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Hostilities cease on death. That is why the cops doff their caps after a notorious criminal (Even) is found lying dead who deservingly, then, is allowed to be given a proper burial. BUT, why the ‘traitors’ & ‘betrayers’ of a cause or community or trust or country or nation are generally denied this respect even after their death. Why people[Read More…]
Kangri or Kangdhi , or Kanger in common Kashmiri parlance, is an indispensable part of socio-cultural milieu of Kashmir. All Kashmiris, cutting across gender, creed & age use & “consider it indispensable in the cold season”. Its cultural importance can be gauged from a Kashmiri saying: what Laila was to Mujnoon’s heart (legendary lovers), Kanger is to a Kashmiri. Kanger[Read More…]
Mythical or folklore tales have been a part of all ancient societies & communities. Such stories are still told verbally & even otherwise in writings, songs, paintings, etc, in many societies & communities to keep up their old traditions of culture & art. Romans had richest mythical history, so had Chinese & Arabs. But if you look at any of these[Read More…]
Flag is not a mere piece of fabric that flutters about in the breeze. It represents the feelings & ideals of the people for that for which it has been created & thus stands for. The first Kashmir flag was adopted by the first largest political party of J&K Muslims, All J & K Muslim Conference, which was formed in[Read More…]
Acting on the recommendation of Mountbatten, the British Government on 3rd June, 1947, announced its plan of partition of India into two Dominions of India & Pakistan. The Indian Independence Act, 1947 enacted by the British on 18th July 1947 gave legal recognition to the creation of the two Dominions. Under the Act, British suzerainty over the provinces including 584[Read More…]
There is a Persian distich “agar kahat ul rijal uftad, azehan uns kamgiri yake afghan , doyum kamboh, soyam badzaat kashmiri”: (translation: although there is no dearth of men to be there in the world, yet never cultivate acquaintances with three kinds of people: (1) Afghan, (2) Kamboh & (3) Badzaat Kashmiri) This Persian couplet has, from time immemorial, been associated with the name of[Read More…]
The narrative is the story of a community of people , Dogistan, named after the dogs that its every household owns. The Dogistan’s dogs are of two kinds: tailless and curly tailed dogs. The former are gentle and docile, while latter are very mean and abject. The curly tailed dogs outnumber the tailless dogs. A Dogistani lady, Miss Ruby, does[Read More…]
On September 6, 2018, the Supreme Court of India in a historic judgment Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India heralded a new dawn for the personal liberty in India as it decriminalised section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. It is thought to be a major victory for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community in India. It did[Read More…]
Any argument against Article 35-A of the Constitution of India in isolation from the political and social conditions in which partition of India, accession of JK with India took place and in which Orders and Notifications of 1927 and 1932 were issued by the then Ruler of JK Maharaja Hari Singh is patently bound to lead to wrong conclusions about[Read More…]
A lot has been written about 9/8/1953 removal of Sheikh M. Abdullah (for brevity, SMA) from chair of State PM. In spite of that, more curiosity stills fills many minds among pro-n-anti-SMA to know why he, after helping India, internally as well as externally, in taking JK, was considered threat to India which led to his unceremonious dismissal from PM-ship[Read More…]
Today after seven decades, JK Muslims, are struggling hard to protect “semblance” of their Unique Culture and Identity that was “guaranteed” to them under Articles 370 and 35-A by the givers of the Indian Constitution. For 70 years, Article 370 has served the interests of India beyond its expectations, internally as well as externally, keeping in view geo-political challenges it faced[Read More…]
The rising anger against age old State atrocities & injustices, augmented by the news of sacrilegious acts by non-Muslims pouring in from some Jammu areas, caused outright outrage among the Muslims of Kashmir. (Disputed Legacy, Alastar Lamb, pages 89-90) It was in 1931 when the growing dissatisfaction of the Kashmiri people burst into flame. (Danger in Kashmir, Josef Korbel, page[Read More…]
Nature has indeed endowed the valley of Kashmir & the neighbouring mountains with an abundance of fine springs including the one named “Kounsar Nag”. (The ancient geography of ancient Kashmir (1899) by M A Stein, pages 32, 72) It is a two miles long & ½ mile wide beautiful lake lying above Kongwattan village in Pir Panchal mountainous range of[Read More…]
