Peace Watch » Archive
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
Kashmir Literary Awards, Research Studies And Hegemonic Discourses
PUNCHLINE Awarding Writers and Poets By Z.G. Muhammad More than a decade back, sitting in a newspaper office, a fellow writer Ashraf Sahil suggested the idea of instituting of the ‘private awards’ in Kashmir for literature. Comparing the reports and writings of journalists of Kashmir, works of some writers with the literary works of Barbara Harlow, he suggested instituting of annual awards for best journalists, fiction writers, novelists and poets of the year. And for creating … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
Have-nots Made My City Beautiful- An Iconic Mason
Nostalgia An Iconic Mason By ZGM The past lives inside me like a sweet-smelling zephyr, as someone has said it that murmurs message of love to leaves- it smoothly re-energises my lousy nerves. That could hold for one and all. Many times, walking down the streets, lanes and by-lanes, of my birthplace the lofty buildings, marvels of our native architecture make me sing paeans for our artisans- masons and carpenters. Every piece of surviving architecture in the downtown … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take
In Stifling Atmosphere Forget History! Create Literature
PUNCHLINE Forget History! Write Literature By Z.G. Muhammad A fortnight back, a single column news item in newspapers announced the death of Mushirul Hasan, an Indian historian and former Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia and author of a dozen and half books. His forte has been Islam in South Asia, communalism and birth of India and Pakistan as independent dominions. Except for some occasional remarks in sync with the ‘hegemonic discourse’, he had no direct connection with Kashmir. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take