternoons.’  That ‘soon we will plunge ourselves into cold shadows,’ did not bother us, and we never lamented as some poets have done. And ‘in the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,’ we no more looked for songs of spring’ but eagerly  waited for listening grandmother’s stories in cozy corners of the kitchen.  The blonde and brownish leaves … Read entire article »

    PUNCHLINE Write Your Story Z. G. Muhammad Like many other bibliophiles, the iconic bookstore, ‘The Kashmir Bookshop’ on the Residency Road had also become my haunt. Similar to some morning visitors to the India Coffee House, I also had become an avid dust jacket reader inside the bookshop and had developed the habit of flaunting my knowledge about books over a cup of hot coffee. The bookshop by all stretch of the imagination was the … Read entire article »

  Songbirds and Mystics Long queues gathered outside the door of a top Faqir in our neighbourhood That pretty little bird Kettijj (swallows) excited me the most. I loved chasing the bird in wee morning hours as it flew like a fighter plane on the deserted streets – gliding and soaring – then perching on the eaves for a song. I loved watching the bird dipping dextrously a straw or a twig in a muddy puddle and like … Read entire article »

      Bridegrooms And Barber’s Bowl ZGM   In our sprawling city, with beauty salons galore, and brides queuing outsides these for having  long sittings with the beauticians, the stories of the past, not that past by their mothers and grandmothers when these parlors were not there, and brides still looked prettier than spring flowers  sound to them  as good as fairy tales. In their pursuit of looking prettier than the Helen of Troy that ‘had launched a thousand ships’ many … Read entire article »