A year has passed

I want to congratulate all you Kashmir bloggers. Thanks for an exciting year of blogging. MashaALLAH, Kashmir bloggers completed its first year. I have read so many wonderful and eye opening posts throughout this year, alhamdulillah. Keep up the good work. I am looking forward to learning more from all of you. InshaALLAH we will open up the gates to a better tomorrow. Aameen.

Let's go on strike. Oh yeah?

Benazir Bhutto is assasinated in Pakistan. Kashmiris are observing strike. Why Mr. Geelani? What is this strike for and against who? It is a sad event. A leader and 20 people have been killed in a brutal way and solidarity with the people of that country is a nice gesture. Nobody is against that but why should we hurt ourselves. 9 kashmiris were hurt in the protests inside Kashmir. A day of school and work was lost yet again. People working for the government will be paid anyways and they will accept that money even when they didn't work. Why should a poor self employed Kashmiri suffer any further? For what? this doesn't even make sense at all. Strike is our only answer for anything that happens in this world which we deem to be against us somehow. Even a log would come up with a new method of registering its protest in as much time as we have spent going on strikes. We have mastered this art and I am sure nobody in this world can beat us at that. It is a shame.

I cry for you 'Oh Kashmir'

December 28, 2007. There are nine news items on the internet edition of Greater Kashmir. Six are about death (5 about Benazir Bhutto) and one about a kashmiri girl.
Seventh is about a brutal assault on a teenage girl whose face is permanently deformed, eighth news item is about molestation attempt of a girl walking on a Srinagar street, by some men under influence and the last news item is about kashmiri men urging a legislator to plead for the removal of an army bunker from a civilian area.
Each and every news is depressing. Things have started happening in Kashmir that were totally unheard of. People trying to kidnap a girl in the broad day light in Srinagar. Wait a second, where are we headed? Another girl is murdered and a third one is brutally assaulted. Her ten teeth are broken. How can one be so spiteful to do this?
Where is this hatred and violence coming from? Lots of questions and very few answers. We need to introspect seriously to find the cause of this breakdown of our social fabric. It is a social emergency. It is so shocking that it is hard to believe that we are talking about Kashmir. Kashmiris brutalizing other Kashmiris and so much violence against women. It is barbaric. It is horrible. Majority of the Kashmiris will still be shocked when they hear these news. Being shocked is not enough though. This silence is criminal. I am really shocked and dumbfounded thinking about all this. How can one be so brutal? How can someone not freeze when trying to hit a young girl on her face? This is inhuman and definitely not Kashmiri and far far far away from anything that Islam teaches us. Not related to any of these at all.

EID MUBARAK TO EVERYONE

May ALLAH make this EID a day of mercy for all of us and accept the HAJJ of those who performed it this year and of those who performed it in the previous years. May ALLAH grant the privilege of performing it soon to those who haven't performed it yet. Aameen.

Yes - how long?

I first decided to comment on Nayeem's recent post. But later, i realized this was better off a post than a comment. All of us have been in the same situation, trying to figure after all when is it going to end? When will we breathe free? When will we see light at the end of the tunnel? But to be honest, when Allah says in the Quran, " 13:11 …. Verily, God does not change people’s condition unless they change their inner selves" i always think of kashmiris, as if this verse has been cut out for kashmiris - yes me, you - us. We are talking about young ones losing lives - how often have we seen the relatives and parents of the same young ones sell the blood of that martyr for loose change. We talk about the system, even a death certificate cannot be made unless someone is bribed. We talk about morality, and how do our own sisters go out from our own houses. We talk about equality, when has a kashmiri grown out of caste system? We talk about Islam, what is it that is practiced in astaans? We talk about law, who pays the electric bill on time, heck who even pays it. We talk about our kashmir, who destroyed the Dal and the forest cover? We talk about atrocities, ask the lady in pain why she can't get the anesthesia and then look that guy in the eye, who sold it even before it reached the hospital. We talk about being fair, remember the price you had to pay for the chicken just half hour after the highway closed down? We talk about education, visit the professor of a government college, visit him not in the college, oh but visit him at his house where he is teaching private tuitions. We talk about care, look at the white coat of a doctor who is at his private clinic and not in the village he is supposed to be, and you will see the coat is not white anymore. We talk about work, try walking on the bridge that the engineer built, alas the bridge is but a few strokes of ink. We talk about economy, look in the heart of a guy, who applied for a bank loan, without an intention of ever paying it back. We talk about honesty, wait... what does that mean again?

