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…
Rave reviews apart, veterinarian Shabir Ahmad Mirโs debut novel is poetry without rhyme. The Plague Upon Us is not about the rampaging coronavirus crippling the world and making billions captives in their homes, including 8 million lockdown-stricken Kashmiris. Itโs a plague that has consumed the life in Kashmir since 1947. This is a story of…
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…
Beyond landscape, thereโs always mindscape and that is what a shutterbug is trying to capture in this deeply personal account. Itโs not a glitzy undertaking to be a lensman in Srinagar โ the city where empires perished, where romantics are oral legends, and where every soul has a staggering saga to share. As a citadel…
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…
In the year of Imperial sunset and rise of the new power structure in South Asia, the valleyโs versifiers flocked together to float a literary movement. Years later, the movement remains a contested legacy between Left and Right. Throughout his eventful career, Ghulam Nabi Khayal wore many hats. As a writer, he had his brushes…
Amid pervasive gloom, thereโre some stark signs of resilience for life in the Valley. And children are only acting as a guiding light in this regard. Aqeel is far from his sombre shadow that used to envelop his sorrowing self amid lockdown till recent past. Otherwise a sulking kid of 10, heโs now smiling what…
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…