By Jamsheed Rasool At the burial of Mouji in the terraced village graveyard there was a gaggle of people praying for her. There were the pot-bellied landless Dums, the lean landlords, the village clergy, members of a non-governmental organisation from the city, separatists, unionists, policemen, renegades, and in a remote corner trying to decode a […]
They took her away A poem by Ahmed Bin Qasim Twisting and turning, staring through the window, everything felt so silent. And lying on the bed in a room so hushed with a head so vibrant, that night stillness felt violent. She was not with me, miles away but my heart felt her warmth, […]
A powerful artistic expression isn’t what you would normally associate with someone who comes across as a recluse. But at 18, Momin Fayaz is already an art prodigy. Looking at his prolific sketches and pencil portraits, I reckon Momin must have been through years of training at some art school. Like his drawings, he surprises me […]
When militancy broke out in Kashmir in 1990, it was accompanied by a violent response from the state. These two opposing phenomena set-off new narratives and a new socio-political dynamic. There was a sudden movement: from life to death; from ‘order’ to disorder; from dwelling to displacement; from volume to silence; from calm to commotion; […]
Swapna Banerjee-Guha Dynamics of people’s interaction with their regions has always been a complex phenomenon. Arranged in several layers and operated through subtle modalities of diverse functional nuances, its historicity is embedded in socio-economic practices and livelihood options. But quite importantly, it is also rooted in the cultural practices of people that happen to construct […]
I am a Kashmiri and have lived all the 25 years of my life in Kashmir. But I can barely manage beyond a few words in Kashmiri – my mother tongue. When I ask for direction on the street and am told to go daechunn, I am not sure whether that is left or right. […]
It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon. Two young artists are trying out a song at their Bemina residence. Guitar notes ring out in the room. A sweet melody breaks out: Cze ha yaar shubi Mubarak. The song builds to a crescendo. And the duo jams out the full song. The first thing that catches your ear […]