Globalization

I am tempted to write this event that one of my friends narrated to me.
A kashmiri living in the US started a software development center in Kashmir. The office in Kashmir had a US phone number so that the US customers could speak to the support group if they had any questions about the company product. ....
Scene: An employee in the Kashmir office picks up the phone and starts dialing..91 (Country code for India) followed by 194 (area code for Kashmir)...and some number..
The call doesn't go through but something happens after a few minutes. These gentlemen get a call from a Police department in the US (Name and city withheld). If you haven't already figured out...the call went to 911 (see the dialed numbers again). Here is an excerpt of what followed (gentlemen in Kashmir will be referred to as GIK):
911: Sir we are from...(Name withheld), Is everything okay there?
GIK: (baffled)Yes. (Hangs up)
After some time...
911: Sir, are you sure no one called from that number and everything is okay?
GIK: Yes we are fine (freaks out).
It didn't end there. After 10 minutes they get another call....
Cops: We are outside your office building. Can you step out please.
GIK: Which office?
Cops: (They give the office address in the US)
GIK: But we are not in the US. We are in Kashmir. (Sorry)
Globalization is funny.

How long.........................................?

I am picking up from where the previous post left off.
Everyday I read about death and destruction. Death of humans, our environment and everything that we have always been proud of and the destruction of all that we earn.
It is really frustrating that you can't even walk out and say what you want in Kashmir? Open your mouth and a bullet will make a hole in it and shut you up for the rest of your life. We will cry hoarse, demand investigations. An enquiry will be ordered or may be not and after a few days it will be back to business. Life as usual.

Something has to change. The way we react or the way we act has to change. Call it the resilience or the helplessness (I am more inclined to call it the latter), a kashmiri has to move from protesting about one thing to another. Unless we protest about the protest itself I doubt anything is going to change. How can we put an end to all the injustices that keep happening in our kashmir?

I am unable to make sense of all that is going on. A snapshot of last 17 years is ridiculous. Bullets fired on unarmed people even when they are asking for a school, people cane charged when they ask for water supply or electricity which could help them keep warm in freezing winters, people catch cops burning their houses, people are stolen and never show up again, girls are sexually exploited by politicians. Are we going to continue talking about how ridiculous the situation is or are we actually going to take any real steps to bring in some positive change. All that is going on is unfair and unjust. How long will it continue? We are talking about humans here.

Not News

December 15th 2007 saw the death of young Zahoor Ahmad Mir at the hands of the police in Magam, Kashmir. This is not news in Kashmir. Young men are killed every day - militants, civilians, victims of encounters, policemen and others.

Zahoor was killed when police opened fire on a protest demanding the government create a college in Magam.

Inhuman, absurd and bizarre.

Again, this is not news in Kashmir. Kashmiris remember how, in the past, protests against electric supply shortages have ended with loss of life. Kashmir ranks among the many parts of the world where life goes cheap.

The inhuman, absurd and bizarre is not news in Kashmir. What can be more inhuman, absurd and bizarre.

What goes around comes around

It is a chilly winter evening, the hour is still in single digits but it is so dark out. The evenings seem longer than ever. Destiny has bought my friend in search of bread to this remote corner of the planet. The same situation that i was in about 6 years ago. Recollecting old days is definitely one of the cherished past times. We started talking about the 12th class examinations. He used to go to Tyndale Biscoe and i used to attend Jawahar Nagar Higher Secondary(JNHS). Even the name in the former case is fancier than the latter. Incidentally, we were in the same examination center (Amar Singh College) for our 12th boards. We were musing on the fact that when students of Biscoe broke all records of violating academic integrity during the additional mathematics examination. When this mass copying was reported in the center, ironically, our (JNHS) physics paper got cancelled instead of their Maths paper. My friend mentioned, ridiculous as it was, the only reason he had spent a fortune to get enrolled in Biscoe was the fact that their papers never got cancelled no matter what they did. He mentioned that his investment yielded immediate fruit when in this case our paper was cancelled instead of theirs.

This was year 1996 and the joint secretary of the Board of Secondary Education was in cahoots with Tyndale Biscoe for some vested interests unknown to us. Mass copying in the additional maths paper by Biscoe students was reported in Amar Singh College center. Jawahar Nagar Higher Secondary shared the center with them. Anyway, to cut the long story short, JNHS physics paper was cancelled but nothing happened to the students from Biscoe. The students of JNHS alongwith their parents went to the Board of Secondary Education where they were met with a horrendous response from the Joint Secretary. 'You guys dont know how to raise your children. They copy and now you come to support them. Students of Biscoe are from good families of the society.You guys are nothing compared to them'. These were the words used by a person who was sitting in a position of the Joint Secretary of the 'Education' system of Kashmir. Given that we were the underdogs and stakes were high, we asked him now what should we do. He asked every student to pay a fee of Rs. 400/- so that we would be able to take the exam again with the summer zone Jammu students. All of us immediately did that and were waiting for the announcements of exam dates. One fine day a notice in the local Urdu newspaper asked all students whose papers were cancelled to pay Rs. 200/- and they will have to reappear in new center locations within Kashmir. Things were such that even this was a good news. On reaching the State Board office, we were baffled when we asked about the 400 that we had already paid. 'What 400?' was the answer that we got from the Joint Secretary. 'If you want to take the exam pay the 200, its your choice'. Well, so much for a choice! We paid this money again and took the exams. A few months later, we took the Engineering Entrance Examination. The results were announced and 5 out of top 10 students were from JNHS - the same students who were accused of copying.

