โI was also among the local โtoppersโ whose mothers would go on boasting about their childโs grades and medals, unstoppably. But it was never worth it.โ She remembers walking with her brother to the tuition centre when a group of men, shouting on the roadside carried the pale body of her neighbour with a nylon…
As lockdowns have created financial crisis and distress in the society, Old Srinagar which once abhorred intrusions in its artistic atmosphere is now witnessing a growing footfall of NGOs. A frail old woman, seventyish, from the interiors of Barthana, comes by foot, huffing her way to the main Qamarwor area in Srinagar, to collect a…
Before it would become wannabe driversโ training territory, Eidgah had become Kashmirโs signpost of conflict casualties. The sprawling ground for special congregational prayers would shrink once strife made it a war-turf of sorts. Hafeeza strolls every day around Srinagarโs Eidgah area for morning and evening walks from Ael Masjid to the martyrsโ graveyard, Mazaar-e-Shuhada, with…
โWhen the guests started pouring in, I saw them all more like examiners, and the big day like an examination which they would evaluate as per some standard which keeps updating its regulations more frequently than UGC which I was piling my fright about.โ Itโs been almost a month now that the wedding of my…
In Kashmir of yore, a ramrod motherly figure would teach the Holy Quran to children with a sense of religious authority. But now, she has become a heartbreaking memory of long lost time. As the wave of early morning prayers reverberates in the majestic Koh-e-Maran of downtown Srinagar, Mehjabeenโs heart finds solace in the Covid…
When โstatusโ fell last summer, the romantics, like Shakeel and Zehra, of the Valley found themselves at the crossroads of the enforced crisis. Suddenly when messagesย stopped coming from mountains last summer, Shakeel struggled with his pining heart in his Delhi apartment. The first night was getting excruciatingly long and unbearable for the IT guy. Along…
The hushed harassment inflicted on human soul within four-walls is about to become a courtroom campaign in the Valley. Three best friends, Tasiya*, Benish* and Samreen* have come together over coffee after a long period of quarantine. Having each otherโs back always, thereโs a lightness that the buddies feel in one anotherโs presence every time…