In the land of Alim, Adab and Aab, Sonawari has emerged as a stronghold of Kashmiri literature. Outside his window, as Jhelum meanders through the Chinar-dotted landscape, Aadil Mohidin breaks into a thoughtful remark: โYe wyeth roze pakaan (Jhelum will keep flowing).โย This typical Koshur watchword might be a regularโyet resilientโreply from Kashmiris caught in…
If creative marketing of some capsโlike Afghani or Ertugrul headgearsโcan make them global products, why canโt the same be done to conical caps of Kashmir? At the start of Seventies, a young farmer in Kashmirโs Sonawari belt was regularly lifting his moist eyes towards the sky.ย It was the year of drought in Kashmir and…
There was a time when many households served as vibrant workstations of the skilled women of Kashmir. After the tradition faded over the years due to the turmoil-hit market and lack of craft intervention, young and educated girls of Sonawari have now revived the old women workspaces with their collective efforts. In the shade of…
In Kashmirโs literary circles, some people are asserting that a poet from Sonawari might be the worldโs only poet to write and read poetry in circles.ย The poetic vision burnished in Zareefa Jan, 55, when she was out to fetch water from her village brook.ย Carrying a pitcher on her head, she soon drifted in…
Love stories and dreams often die a silent death in the larger political din of Kashmir. But when a cupid from north lost both his dream and love in the war, he became loner, went into an exile, only to return and die as a miserable man. As the sun shone on a โghost houseโ,…
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…