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It was summer 2007. I was in Kashmir with my two-year old son. I had decided to get his khatanhaal (‘circumcision’) done in Srinagar (and not in the United States) due to some scheduling issues and the nervousness of dealing with any aftercare on my own, this being my first child. As I had little…
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I stand by the roadside Waiting for something Or perhaps nothing? A man walks past, Limping towards me With a burning cigarette In his left hand I move aside in a jiffy And notice a little boy Pretending to be a puppy dog “Wow wow”, he frolics On the concrete pavement As his mother turns…
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Every time I listen to Narendra Modi, I feel like: Satyanaas! BeDa-gharq! Jaltu-Jalaaltu, aayi balaa ko Taal tu! Much of the elections drama back home this time around. You won’t beleive I was so curious to hear about the latest news today that while taking a five-minute break during my three-hour long teaching today, I…
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Ah, the poverty of the written word! It does not carry the punctuations Nor gestures or embellishments Of a spoken utterance Listen to the silence! I went sleepless and troubled Hiding under my pallid skin As a thick blanket of darkness Enveloped the starless night This is no dream, my love For dreams have no…
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Given the touch-me-not attitude one experiences in Kashmir, I have observed that many rational voices steer clear of indulging in talking about controversial topics, especially those related to religion and politics. Several months ago during my annual visit to Kashmir, I had expressed an objection to the extensive use of loud speakers for broadcasting religious…
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Every year the people of the Kashmiri Pandit (KP) and Kashmiri Muslim (KM) communities commemorate the month of January 1990 for the beginning of an era of two structurally different but extremely bitter and painful experiences: the “exodus” of the former facilitated by an atmosphere of immense fear and terror and the beginning of the…
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By: Dr. Sadaf Munshi Every year the people of the Kashmiri Pandit (KP) and Kashmiri Muslim (KM) communities commemorate the month of January 1990 for the beginning of an era of two structurally different but extremely bitter and painful experiences: the “exodus” of the former facilitated by an atmosphere of immense fear and terror and…
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Language is the only trait that differentiates a human from a non-human. Poetry and music are the ultimate artistic form of expression; a society that denounces it, denounces life and human existence. Religious scriptures are a testimony to the fact that there is no objection to this art even in religion. Many years ago…
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As a child I grew up in a fairly peaceful period of Kashmir, listening to the stories of Heemaal-Nagray, Zehra Let, Lal Ded and Haba Khatoon. Weekends were spent waiting for Doordarshan to broadcast the one and only Hindi movie a week on a well-to-do neighbor’s black-n-white television set. Life was quite laid back and…
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Remembering the Times of Darkness Back in 1991 when militancy and the sentiment for freedom were at their highest peak in Kashmir, I took my Higher Secondary Part I (Class 11th) exams like many others of my generation amidst extreme tension and turbulence. My school, the Government Girls Higher Secondary School at Soura (situated a…
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by Sadaf Munshi
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