FJ Kashmir

Book: City as memory: a short biography of Srinagar    Author: Safaf Wani Publisher: Aleph book company Pages: 180 Reviewer: inam ul rehman  If you look at the mesmerising cover illustration of Zainab Tambawalla, evocative and detailed that it visually tells a silent introduction to the book. The city of Srinagar has been described in myriad ways. Basharat Peer referred Srinagar as a medieval town caught in the modern warfare. For Khalid Mir it induces the memory of Jaffna Street .  For the author of the book, Srinagar or Sirinagar, as she uses it, evokes a feeling of undefined relationship, which she is unable to communicate.  To define her relationship with Srinagar city she seeks help of many people. Shahar-i-Khas is an important but a small part of Srinagar city. It was this Shahar-i-Khas which was responsible for making Kashmir famous for its hospitality. And every community extended hospitality to travellers.   However, the author brings up th...

  Book: Undaunted: Lt Ummer Fayaz of Kashmir Author: bhaavna aroar   Publisher: Westland books Pages: 232     inam ul rehman   “I am writing a book on Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz,” says bhaavna arora to a bookstore owner at the Srinagar airport to see his reaction. “Yes, I have heard of him,” says the owner. “But you know,” continues he, “there was an innocent shepherd boy who was killed by the forces yesterday. He was mistaken for a terrorist. I am pretty sure no one will write a book on him.”    It is these honest conversations that the author peppers on her eponymous book. Written in an interesting, absorbing way with parallel tracks the book crafts the story of a young Ummer, who was sure he is safe among his people even after being commissioned lieutenant of the 2 Rajputana Rifles .    From an early age, Ummer was groomed by his father to think and be different from his peers.  The protagonist lives up to this grooming. Not just be...

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...