A man I know (from film screenings and art fests in the city) came up to me and asked What I think of the #Me too movement. What can anyone think of it, really? Later, someone else asked about the Aziz Ansari incident. All I can tell you is I … Read more →
Pashmina, Tombstones have names & Witness by Sayen Aich
There have been evenings When my grandmother would weave stories, from the pashmina threads of memory. That still kept her going. With such delicate threads one had to be careful. A little lie here, a little too much effort And a castle of stories would crumble down. She would … Read more →
The Calendar of Death by Zeeshan Ali
1 With the onset of Spring, Death comes seeking: in twos and threes in gold-plated pyramids in ogives, traced by thirsty hands (wounded by salt) by instinct. It slithers away with the smell of impunity. 2 In the midst of Summer, death comes seeking, again: in hundreds and thousands of … Read more →
To a half disappearance & If wishes were horses by Zabirah Fazili
Back home we laughed merry laughs, tears streaming down our eyes, a defiant smile on the face offsets familiar aches felt by us. we lost him in our strength and frailty yet we hugged and held each other back home to shelve our shrieks we smiled at our helplessness. we … Read more →
Occupation by Tasim Zahid
Misery filled our lungs long before you, But then you came guns blazing and tear gas popping Shooting us, shouting, we come in peace, we come in love Fuck you and fuck your guns, I will be ready to die before you can even count to ten But how will … Read more →
The Exodus of a City by Ifsha Zehra and Samia Mehraj
Please note that the words in italics belong to Samia Mehraj & and the non-italicised ones to Ifsha Zehra It is 1990, I am not born. Someone peeks through the window of my mother’s house. In the vicinity, suitcases are being quietly packed with the essentials of olden days. Secrets of … Read more →
‘When Kashmir wept, I wrote a poem’ by Premjish
To the Kashmir I’ve never visited, not even in my dreams. I know you will understand, my fear for the uniforms, the masculine parades, the gun holding men who look like Indian gods with elongated genitals, who look like my father with their moustaches, you know I despise my father, … Read more →
‘The City’s Lament for a Messenger’ by Asad Alvi
We cry out, in the darkness, for asylum: no one responds – the wind does not carry his name. The holy city’s arms are lacerated – she does not open them, welcome us We are waiting for the messenger. I am tired, wrestling with the wind’s torrents it does … Read more →
Ghazal for February by Ananya Pandey
There is a dog on the road looking up at the city every day With eyes of a poem’s tireless wonder – I too try, every day On Rani Jhansi road, the houses have been half demolished for years Here, construction and livelihoods carry on every day At the chowk … Read more →
‘Inventory’ by Bilal Yousuf
Please attach the following to your record: When the rubble was removed at the blasted site: colonel found his trophy. journalist naked viral content. politician rote rhetoric. activist her terse tweet. writer his brazen inkpot. people a mighty funeral. Idea its millionth martyr. friend a late friend. graveyard a stoic … Read more →
Amarnath Yatra: A Militarised Pilgrimage
Read the Full Report here: Summary of the report: The Amarnath Yatra is an annual pilgrimage that takes place between July-August to a cave in south Kashmir. What makes the Yatra unique and an important phenomenon to study is the role of the state in the conduct … Read more →
The State of Domesticity
Mudasir Ali Lone Domestic abuse is a universal phenomenon and Kashmir is no different. I believe if we have to understand any particular society and how it functions we should take a look at their day-to-day language, the way they converse about various things, the terms, words, and phrases they use. … Read more →
2018 Annual Kashmiri Women’s Resistance Day
By: Kashmir Lit Editorial Desk, 23 February 2018, 12 am Every year since 2014, 23rd February is observed as Kashmiri Women’s Resistance Day. This day commemorates the survivors of the mass rape and torture in the two villages of Kunan and Poshpora in the part of Kashmir which is administered … Read more →
Kashmir in Comparative Perspective
Book Name: Kashmir in Comparative Perspective: Democracy and Violent Separatism in India Author: Sten Widmalm, Publisher: Routledge Curzon, Date of Publication: 2002, Pages: 226 Reviewer: Touseef Mir The outbreak of armed insurgency against the Indian State from 1989 in Kashmir and its implications for the security of the South … Read more →
Sindbad Machama
Revisiting the Legendary Radio Serial Fareeha Farheen Qureshi Radio Kashmir Srinagar’s famous Kashmiri drama that came up in the late 1960s “Sindbad Machama” has been so popular among masses that people still remember Srinagar’s “Zoon Dab”, “Sindbad Machama” was one of its kinds to initiate the entertainment programs via the … Read more →
Jammu & Kashmir’s National Song
Syed Junaid Hashmi Did the constituent assembly declare the poem written by Maulana Masoodi and recited by Sheikh Mohammed Akbar at the request of the president of the assembly Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq in the year 1952, the National Song of the state? Historical records and research studies conducted by various … Read more →
Traveling to be a Stranger
Bhavana Nissima I wanted to write on this topic. That it was about me. And how I travel. But I forgot to write. And then I wrote. Maybe because I recently discovered how to enjoy the 15 minute-navigation through heavy traffic and three signals to reach the park that is … Read more →
Kashmir: A look at the Kunan Poshpora rapes
by Urvashi Sarkar Twenty-five years have passed since the 1991 incident in which Indian army soldiers allegedly raped between 23 and 100 women in Kashmir’s Kunan and Poshpora villages during a search operation. The Indian army has denied the accusations and a delayed investigation of the incident concluded that the allegations … Read more →
Kashmir’s Women Scientists
Majid Maqbool Hina Fayaz Bhat, 31, is currently an assistant professor and junior scientist in the biotechnology division, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST), Srinagar. In 2013, she was the first woman scientist from the state to qualify for the Department of Science and Technology’s (DST’s) INSPIRE faculty award … Read more →
Why Do We Write About Kashmir? and Other poems by Syamantakshobhan Basu
1. Why Do We Write About Kashmir? I have never been to Kashmir In my life. They say when you first see The way the snow catches the Sun In Gulmarg, You draw your breath in so that It may not escape with some of the Feeling that you can … Read more →
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