As the valley grapples with medieval power cuts once again this early winter, many people have resumed old ways to ward off the bone-numbing cold. But the frequent darkness has only aggravated the already frozen turbulence in Kashmir. A downtowner doubling as street jester has a new trade tip for his Nowhatta tribe these days.…
After successive lockdowns and 2G classes messed up with their classroom routine and learning, Kashmiri students are still clueless about how to appear in the board exam two months later. In his glum room, Salik Nazar, 18, struggles with his โnew normalโ study routine driven by the slow internet speed, hailed as a โsmooth driver…
With their recent rap song on the post-August political scenario in the valley, two emerging hip-hoppers of Kashmir are already creating a lot of buzz around. Streets were simmering with rage when a Srinagar boy came out with his stirring rap song amid the peak sentimental storm in 2010. That summer as Omar Abdullah government…
To summon up the supreme sacrifice of the Imam, mourners thronged streets in Kashmir recently only to face the vexed mood. Swarms of sorrowers left behind a streak of sadness as they passed through manned streets with the shimmering name on their lips, tears in their eyes, and thumps on their heaving chests. As the…
From the faded Indian Coffee House to the popular Lala Sheikh, tea has always fuelled discussions in Srinagar cafeterias. But in times of shut shops, a street stall on the Bund is filling the void. Telegrams have long ceased to come, but tea is still brewing some warm response at the guarded gates of the…
As an undisguised commoner on streets, a Kashmiri girl is keeping the community spirit alive in a pandemic with her kind acts. Novel coronavirus had just returned with vengeance and enforced another lockdown in Kashmir when a young mother admitted in Srinagarโs Gousia Hospital was getting anxious about her newborn. Shortage of baby food and…
To counter the lockdown-created destitution, one man has taken up the responsibility of 62 neighbourhoods in Kashmir. In a hot and humid summer day in Srinagar, a boy in his early 20sโwearing shabby clothes and holding a paper slipโwas looking for a man whose address he was carrying in his palm. He walked past the…
They collect charity during the day and deliver it at the doorsteps of the needy in the dead of the night. As the invisible enemy behind the โThird World Warโ stormed the valley in the spring of 2020, Maimoona grew fretful. Mindful of her dried-up ration stock, hungry kids, and no scope of work in…
The islet where farewell moments were once performed by Muslim cremators has now become a shimmering example of loyalty. Birds chirping and insect shrilling evocatively echo a ghost islet in the backwater of iconic Dal Lake. The shed under which pyre was once prepared still stands under the shade of mighty Chinars. Dead would arrive…