Destiny had it so, we joined the Regional Engineering College, we came to know that the daughter of the same Joint Secretary was studying there. It was a widely known fact that this girl had an affair with a faculty member from the Mechanical Engineering department and she used to copy in the exams on his behest.

Funny as it was, 'how to raise your children' and 'good families' were the words used by the father of the same girl. Allah could not have given this guy a better punishment. I have put this behind me, as i sit in a remote town in the planet, thousands of miles away from the place where all this is still in practice, the thought comes to me. The system in Kashmir might be so corrupt that he got away with all this, but justice was partially delivered by the Supreme Authority - the Authority that is Incorruptible, Just and True. What goes around has to come around!

Recent article in Greater Kashmir

This recent article in Greater Kashmir was one of the best examples of how a person can ridicule himself without even understanding it. The education minister called for 20% reservations in the missionary schools which vindicates nothing but the fact that they have hands down accepted their own public institutions as complete failures. Why does the Education minister not talk about upgrading the public school system? I personally hold a firm belief that the schools in which the minister is asking for reservations are hyped and parents enroll their wards looking more at a status symbol than a dedicated search for better education. At the same time these institutions maintain an unwritten policy of catering to the affluent class. We have many schools in Kashmir that are doing a great job at education and at the same time upholding the cultural and ethical values of the society (a fact where these schools miserably fail). Iqbal Memorial, New Era etc. are a few to name here. Instead of looking for reservations, we should have a setup of education that beats these missionary schools by parsecs and then automatically these schools will be less sought after and we will reach our goals of a better education system upholding our social values accessible to all economic classes of the society. This is where organizations like KEI® are indispensable and gives us even more reasons to get up and make a difference. Ridiculous as they are, the statements like the ones made by the education minister will at that time be nothing but redundant.

The Intellectual Cream.

Please visit the below site.It has some breathtaking and very moving pictures of the valley as seen and felt by a photojournalist Ami Vitalie. They viewpoint may not be complete but it is worth a watch.
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/flash_point/kashmir/.

While going through the reactions to this video i came across the following comment by a certain Raju Indukuri

"The story of Kashmiri Pundits, the intellectual cream of the society, is another chapter of this same story. "

This is most probably a comment by a person who doesn't know much about Kashmir and has some interaction with a Kashmiri Pandit at university.But I have observed that this is not a one off case.I have heard this opinion often, even locally in Kashmir.
So is this the truth?If yes , why? And if not then what is?

I believe that pre-tehreek the Pandits were more aware and more attuned to the fact that education matters and there always had been a thrust on pushing them ahead post 1947 by the concerned authorities.The relative success that the Pundits have achieved in various fields outside the valley has been more pronounced in the era before the trouble started in Kashmir because at that point the Valley muslims hardly ventured out.But as more and more kashmiri muslims are moving out and pushed to prove their mettle the gap is being bridged.This tells me that the problem is not about intellectual capacity (which anyways varied individually) of a sect but the exposure they are subject to and also the direction they are shown.

I may be right and I know that my argument is not complete and the purpose of this post is to have your point of view, each one of you. So lets hear it !!!! Thanks

