Beneath the modern metropolitan Delhi of today lie the remains of a royal Dehli which survived centuries. Rana Safvi, in her book, City of my Heart, digs up and translates some fragments of an era which could be attributed as magnanimous, more so, a golden period in the history of the Indian subcontinent. This book…
A Burdened Soul This isnโt a story I am proud of, and itโs not one I ever planned on writing. Itโs not even one I planned on living. When I was younger, I imagined that leaving Islam was a logical process, one arrived at through careful analysis of Islamic beliefs and finding in them something…
Mir Sayid Mohammad Madniโs mausoleum often known as Madin Sahab is one of the oldest mausoleums situated in the vicinity of Hawal, Srinagar. The structure is 600 years old and was built in the 15th century by Sultan Zain-ul-Abideen, who, because of his efficacious rulership stature, is also known as Bud Shahโ the Great King.…
We will meet,somewhere, sometime,in the nuptial embrace ofour grey and white memories. With your blessed arrival;The celebrated idols of our dark history,(their faces yet so rough and ugly),The explosives implanted in thewombs of our senile mothers,The bloodied trails on the ashenheads of our brides,The gunpowder, growling underthe rubble of our beloved palacesโEverything,Everything would get metamorphosedInto…
Have you ever read somethingthat worked as a stitchon an open wound? The words that feel likethe ointment on the painful limbor the plaster on a broken bone?Words you read and feel stress-free or give relief to a grieving heart?Words that tranquilize youlike a childโs first smile?Words that soothe the roiling soul?Words working like a…
A season of death, a season of loss; our buds rest into coffins, our blossoms have the scent of scars. With a call for Namaz, there’s a greater call to visit graveyards. Decades of violence; an abode of learners, a valley blooming with the hues of knowledgeโ now cradles in the darkness of ignorance. From…
When the war is over And you can come over To our side I will let you poke Your finger Into the holesโ left By bullets and pellets And you will feel how much they hurtโ Still. When the war is over I will let you smell Primroses growing timidly out of ruins And you…
While the millions of fans are ardently discussing the forthcoming events of eighth and final season of Game of Thrones returning on April 2019, the Fan Anthem #ForTheThrone released on HBO is taking the social media by storm. The video features every tribute ever paid by fans of GoT, including one Kashmiri tribute โThe Cureโ.…
New Delhi: Mirza Waheed speaks the way he writes: with care. Ask this Kashmiri novelist a question, he looks a tad flustered. He averts his eyes, fidgets with his fingers and weighs his words before he finally answers the query. I spend time writing my sentences, I donโt want to hurry. And I am not a…