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The poverty of conversation in Kashmir’s podcast boom

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inam ul rehman In Kashmir it is said when a trend catches up it is done to death by all. At present we are witnessing three trends: opening up of eateries, everyone becoming a social media influencer, and launch of videocasts or podcasts. Kashmiris love to chatter patter. We love to give advice on everything to everyone even if we have never travelled outside our own district. We interfere without permission in everyone’s affairs.  So, podcasts are ideal for the Kashmiri propensity for discourse. But there is a catch: we love to hear only ourselves not others. For the past many months, I have been surfing podcasts hosted by Kashmiris. And not to my surprise I saw many, many podcasts on YouTube. In fact, it will not be an exaggeration to state that Kashmiri podcasts reveal not a hunger for meaningful dialogue but a preference for safe and familiar ideas.  Here I look at some of them that caught my attention. As happens often many of these, at present seem, are just for ...
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Destroying institutions in a Kashmiri way?

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inam ul rehman On January 08, 2020, I came across a news story in one of the fledgling English newspaper, Kashmir Reader , on the Global Educational Trust, Mumbai , run schools in Kashmir. The story ( “Mumbai based school closes 2 branches in Srinagar, career of hundreds of students in quandary”) was a case of lazy journalism in which the contending party’s view was not sort, or wilfully ignored.    In the said story the reporter quoting the “parent association” writes that the GET closed two school branches at Iqra International School, Habak , and Bagh-i-Mehtab , adding that it “hiked fee”, increased the “prices of books by 40 percent”, the GET management wants to “layoff some staff members at the two branches”; “staff barred to enter the premises”, and the “salary of staff members is withheld for several months” The fact is that my kids are studying there from the past six years. I looked at the fee card which says that no fee was hiked for the past three years. Pl...
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For the “greater benefit of the tehreek," corruption and unaccountability were overlooked, confesses SA Geelani in his resignation letter

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His letter validates what Zakir Musa , Qayoom Najar said years ago.   inam ul rehman In June this year, an audio conversation between the then Jaish-e-Mohammad chief of Kashmir , Mufti Waqas , and Ansar Ghazwatul Hind chief, Zakir Musa, was released by al Qaeda ’s media platform. In the said conversation Mufti Waqas tells Musa that he has been to Afghanistan and fought there, “I swear the sacrifices,” he says, “that Kashmiris have given are unparalleled, but this nation has got traitor leaders.” Jaish is a pro- Pakistan militant outfit, and in conflict with the AGH ideology. Here Mufti Waqas is talking in personal capacity because he understood that the Jihadi project run by Pakistan and its proxies in Kashmir is a business for both of them. In the same conversation he raises suspicion on the killing of many Jaish commanders in Kashmir saying that those who understood the tehreek in Kashmir get killed.  Mufti Waqas was killed in 2018. His audio conversation w...
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My colleague the artistic Akhtar was never given institutional recognition

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 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...
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Baramulla: caught between our past, guns, ghosts, and inner conflict

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inam ul rehman Baramulla is a haunting thriller and different from The Kashmir Files . We know Pandits were driven out from Kashmir, but produced and written by Pandits, the movie itself is empathetic to characters. It does not weaponise that deracination.   Any Muslim who stands for Pandits in the movie is shot dead.   The director weaves the story with supernatural and psychological elements, reminiscent of Ram Gopal Verma ’s Raat movie, but does not match its eeriness. It is an emotional, socio-political allegorical movie directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale. The film uses the allegory of ghosts and families to depict the inner conflict of Kashmiris struggling with its past. Set in 2016, it shows the complexity of Kashmiris where the father fights against militants, but his own daughter terms him traitor to the Kashmir cause, an MLA takes oath on the Indian constitution , but his own son is against the same system. The father and daughter, father and son duo, divided ...
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Why Songs of Paradise is different from other Kashmir films

