After teachers and students ganged up against him, the diminutive boy thought of quitting studies and ending his life. But what he eventually did made the boy an inspiration for all and sundry. On World Dwarfism Awareness Day, Mountain Ink presents an untold story of injustice, inequality and discrimination towards a Kashmiri petite person. When…
A Kashmiri Pandit body campaign followed by a recent communiquรฉ from New Delhi has made many believe that the Nastaliq script might go the language way in Kashmir. After blitz and berserk bunch of edicts, brouhaha backed by rightwing lobby has now alarmed Koshur literati circles. The concern stems from the bolstering campaign led by…
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…
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…
After redefining routine and inflicting damage on real-life relationships, virtual warzone called PUBG has been banned to the delight of many in Kashmir. Nocturnal war-cries, much to Farooq Saudagarโs chagrin, first emanated three years ago from his sonโs otherwise unruffled room. Confusing those belligerent pitches with some nighttime harrowing gunfight supposedly breaking out in his…
Hailing from the heartland of Kashmirโs fading cottage industry, Sonawariโs women carpet-weavers are fighting odds to hold the fort. In her struggle-wracked life, Masrat has always faced trials and tribulations with smile and spine. As a young girl supposed to attend her school, she decided to become her dispossessed fatherโs support. Later as a newly-wed…
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…
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…