I REMEMBER I remember my childhood caught in barbed wire I remember the smile of a child lost in a curfewed night I remember the echo of his mother’s wail I remember her tears waiting for her disappeared son I remember the bride’s gown stained by the blood of her … Read more →
Saba Mahjoor
OMENS a hollowness inside slowing down of everything an awareness of every heartbeat darkness of the back room a comfortable blanket drying up of lips uncontrollable tears staring into empty space bouts of confusion sudden rage feeling of loss his eyes sinking further into their hollows nervous twitch of his … Read more →
Roqayah Chamseddine
SEPARATION We’ve spent our entire lives clutching passports, airline boarding stubs, evidence enough to hush the howling wounds that try with all their might to convince us we were dreaming far from your embrace. I can taste the bitterness of loving you as if I’ve spent days chewing the last … Read more →
Ankita Anand
VICARIOUS I smear my lips with red chili pepper, Salivate between my short breaths. Biting hard, the searing taste reassures me Of iron within my dream of hot pursuit. I wake up in a sweat, Pour my head into a bucket of water. Clamp down my nose and mouth Counting … Read more →
In Conversation with Professor Rahman Rahi
Interview by Majid Maqbool Rahman Rahi’s residence in Vecharnag is on a slightly elevated ground. An air of melancholic loneliness surrounds the poet’s house. I ring the bell of the small, old style wooden door. Rahi Sahab himself comes out, and quietly greets me in. “Vaelev yaeve, taapas behvee kene … Read more →
In Conversation with Mona Bhan
An interview with Mona Bhan by Ather Zia Mona Bhan, associate professor of anthropology at DePauw University, is the author of Counterinsurgency, Democracy, and the Politics of Identity in India: From Warfare to Welfare?. The book has just been published by Routledge as part of its Contemporary South Asia Series. … Read more →
You Never Let Gods Die
Will Newman Each page is turned to enter grief’s accounts. Mother I see a hand. Tell me it’s not God’s. Let it die. I see it. It’s filling with diamonds. Please let it die. Are you somewhere, alive, somewhere alive, Mother? Do you hear what I once held back: in … Read more →
Apathetic masses in between shameless elite and uninspiring resistance
Khaufzad Kashur An unguided mass of people, stricken with unemployment, cultural delirium and dependence on supplies for survival, works as ballast for the stability of the military occupation. People of Kashmir, the atomized masses appear to be in a race among themselves for becoming good consumers of everything ranging from … Read more →
Kashmir in Three English Novels
Javaid Iqbal Bhat In this essay I analyse three novels and how they engage with the tumult and violence prevalent in Kashmir. The novels The Collaborator (2011) by Mirza Waheed and No Guns at my Son’s Funeral (2005) by Paro Anand have been published after 2000, and one of the … Read more →
Bovine Intervention: At the Gates of United Nations Office
Hilal Mir Moo! Moo! Oh ye white men in blue camouflage uniforms and caps, hearken to my bootless cries once. Unlike Kashmiris I am not a habitué of this place and never before have I come knocking at your door, seeking, what is that damned word, yes, the intervention. Kashmiris … Read more →
Trip to Lal Chowk: Memories from a childhood
Aga Syed Sameer It was a beautiful afternoon of a great summer day, but I was very restless after spending the cheerful morning sitting at home doing almost nothing except for studying. It was the starting day of the summer vacations. I wanted to break away from the shackles of … Read more →
The Rebel’s Silhouette: Agha Shahid Ali
Ahsanul Haq Chishti Hukum-e-shahi hai ki toadh doon qalam apni Phir rooh ko meri, kaun pukarta hai Faiz Ahmad Faiz was the poet representative of poor, disempowered and non-elite who carried their emotions throughout his poetic collections. So was Agha Shahid Ali who followed Faiz’s tradition and carried the pain … Read more →
And her eyes had never cried before… – a true story
Ta-Ha Mughal 20th May 2013 10:30 a.m. Jammu- Srinagar Highway NH-1 She could not bear the loss of a father as her car traversed mile after mile through the coiled mountain passes. With each turn the vehicle took in the mighty Himalayan range, her heart sank more and more in … Read more →
She
A short story by Shafi Ahmed She mopped up the kitchen floor, rubbed her forehead with the back of her palm and looked towards the moonlit sky. The light emanating from the moon entered the room through the ventilator and clock struck 12 in the second storey room, above the … Read more →
Jesus was a son
A short story by Faruq Masudi His name was Tufail Matto. His name is Tufail Matto. He will always be Tufail Matto. Or, is it Tufail Bhat.Or Tufail Lone…or Ahangar…or Zargar; Khan, Darzi, Shahdad, Naqashbandi, Hamadani , Nengroo, Hanji, or…Does it matter what his family name was? Do you mind? … Read more →
Midnight Guests
Certain voices don’t require words A Short Story by Mushtaque B Barq The fourteenth moon was up in the calm sky with numerous guests celebrating the heavenly milieu, luring the lovers to do away with the curtains. The moonlight was bathing every nook and corner, even the graveyard in the … Read more →
A Nightmare
A short story by Qadri Inzamam In spring, when all the farmers of the village tilled their lands and sowed crops, Hameed would do all the work himself. His wife helped him at some occasions but not when the work would be heavy and apt for men only. Hameed felt … Read more →
And then I Left the City
A Short Story by Towfeeq Wani Preeti said, “Maybe you better stop doing that. You have no idea how absurd and irritating it is” and I asked, sheepishly, “What?” “Let go, like you will understand,” she replied her favourite reply and the customary silence followed. I tried my best to … Read more →
‘Banking on Pakistan not sound’
Nasir Husain Peerzada [The Milli Gazette] Azam Inqilabi is a pioneering figure who initiated a Kashmiri movement in the 1960s. He passed through many political phases. Presently he is chairman of the Qaumi Mashawarti Council J&K. The interview was conducted at Inqilabi’s residence at Nageen, Srinagar. To start with, tell … Read more →