Some months ago, when the great aging sage of Absurdistan declared mass promotion for all school kids, there was instant jubilation all over. And why not. Who doesn’t want to skip the torture of exams. The great sage was immensely happy at his masterstroke. He had finally made his opponents bite dust, thought the learned […]
By Ulti Khopdee Sorry. If the title of this column rhymes with some pep-cum-wisdom episodic talk, it is sheer coincidence. No offence or parody intended. We all know aal is well in this Republic of Absurdistan. It is so well that hardly anything needs a remedy. Everything is fixed here with a neat mix of […]
Internationally recognised Kashmir-based expert on disaster mental health and behavioural scientist Prof Mushtaq A. Margoob is both worried and hopeful at the same time. The 2016 uprising and its subsequent brutal crushing by the State has not only opened old wounds, but has also taken a fresh toll on the collective mental health of the Valley. This […]
When towns and villages across Kashmir erupted in freedom protests after Burhan Wani’s killing on 8 July, international media quickly turned its focus on Kashmir. The focus somewhat shifted after the Uri attack towards relations between India and Pakistan and their war-mongering. Here is an assortment of what the major global outlets carried on various […]
By Hakeem Saleem Rupert Emerson has defined a nation as, ‘a body of people who feel that they are a nation.’ As defined by Anthony Smith, formerly Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics, a ‘Nation’ is a large group or collective of people with common characteristics attributed to them – including language, tradition, […]
In a recent essay (Caravan May 2016) on the drift of the times, writer-thinker Arundhati Roy highlighted the link between State-backed right-wing vigilantism and the climate of bigotry, violence and impunity in mainland India. She articulated several uncomfortable truths regarding mainland India amongst which was the complicity of all political parties including the Left in […]
“People listened to the victim and they listened to the politicians, but this voice that says: I did this, we did things that were wrong – crimes actually – that’s a voice I did not hear” (David Grossman quoted by Jacqueline Rose, The Last Resistance, 2007). Among conflict and war-torn regions, Kashmir has one of […]
There is much hope in Pakistan that the recent meetings with Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj in Islamabad and later an informal meeting between Prime Ministers of the two countries in Lahore will usher in an era of durable diplomatic engagement with Delhi. There is another hope that this engagement will be productive and useful […]
It’s just the chicken coming home to roost India’s writers, artists, scientists, historians, film-makers, academics and members of civil society have rightfully condemned the creeping climate of violence, prejudice and intolerance sweeping across the country. Such protests are a moral and ethical force amidst a deepening darkness. Extraordinary as the protests are, their focus is […]
