My colleague the artistic Akhtar was never given institutional recognition
inam ul rehman Like all great artists, and concerned citizen of his community, Akhtar Rasool was a lonely person. He had several friends, was a star of his community, but he held many views which were contrarian. He groomed artists, gave them suggestions, and didn’t shy in saying that Kashmiri artists do not have that perseverance, grit, and imagination to grab the attention of clients. Akhtar Boss, as I fondly used to call him, belonged to a minority community which is also marginalised in Kashmir. I used to see his artistic work in the Greater Kashmir pullout magazine . It was Urdu weekly Kashmir Uzma , where he changed the view of newspaper editors and layout designers. He designed Kashmir Uzma in his own novel way. His frontpage illustrations combined with Riyaz Masroor ’s editing skills made this weekly a household name. In 2007, I joined the daily Etalaat , an English newspaper. Here I came to know Akhtar boss’s work. He was the overall...