I love Fall

It is that time of the year when leaves have started to fall from the trees and the ground is turning white. The sun sets early and the birds would return to their nests earlier than usual. The noise that the breaking leaves under my shoes make, makes me remember the days that have gone by. Kashmir looked beautiful during this time of the year. We would start wearing phiran(a long robe) to save ourselves from the biting cold and in the nights kanger (an earthen pot covered with cane sticks and filled with amber, kind of personalized heating system) would keep us warm. The smoke in the air from the burning leaves used as a supplement to the coal for the kanger would give a different tinge to the whole atmosphere and it would smell different. The skin would start drying up but it is all good because I knew I could go home. It has been 8 years now since I have seen this season in Kashmir. I go there every year but only in summer. The chinar leaves would fall everywhere making the ground appear red and some left on the trees would make them appear as if they are on fire. It has been a while since I saw those burning chinars. It is such a beautiful sight that it could take your breath away. The different colors of this season would make it very beautiful with the poplar leaves turning yellow before they embrace the dying ground . Everything about this season was charming. The school would get closed for a long cold winter break very soon. There were no exams so we could just sit around a warm cosy place and talk about almost everything and anything on earth. Each one of us would turn into experts on almost every topic be it sports, religion or politics. We used to have lots of leisure time during this season. It is the time of transition from life to the death of winter but at the same time announcing that spring is not too far away. It is like a lesson in life and it would teach us this lesson every year. Life could be full of color even if the hardships stare you into your eyes and if you brace those hardships life will greet you with the flowers of the spring. Live on and embrace this fall to rise up again.

A Team to cheer for ......

The Season is on ... Indo-Pak games.

An event that calls for an outing with friends to watch the game at a cafe.
You settle in, order a cuppa coffee and look forward to an exciting time.

Yuvraj hits a six , my heart misses a beat and the Indian next to me cheers.
Shoaib runs in , Ganguly perishes , I feel joy and so does the paki alongside me.

Why ? I ask myself. These guys are emoting for their team , what am I doing?
I am being emotional as well , but what for?

Am I a Paki ? NO
Is Kashmir playing? NO

A very small observation but a very Basic one about our identity.
Oh but for a team of our own!

Give me a team to cheer for and the rest would already be in place .........

POV vs NPOV

Where does the debate of Point-of-view versus Neutral-Point-of-view end? Where is that line that marks the end of one and the beginning of the other? When a psychiatrist states his patients are suffering from delusions, does he mean his patients are crazy? I read lately that american teenagers are rebellious than others, was that offensive to the americans? Bengladesh topped the list of most corrupt countries, is it derogatory to the natives of that country? Is calling the mid-east an oil rich part of the world insulting to the people that are not able to make ends meet in those countries? Stating that black people are far less educated than their fair counterparts, is that attacking the colored folks? Studying history of ruthless caste system in India, is that calling all Indians racists? Working for the betterment of poor children in palestine, is that anti-semitic? Recently i heard that the animal rights activists were protesting against the verbal abuse and degradation the animals face in the current world. They thought that the statements dirty like a pig, wild like a hog, smart-ass etc. are insulting to the animals. Sure ... my apologies!!!

Lets definitely talk about food

Yet again, Nayeem posts something and I am inspired to follow up. No wonder he is the owner of this blog and I, a contributor. Before i forget what i wanted to write about - ahh yeah food. What could be a better topic? Only 'lots of food', i guess. Before i go ahead and mention anything, i would like to clarify something for those that might be a little rusty on their geography.
South Asian food is not just Indo-Pak or Bengladeshi food (in short Desi). It also includes top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art, best-of-class, best-in-breed Kashmiri cuisine, and no, it tastes nothing like desi food, somewhat persian-o-arab yes, but definitely not desi. Whereas the marchewangan-korme, meeth and the rogan-josh would surely titillate your palette, the kabab, riste and degi-kokur are there to fill you up. While you would drool over the tabak-maaz and the aabe-gosh, the yakhen and the haakh are there to pep it up. Then there is the omnipresent batte and the logical period goshtaabe. With everything so calculated, kashmiri cuisine is grammatically, scientifically and mathematically sound and perfect - and yea did i mention how great it tastes? Our cuisine is very elaborate, with everything logically placed and each spice and condiment added to perfection. Add to it the Kashmiri hospitality and you are in a food heaven. I have often asked elders about the origin of Wazwan and all seem to point vaguely towards Persian and Mughal history. With abundant use of saffron and yoghurt, Persian seems logical. Marinated, grilled and not 'spicy hot' would make it somewhat Arab. Well, this reminds me of Newton, only that it being the Wazwan i would be more interested in eating the apple than thinking why it fell down.

The only thing that has turned me off always about the wazwan is the extravagance and the amount of food being wasted. It is a pity, rather a shame. But wazwan is one of the few things from our heritage that still exists and fortunately i dont see it dying off so soon, at least not before the kashmiri language itself - so eat up guys. wosta yath trawakh na demni racha ti...