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  inam ul rehman   I think the last film I reviewed for any newspaper or portal was Vishal Bhradwaj’s Haider. And it was in 2014. One of my colleagues at that time, and one of the brilliant journalists of Kashmir, Mir Hilal , on reading it said that it is a rant rather than a review. I disagreed and published it. Now I agree with what Mir Hilal said.   Eleven years later here I am reviewing “ Songs of Paradise ” of Danish Renzu . A Kashmiri filmmaker’s inspirational take on the melody queen of music, Raja Begum. Remember, it is not a historical take, but an inspirational one. It is historically as correct as Salim-Anarkali stories of Bollywood , or Padmawat , the Kashmir files, Chhaava movies .  Getting sponsors for a female protagonist film is tough. In Indian cinema only a few commercial films have succeeded with a female lead. These have mostly been driven by the star power of an actress. And some even needed male star power to get wide release. Alia...
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Review: Mostly engrossing, partly disappointment

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 inam ul rehman Book: Rumours of spring: A girlhood in Kashmir Author: Farah Bashir Publisher: HarperCollins     “On the deserted streets of my neighbourhood, in the presence of so many military bunkers and the gaze of the unknown men inside them,” writes Farah Bashir, in her refreshing memoir, ‘ Rumours of Spring ’ “I suddenly became aware of my body and its contours. (I) felt naked. I tried to fold into the school bag clutched in front of me.” It resulted a perennial hunch in her back, the author says.    “Rumours of spring” is an intriguing title, already a novel of the same name has been published in the late 80s. It is a title that does justice because there is no spring ahead only the rumour of it.    Bobeh epitomises Kashmir of yore   Farah crafts her memoir around Bobeh, her grandmother epitomises the Kashmir that stood for syncretism until 1994, that is where she ends her book. The year 1994 marked the secular, independence seeking the J...
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A siegefull love stories of Kashmir

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Book: Loal Kashmir: Love and Longing in a Torn Land Author: Mehak Jamal Publisher: HarperCollins  Pages: 343 inam ul rehman  As I received the pre-ordered book I was impressed with its cover design and illustration of Veer Misra and Basita Shah. As a reader I always skip blurbs, quotes by others regarding books because I don’t want my opinion coloured by these, second, it usually is done to please the publishing house or the author. Hence holds no value for serious readers.  The book, as the author states, fructified during the traumatic events of reading down of Article 370 and 35A in 2019 Jammu and Kashmir .  Mehak Jamal’s book on love and longing starts with exuberance. In the early 90s when cordon and search operations were norm in Kashmir¬¬—where people used to be paraded before masked men sitting in armed gypsies—17-year-old  Javid tries to dodge one such operation, notoriously known as a crackdown , but finds himself late to escape.  As he moves to...
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Book review: A plague called Kashmir conflict

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Book: The plague upon us Author: Shabir Ahmad Mir Publisher: Hatchette India     inam ul rehman     Anyone familiar with the writing as a craft, not as a talent, will vouch that writing is spine bending work. You give up your cherished things for the craft of writing. But what matters for all writers is how public receives their product.     “The plague upon us”, a debut novel of Shabir Ahmad Mir, is a complex story of Kashmiri characters. It is as complex as the Kashmir situation is in itself. An average reader has to have his attention span stretched to understand this book. It is a thinking man’s book where the author lets his readers to form their own opinions, and judge the characters on their own experiences.     Set in the 90s when Kashmir saw massive armed uprising against the Indian state , all the characters in the book go through many transformations. Be it Oubaid ­–the narrator of stories­– an intriguing person who goes thro...
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A book fair of noise and heat

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 inam ul rehman  On August 3, I visited a book fair titled Chinar Book Festival organised by the National Book Trust of India at the expansive SKICC lawns. The moment I stepped into the shamiyana erected at the back lawns, I was hit by suffocating heat, stale air, posters of politicians, and hundreds of government schoolchildren darting about — not for books, but for keychains and snacks. I kept wondering: why do politicians need to inaugurate a book fair? Why must everything be politicised? Inside, the heat was unbearable and the chaos created by school children worse — stall after stall lined with pirated books. I don’t know why school children were dragged into this? Is it for footfalls to show that the book fair attracted everyone? To put this book fair into perspective, the weekly book market at Mahila Haat, Daryagunj in New Delhi outmatches this in size and genuine offerings.  Apart from a handful of genuine stalls mostly run by the locals, the rest were f...
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