In spite of the fact that there are a number of justifications for privatisation of education, commercial consideration underpins all its good objects of imparting quality education, of course, with the availability of adequate basic facilities of premises, toilets, infrastructure, libraries, drinking water dispensers-purifiers, computers, libraries & hostels: the facilities invariably unfound in government run educational institutions primarily for lack[Read More…]
Only a simpleton will not understand that in a “mutual admiration group” members generally degenerate themselves to a sophistry by exchange of pretended or exaggerated reciprocal praise. In this narcissist group, each member is mostly concerned with his own self-good. In philosophy, Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher, calls it self-downgrading way of making money, when [people] have to resort to sophism[Read More…]
In ancient Kashmir there existed “several market places and bazaars in the city of Srinagar”, while the first “wholesale market” of Kashmir, Maharaj Gunj, was “lately constructed”. (Gazetteer of Kashmir (1890), 772). Sir W R Lawrence writes: “In Kashmir there are certain depots of trade, the chief being Srinagar, Baramula, Islamabad, Shupiyon, and Bandipur. Latterly Panjabi traders have opened business[Read More…]
Kashmiri Dictionary defines the word “Khokh” as “an effigy used to scare away birds from fields of crop”. Its English equivalent is “scarecrow” which is used by peasants during harvest season in their farmlands to keep away the pesky birds from damaging the crop. That said, we know that this word was used by Kashmiri parents, usually mothers, till very[Read More…]
Prefatory: Notwithstanding that the printing press was invented in mid 15th century, the initial newspapers in the world started their publication in Germany, England & other European countries only in 17th & 18th centuries. During 20th century, radio & television were invented, & the journalists used them to disseminate information among public on matters related to society, politics, culture,[Read More…]
On 16-03-1846, the British Rulers of India sold the territory of Kashmir with its all dependencies for 75 Lakh Nanak Shahi rupees to Maharja Gulab Singh Dogra of Jammu vide infamous Treaty of Amritsar. Considering the total population at that time of “all the hilly or mountainous country”, every living human soul of Kashmir was sold vide the said sale[Read More…]
Every year, the world commemorates the victims of Haymarket affair that took place on Tuesday, May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, by observing May 1st as International Workers’ Day in their memory; albeit in Canada & US, 1st September is chosen as Workers’ Day. On that fateful day, the workers had gathered peacefully to demonstrate & advocate for better[Read More…]
Ordinarily, a crime does not spark a widespread reaction from the public unless its guilt is so horrific that no normal human being’s conscience can remain untouched & unshaken by the weight of its gravity. One of such rarest & cruelest inhuman acts was recently done with an 8 year old Muslim girl in Kathua district of Jammu that outraged[Read More…]
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in his autobiography “Blazing Chinar” ( 2016 edition, Gulshan Books Srinagar) in chapter 36 titled “Medley of Internal Troubles” has in a real medley of things connected “accession” & “sending of Indian troops” to Kashmir to the “Tribal Raid” of 23rd October, 1947. However, he openly admits that it was only at his repeated “request” & after[Read More…]
In Voltaire‘s novel, the title character, Candide, on board, asks another character, an old sage, Martin: “Do you believe that men have always massacred one another as they do today..?” Martin tacitly concurring with Candide, says: “Do you believe that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they have found them?” ”Without doubt,” said Candide. Without doubt, on fateful day of[Read More…]
No historian on Kashmir has ever used the term “Kashmiriyat” in his reference to its socio-cultural values. There are, however, some “assumptions” about its genesis, all converging on a single point that it was brainchild of NC. Many say it has its origin to post-1947 political developments of JK when NC founder under the influence of his countable number of[Read More…]
On First April, in many societies & Western countries, lies are spread in the shape of jokes, hoax & pranks by people on their friends, relatives, neighbours & colleagues which put the latter to great embarrassment & sometimes to harassment or actual harm. It is a custom called April Fools’ Day which actually calls upon people to concoct a special[Read More…]
The Kashmiri word “Pheran” is contraction of the Persian word “pairahan” which literally means garment & which clearly shows its origin to the time of Mughal rulers who had Persian descent; notwithstanding, some Kashmiri Pandits in recent times have tried to connect its origin to the Greek word “Apron” & even the Tajik word “Peraband. But both these words are[Read More…]