let us talk about food

I told my fiance the other day that kashmiri food is better than the American food. Most of my American friends here relish south asian (minus the spices) and middle eastern food. One of them is going to the extent of making a tandoor at his home. My fiance thought I was being emotional since I don't live in Kashmir. She may be right but I don't think I agree with that. I think Kashmiri food is really awesome. Consider harisa, I can't find anything close to that in the whole world. Some say the hyderabadi haleem is close enough. I would respond, not quite. It may be close to "Abdul Haleem" but not harisa.
No matter what people say about wazwaan, I really miss it man. How could you not like it and I don't find any place which has something even remotely similar. And then talk about 'tsochwore'(I hope you understand what I am talking about), the bagel like bakery with sesame seeds that we eat with our evening tea. Remove the extra flour from inside it and replace it with butter( forget about cholesterol), it is wonderful. And now that I talked about this thing which we can't even write in any other language ('tsochwore'), how can I not say a few words about my all time favorite 'nunne chai' (tea with milk and salt. Yes I mean salt. It is not a typo). I travel 50 miles ( one-way) to get a cup of nunne chai sometimes, at a wonderful kashmiri family's home here. And then, shirmaal, kulcha, bagerkhaen. These are all so great with this relishing pink drink, 'nunne chai'.
Even the regular food we eat usually in our homes in Kashmir is really a treat. I have not covered every kind of food and bakery of Kashmir because I want others to add to it. And now that I wrote about food, I guess I am feeling hungry. I am off of this computer to go grab my lunch.
However, before I do that I want to add, Kashmiri food rocks. Go Kashmir.

The truth is bitter

I rendered this website in my browser today and realized something.
None of us had written anything in the month of October except Aamir's comment about a previous post. I started thinking, isn't that what we are missing in Kashmir. Some attention to what is happening around us. A person is killed in cold blood, we cry for a few days and everything is normal again, our forests catch fire every now and then these days and it hardly matters to us. It takes a forest decades to recover the damage. Aamir is right, we should look at positives too. One of the positives is this blog where we can express ourselves without fear. So today I want to write about something that I noticed a few weeks ago.
It was on Eid and two of our leaders who claim to represent people could not even pray together in one place. It is shameful. Both claim to be the representatives of the people. I wonder at times, who is really leading Kashmiris. Is it, the abdullah's the mufti's, the Azad's, the Hurriyat's and several other organizations or they are all misleading us. Each one of them consider themselves to be peoples representatives and now I am talking about the people who want to get freedom for Kashmir. Honestly, who gave them the right to negotiate on behalf of the Kashmiris. We don't even know their plans, for GOD's sake. Let me say this, how about we have a referendum. Each person who thinks he/she could negotiate on behalf of the Kashmiris and bring the ever elusive peace to our Kashmir, run in the referendum. People will choose from amongst them a group of people based on their plans. This group could represent Kashmiris and then we don't have these hundreds of organizations who keep popping up more than the flowers on our saffron fields. This would also give credibility to the group representing the people. However, one important thing, they need to divulge their plans before the people ahead of the referendum and it should be open to all and one of the condition for their representation would be that they stick to the plan. We should have another referendum at an appropriate time before the final solution to see if people still trust them and to check whether they stuck to the promised plan.
Let us behave like civilized people to find solutions to our problems and stop wasting our time.

Wife of Abdus Samad Bhat

When Sara passed away, we buried her in our family's graveyard in the foothills of the "Suleman Teng" or "Shankaracharya Hill" in Srinagar, Kashmir. We marked the grave with white marble. At the head, below the bismillah, the caligraphy reads "Wafaate Ahleya Abdus Samad Bhat"; It marks the death of the "Wife of Abdus Samad Bhat". She was my grandmother, had been a proud and loving wife to the wonderful Abdus Samad Bhat, and her name was Sara.

Quite likely the omission of her given name was a manifestation of what-was-done and what-was-proper in the collective psyche. When i looked at it this September the marking struck me as a symbol of our, for want of a better word, male chauvinism.

This "our" identity seems to be defined by our nationality and culture and religion and history and the list can be longer. The "we" it constitutes puts women on a pedestal that seeks to grant respect but comes with a denial and suppression of feminine individuality. Apparently, it did not want to acknowledge Sara directly.

Kashur Islam

Islam may be on the tongues of kashmiris, it is not in their hearts,
it may be associated to the kashmiris, it is not characteristic to them,
it may be in their names, but not in their lives,
it may be on their streets, but not in their homes,
it may be on their faces, but not in their limbs,
it may be on their outsides, but not their insides,
it may be in their past, but not the present,
it may be in their books, but not their deeds,

they may die for it, but not live it...

Who says Pundits left Kasheer?

