The year branded for the so-called โMission 2020โ ended up unleashing another crippling phase in Kashmir. Amid paralysis, the valley stood resilient despite strife bleeding it through a thousand cuts. After surviving sixteen-month-long lockdownโthe phase she mostly fended for herself indoors amid flaring up moods and depressive phasesโZainab Nisar is finally breathing easy in her…
Selling an early morning delicacy in the city centre, a sweet stall has been serving tastes since the sixties. With times, even as the kiosk has found a new owner, it has retained the old charm in Srinagar. With an icy December dawn, the misty sunrise heralds yet another first-half daily routine for Shahid Pakhtoon…
In Central Kashmirโs Budgam district, an elderly pandit is a treasured healer for commoners seeking โkoshur ilajโ for their burn injuries and chilblains. But beyond his โdast-e-shafaโ, the non-migrant pandit is a symbol of Kashmirโs syncretic past. In his poorly-lit room, Pandit Jagarnath Koul is examining the burn-scar on his patientโs hand very keenly. The…
As the Front man, he gave everything to the cause dismissed as โwildernessโ by a figurehead. And now when the same league is out for a new political bargain, the erstwhile supporter is seeing a clear dรฉjร vu. Sheikh Abdullahโs mid-seventy handshake with Indira Gandhi began backfiring when a secret police laid a net to…
After New Delhiโs last summer step, the loyalist of Kashmirโs grand old party and its โtallest leaderโ felt disheartened, disappointed and deceived. More than a year back, as the valley woke up to the news of abrogation of Article 370, my grandfather Abdul Samad Dar took a routine walk in our sunny- cum-sullen lawn. With…
A living witness to Kashmirโs tumultuous history, a baker from Old Srinagar is a stark signpost of Kashmirโs Central Asian connection. Dawn of a searing summer day makes Kashmirโs Aali Kadal look entrancing, with its old-world charm and waning architectural landscape. Some traditional washermen shouldering bundled shawls show up as early birds. The sun rising…
They came as brides in one Dar family some sixty years ago and became each otherโs shadow for a lifetime. They sit akin to meditative matrons mulling over their beloved loss. Amid their poised posture, masked women intermittingly walk in twos, and threes, to pay condolence for their departed sister, Jiger. Their silent stares speak…
Inside a downtownerโs detained world where devoured dreams and despondency lay bare a commonerโs helplessness in Kashmir. It was a striking piece of information from an anonymous cop vouching for the innocence of a wronged downtowner who had landed in then chief minister Narendra Modi-ruled Gujarat jail in 2010. The news came after the man…