In 2015, one Deepak Sharma a RTI activist from Jammu filed an application with General Administration Department/GAD of the State Government seeking details about who had conferred sobriquet of “Shere e Kashmir” on Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah / SMA. GAD in reply said that there was not any official record conferring or confirming that the sobriquet was ever officially bestowed upon[Read More…]
Sana was the master idol maker of a large community of Bedouins who inhabited & dotted along the long stretch of oasis in the Arabian Desert. The Bedouins didn’t have cohesiveness, centrality & uniformity in their worshiping practices of any particular God or God’s image. Strong pre-historic roots of animism running through their entire cultural edifice had made them venerate[Read More…]
Even after seventy years of Partition, the discourse as to who, Jinnah or Nehru, Indian Muslim League or Indian National Congress, was responsible for division of the Indian subcontinent. There are divergent views. Some blame Muslim League, some Congress while others both. Every one of these views has some arguments to put before us. From Congress point of view, since[Read More…]
Homer is the name ascribed to one or more men, presumed to have lived between 700-800 BC, among Greek . Homer is credited with writing of two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which hold central position in Greek mythology & Western literature. The Iliad is the sequel to the Odyssey. Both are classic poetry that will hold sway[Read More…]
Nicknaming people, places & things is an old practice among all communities usually to express affection, but in Kashmir certain nicknames in vogue till now, while some others handed-down the memory lane by elders for posterity carry ridicule with them. To start with, if you think the underlying purport of the nicknames “Nabdhi” , “Ikhwani” or “renegade” or “betrayer” &[Read More…]
State-interests run supreme: India is in essence a unitary State where apart from three basics of defense, communication & foreign affairs, overwhelming items of legislative competence have been constitutionally vested in the central government, albeit “few” federal features also exist in its constitutional scheme. Despite being a predominantly unitary system, it can’t be lost sight of that the State governments[Read More…]
Pre-view: Propaganda isn’t anything new in the world. It’s a history since pre & post medieval wars when, however, its use was confined to around battlefields only. But with passage of time, & advent & advancement of science & technology, it assumed looming proportions reaching out to larger populations of several countries, at a single time, to garner their support[Read More…]
Any argument against Article 35-A of the Constitution of India in isolation from the political and social conditions in which partition of India, accession of JK with India took place and in which Orders and Notifications of 1927 and 1932 were issued by the then Ruler of JK Maharaja Hari Singh is patently bound to lead to wrong conclusions about[Read More…]
Facing The Music: Religion, Nationalism And Sports Have Enchanted The Working Class; Socialism Hasn’t 
Working class must change the world for all of the humanity 
Two Years after Demonetisation, the Nightmare Continues for India’s Informal Economy 
Educational Innovations through effective governance would be key to Sustainable Development Goals 
In the absence of Aadhaar, starvation deaths continue in Jharkhand 
India’s prosperity hinges on Religious Freedom 
The Farewell Sermon of Prophet Muhammad 
US has spent almost $6 trillion on wars since 2001 
17 districts Yet to get 14th Finance Commission funds, The Panchayat Mukhia’s of Jharkhand are on a “pen down” strike 
Quiet Does Not Flow This Don: A Week of the Pathetic Inadequate 
Why This Planet Is Becoming Uninhabitable 
Right to Self Determination of Kashmiris: An obligation for All 
May’s Brexit Deal is an Insult to the British People 
Kashmir’s plural ethos and communal harmony 
Usage of Cluster Munitions In Sri Lanka 
Attack on Agnes Karshiing: Attempt to Gag Dissenting Voices 
“The Ministry of Utmost Happiness”: An Agitating Piece of Fiction 
RSS/BJP And The Shudra Neo-Slaves 
Who is Safe from Amazon? Worldwide Store Closings 
Confessions of a Nonconformist Consumer 
The vast array of consumer products available in the modern markets, needs of a large mass of compulsive buyers that merry-go-round in a spending spree. The great engine that produced the consumer goods, was born with the industrial revolution of the 19th-century. The industrial revolution and the phenomenon of mass consumption were preceded by the feudal age household economics and[Read More…]
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