In one of my off late khazer-sochta-hai-wular-ke-kinare or the musings-of-aristotle moments, i was thinking of the big deal that everybody has made out of the fact that the pundits have left or were forced out of kasheer. This is so not true. The kashmiris still worship their bootte-mein-tarashan-zi-sange-mazare lord, you will still find people lining outside the tombs and graveyards. You will still find aastaans more crowded than mosques. They still sing hymns in the early mornings, only at a different rendezvous. The caste system is still as water tight as it used to be - there still are so called upper caste brahmins that have taken our religion hostage, marriages are still performed by matching horoscopes minus the stars. A new born is still greeted with charms and talismans that sometimes look like the suicide capsules worn by LTTE in Sri Lanka. Every other person, male or female, wears a talisman or a charm. Birth of a girl is still frowned upon and usually an occasion of distress. We still wail and whine on a death and even observe the chooryium (fourth) and the chatjehum (fourtieth). We have more holidays and auspicious occasions than probably any other place on the face of the earth. Some animals are still considered pheshal (bring misfortune) and yet others phrooch (lucky).

Kashmir is still so full of pundits, i fail to understand who fled.....

Next step to share a smile

Salaam alaikum (May peace be upon you all)!!

I want to thank all those who commented about our initiative and expressed the willingness to take it forward. Firoz, Abid, Asif, Shah-Naaz, Manzoor and Imran thankyou very much. Your views and opinions are very helpful. I also hope that others who did not express their opinions about it will soon share their views and guide us.

Before we actually initiate this I want to remind everybody that it is not going to be easy. I am not saying this to discourage anybody out there, but to be prepared. Imran, I agree with you. Thankyou. InshaALLAH, with the help of ALLAH for whose pleasure we undertake this service, we will be able to put smiles across some peoples' faces.

Here is the initial plan:

1. First things first. We need to set up a non-profit. Manzoor has found some information about it and we have a reference in the office where we could register our organization. I will be arriving in Kashmir on July 18th and Manzoor and I have planned to visit the office for registering the non-profits. Thanks Manzoor. If anyone wants to join us to the office please let us know.
Oh Yeah, Please suggest a name for our non-profit organization. Something cool :) .

This is important because that way it will be easy for the donors to donate and for us to provide information to the auditors.
Here I want to mention that we would like to keep a low profile because humility and modesty brings in the pleasure of ALLAH.

2. We will set up a bank account in the name of the non-profit, so that donors could transfer the money. Overseas donors will be able to donate on time by transferring it to this account. Abid will help us in getting the information about the bank account. Thanks Abid.


Let us get started and then we could search for donors. I suggest that we take it a step a time. Small goals make it easier to measure progress.

Any suggestion/comments are greatly appreciated. Thankyou all for stepping forward.

Barakallahu Fik.

-Nayeem

share-a-smile.org

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'A good deed is one which brings a smile of joy on someones face'. I love this. It is better than anything good I could ever imagine. It makes my heart swell with happiness. Dale Carnegie, in his book, 'Stop worrying and start living' mentioned this hadith. Mr. Carnegie encouraged his readers to do atleast one good deed everyday and his definition of a good deed was what Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the above hadith and the source was acknowledged in the book.
We want to see a happy kashmir. A kashmir where smiles greet you in every direction you look in. Is it achievable? I believe it is. My shirt, that I got from a recent leadershape camp that I attended, says, "Don't wait for the world to change, take action." I love this too.
I want to take action. Asif and I have been talking about starting a group. A group that would share a smile. Share smiles with those who are less privileged. The group of people that we thought of helping out would be those who cannot afford a treatment at a medical facility because of lack of money. If all of our friends, reading this blog, come forward to help us, we could bring lots of smiles on peoples' faces. It would help us as Asif put it, "to keep our inner self alive".
The plan is to seek help from the doctors we personally know in Kashmir, to identify those who need help. We could open a bank account in Kashmir, operated by our trusted friends there. Whenever someone would need help, our friends would deposit the money directly to the medical center for the treatment.
Even if we could help only a single person I would consider our efforts a success. Let us share a smile and try to bring a smile of joy on someones face for the sake of ALLAH. Please share your opinions, advises and suggestions. May ALLAH bless you all.

DAL LAKE IN BEAUTIFUL KASHMIR

Dear Kashmiries and authors,

I have been learned by this group that the dimond of the earth, KASHMIR, experiences a very serious problem with azolla symbiosis in its DAL lake. Although I am not belong to Kasmir as a citizen, I breath with Kasmir as if I were from there. When I saw its pictures on the net, that made me fall in love with it. I just want to contribute to the solution of the problem the lake Dal suffers from.

