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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
Kashmir Dispute and “Conspiracy Theory.”
PUNCHLINE Modi, Patel and Kashmir By Z. G. Muhammad To add scholarly flavor to their presentations some academics, love to use grand-sounding clichés. Of the many trite phrases used by them, ‘Conspiracy theory’ is a popular cliché with a particular brand of academics in our land. Once, they find points and arguments based on the historical realities or on the hard facts raised by a speaker or a question posed by a participant in a seminar … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take, Featured
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 »
Filed under: Kashmir-Talk
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
Imperiled Kashmir Identity and Our Response
PUNCHLINE Imperiled Kashmir Identity By Z. G. Muhammad It is a historical truth. Arthur Brinckman was not wrong when in December 1867, in his introduction to his forty-page pamphlet titled, ‘The Wrongs of Cashmere’ he wrote ‘that since the bargain (Treaty of Amritsar”) was concluded in 1846 the poor Cashmerees have been shamefully oppressed by the rulers we put over them that this oppression is getting worse. And these unhappy people have been asking … Read entire article »
Filed under: Editor's Take