Jaffna Street: Tales of Life, Death, Betrayal and Survival in Kashmir

Excerpt from “The Saint of Shalimar” With these armies comprising Pathans, Poonchis and Mirpuris knocking at his gates, the story—making the rounds of Srinagar street—goes that the Dogra monarch sought an audience with Meerak Shah so as to seek some divine intervention to ward off the looming cataclysmic scenario awaiting … Read more →

Why are People Protesting in Kashmir

  A Citizen’s report on the violation of democratic rights in the Kashmir Valley in 2016 Following the alleged extrajudicial killing of 8 July, in the violence unleashed by state armed forces unarmed protests were met with sustained attack by the Indian Army, J&K police and paramilitary, including with the … Read more →

NaPoWriMo: April Poems

In the month of April which is dedicated to poetry Samia Meraj curates some poems for Kashmir Lit. The poets featured here are Inshah Malik, Omair Bhat, Sobia Bhat, and Samia herself. Scroll down to read:    Inshah Malik 1 Heart aches for summer, And you aren’t around I had asked … Read more →

Absolute

Jhilmil Breckenridge   Does it serve you well? The white robes, giving sermons from high. Do you sleep well in the inky night? When your voice instigates rivers of red  in valleys of peace? It is heard that God’s words were to be read and interpreted. You are the interpreter … Read more →

Sorry and other poems

Ruhan Madni Naqash Sorry  Sorry for not being your “lovely handsome Kashmiri boy; beautiful Kashmiri babe”- I’ve been very busy dying on the roads with these polka dots you make on my body with your guns- I’ve been very busy crying Freedom. Freedom. Freedom for the walls for not being … Read more →

The Doomed Gravedigger

Munawar Hussain “Meesum, see! A deluge of ‘likes’ is hitting my facebook post. Hold this cigarette, I will show you a trick to gain more likes.” “Are you nuts, what if someone would spot me while holding the cigarette?” “Oh man! Oh man! See I have re-liked my own status. … Read more →

Ammi

Rehmat Malik I wrote this poem about a year ago when I was visiting “Azad” Jammu-Kashmir, my mother’s homeland. I wanted to explore generational differences in understanding the Kashmiri struggle for Azadi (liberation) and solidarity across the Line of Control. I wanted to write about my mother, a Kashmiri who … Read more →

Saffron

“These infidels cannot insult us like this. If you have the courage, come and face us out in the open. You cannot tie down a speechless animal and think you have beaten us…” By Mirza Waheed She did not make much noise. But I knew, even in my sleep, something … Read more →

Kashmir from Orient to a State of Exception

[This essay has been published in The Funambulist Issue 8, Nov-Dec 2016] Ather Zia   Kashmir, the Orient Historically the global imagination has often reflected on Kashmir, the erstwhile Himalayan kingdom through scenes of colonial idyll, wilderness, and romance. This imagery was fine tuned through works like “Lalla Rookh: An … Read more →

Glass Houses

Sumayya Syed   “Nikita is again on a date tonight,” he types into WhatsApp From his lonely South Delhi bachelor pad On what is a thinly-veiled moonlit spring night in Kashmir Where loneliness is an A Almost an invitation To Resistance, Because what is Resistance If not the thyme and the … Read more →

Dust

Shruti Sonal I had died three hundred and thirty-three times Till my body finally gave in Ten times on the last day itself First when I woke up in the morning And did not find my son sleeping beside me Second when I found him wrestling with a barbed wire … Read more →

Hear me O Scribe!

Yogesh Mishra Following is a poem titled: ‘Hear me O scribe!’ that emerges out of my interactions with some young Kashmiris. It was a collective feeling amongst them that there was too much focus on the conflict, and as residents of the contested terrain, they became mere subjects for researchers. … Read more →

Untitled

Vrinda Jotwani   “You have started stitching your words into Kashmir,  pulling threads from the kashida cushions of this bed,  your mother buried herself in making you leave this graveyard.  She tries to convince you to fold your hands into nationalism,  how could you, you say we have been living … Read more →

Magic of Words

Muhammad Nadeem His breath was heavy. He was climbing the Mount Solomon from past one hour. He just had to climb for five more minutes to reach his favourite spot. It was very cold. He was rubbing his hands and blowing puffs of hot breaths into them. He sat on … Read more →

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