First of all, I would like to convey my infinite thanks to Dr. Kal for his elaborating the problem and letting us know of it. It looks to me that there are socially excluded residents in the lake Dal area which doesn't receive enough economic investment to improve the local population's sanitary conditions, sewage systems, and environmental health. Secondly, it is highly possible to me that there are alot of discharges of houses and living entities to the lake. Thirdly, there may be very intensive agriculture within and around the drainage basin of the Dal lake, which requires extremely high inputs of artficial and organic fertilizers, especially nigrogeneous and phosphorous compozitions in the chemical forms. Finally, for a long time, the local and governmental authorities may have been extremely ignorants of the problem and accumulation of the extraneous agents in long-run caused this problem to show up today.

After I deduced these reasons from Dr. Kal's article, I, as a soil science major, decided to approach the soulution to the problem. Except the administrative authorities in the region, none of us can touch the social and economical policy type issues that manage the case for the Lake Dal. However, there is a very strong tool we, the lovers of Kashmir and its hydrologic entities, can use and be aware of. The AZOLLA is an ecological problem in the lake Dal. The AZOLLA is a symbiosis life form in rice paddies wherever rice is grown. However, rice paddies need AZOLLA to servive because AZOLLA is fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere and becomes a very strong contributor to the rice paddy lands as green manure. This is the only and major advantage why people want to have AZOLLA in their lands. The biomass (especially living or dead organic weight) of AZOLLA is significantly important to intensive rice paddies. the largest part of nitrogen is contributed to the plants thru nitrogen fixing life forms (symbionts and basically nitrogen fixing bvacteria, such as azotobacter, some bacillus and rhizobium species). the agrerian is just adding the critical amount of artificial nitrogen fertilizer to their soils so the plant can survive at the nitrogen deficit times. However, the Lake Dal is notonly polluted through nitrogeneous fertilizer, but also by phosphorous fertilizer that are applied to the landscape more than enough. When any rain falls, this rain is infiltrates the soil. If the rainfal is more than soils infiltration capacity, the rain starts overland flow/Runoff on the surface and subsurface flow in the soil. Although phosphorous is strongly fixed to the soil exchange surfaces (colloids, clay, organic matter, and nonoparticles), excess water has strong capability to discharge and translocate nitrogen and phosphorous through the sediment transport and leaching. When these two critical chemicals reach the lake, lake starts another process, called eutriphication. Now, the lake starts its own deadly process. It becomes stagnent water, less oxygenated, not much respiration for the aquatic life, and significant accumulation of sediment and organic remnents at the lake floor. What is more, the stinking smell pervades miles and miles in the region. Environment for the human being degrades. This stupilation can be extended pages and chapters perhaps, but I would like to stop at this point for logical conclusion.

Our strategy to reduce the problem to the minimum level so it cannot be effective on our lives shoud be a very wise agricultural water and nutrient management strategies. This is the key to get rid of the problem and save money. There is no logic in spending our all fundings on excessive nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers and wasting them by applying more than needed in the soil in the region. We need to know when, what amount, how and how many times we need to fertilize our crop. This is a strategy for any agrerian who needs to take care of his soil and crop. In this way,. no fertilizer and thus no extra money of us will not be wasted and returend to us as pollution and long lasting problem of pollution in the Lake Dal. Govenrnmentally, there are many other solutions if government wants to spend some money and cure the problem. The officials can force the people who live on the lake to live in a better condition on the land rather than on water. These pople can be incorporated into local and residential life forever with very little social and economic help and they can be included in the economic and soicial systems in the region. By doing so, the refusal of these people will not be dropped into the lake and more nitrogeneous and phosphorous additions will be cut off. in a reasonably short time the lake will recover from the problem and the locals will start their swimming and fishing in the lake again.

Sincerely,
Rifat Akis

Defining Moment

There is a defining moment in every nation's existence. These moments define the character of a nation and what it stands for. One such moment that the nation of Kashmir is facing today is the fate of Dal lake.
We are fortunate enough to have been blessed with a land of unparalleled beauty. With this blessing comes the responsibility to preserve this beauty. So far we failed to do what is right. Dal lake bears witness that we did not fulfill our responsibilities. Now is the time, when we need to rise up as a nation and come to its rescue. We need to do what is right and what is expected of us.
Government has not been able to prevent its deterioration. We as people need to step up. This lake belongs to each one of us. We need to save it. The people of Kashmir need to own this lake with all its problems. We can't be its fair weather friends. As long as it stays beautiful we will keep visiting it but as soon as it dies we will treat it the way we treat a dead dog. We will want to get rid of it. If we let that happen, what will it say about our character. It has been there forever and we have been proud of it. Now that it needs us, we are turning our backs towards it. It is crying for help:

' Save me! Save me! O' people of Kashmir. I am dying. Please. I need your help. I don't want to die, please help me. Don't go away, now is the time when I need you the most.'

A lot has been written about its condition. People have talked about it, heard about and cried for it. Everyone in Kashmir seems to be concerned but what we need the most is an honest action to save it. A call for help is not sufficient neither is concern. What really matters is the action. We need to act and act now, briskly and efficiently as a nation. We need to gel as a unit , come together and strive, strive hard to save this lake and bring back its lost glory. We need to define ourselves and take a step that will lead this lake into a healthier tomorrow.

Preservation of this lake is a direct reflection of our character as a nation. We have to make a choice. Do we want to watch it die silently and live with this pain for ever? or, do we want to come forward and save it for us, our future generations and the world? This is the defining moment.

Manzimyara Manzimyara

Manzimyara manzimyara onthane kahn labith
Ahnez ahnez kaapi hind dah warakh barith

Ajekated, shareef te shakeel chhui baech
Ahansa su gow pozui gode wan me zaech

Sofi saebnen korum jawab, na onum Teli
Tyuhund awlad aestan kootah jaan, saen zaat ma meli

Akh rishte haz chhu Qureshi te byakh chhui Wani
Yi kyasa ma chhu dolmut zan ne me zaani

Parway ne Bhat ti chhim anmit te beyi anim Baba
Ahansa magar asi yiyi ne yiman saet hisaaba

Ade Banday dimonaya kine dimonay Qazi
Wech kya karaan rishte chum na thawun razi

Mufti ti haz chhim beyi haz chhim Khan
Yiman kith chhi keran zanem panun paan

Nahvi saebni tula kath kine tohi gachew Shah
Tul waen kehn karakh na beyi khas rachah

Goday korwam inkaar ki asi lagi ne Mir
Syed ti saeri nakli kahn chhune peer

Haay myane khudaya sharaftukh rood ne zamanay
Syod syod chandaan rishte, tath ti karaan bahanay

This is an effort at the dramatization of the dialogue between family of a prospective bride or groom and a species in kasheer known as manzyumyor (middle-man). There are so many other castes in kashmir, I had no intention to leave you guys out. But, sorry, my vocabulary of castes is limited. It is a pity that we have been muslims for so long, but never have risen above casteism. I wonder if there is a last name musalmaan or a surname muslim???

Disclaimer: The castes are not mentioned in any order - ascending or descending (wAllahi that does not even make any sense).

The Maer’s Last Sigh!!

Dal chhui maala-maal

Dengi was, khaalto laal

Laalas chhu gaashukh kamaal

(Dal is full of riches

Dive in and get the pearl

Pearl as bright as the light)

O my son! I have but been a good mother to you. I have been a cradle to your houseboats. My arms have held your shikaras like babies. I have fed you, nursed you, raised you and loved you as a good mother should. Remember the pambach, the nadur and the gaade. How many of you have I helped swim and how many have felt the warmth of my affection. I have watched you grow from babies to old people. I acted as a playground for you when you were kids, a rendezvous for friends to soak their tired legs. I would host you as love birds and provide an ambience where you would forget your troubles. I have kept you alive, I have kept you kicking. I have posed like a proud mother in your photographs and have been happy even as an unobserved detail in them. I assisted you in earning your livelihoods and raise your families. I never asked anything in return. But why my son, did you never consider me a part of your family? You abused me, ravaged me, poisoned me, hurt me in every way you could. You have brutally encroached my boundaries and violated my sanctity. I have shrunk to more than a tenth of my size. All I asked was to leave me alone, if not care for me, and I would continue serving your needs, the only reason Allah had created me for.

O my son! Listen to my plea, for this might be my last before I disappear into history and become merely a part of an artist’s collection. Help me so that I can help you. It does not take a genius to realize not to chop the branch one is sitting on – or does it!!

May The Ghulam Hassans Please Stand Up

The year was 1992. The classrooms were dusty with their entrances hidden at the ends of dark, gloomy corridors in the dilapidated structures of the S.P. Higher Secondary School in Srinagar.

Kashmir had gone militant. Rebellion was pouring out, where it was due and where it was not; irrespective. Defiance of authority was in fashion that season. Anarchy was the law. For the fashion conscious young in school and college, this new style often manifested in defiance of (and frequently disrespect towards) all teachers and teaching institutions. The boys could come to class or to examinations armed, either with a weapon or with the possibility of pointing one later. Lecturers could get shouted at, and worse. Someone might desire a personal advantage; someone else might do it just because it was fun. Teachers, as an institution (and as individuals, by large) behaved like all other institutions and individuals in choosing to look the other way; wisdom favored discretion, rather than valor. The (otherwise sacred) spirit of rebellion among youth had cut loose of any constraints of direction.

Most classes were never held. Often, the lecturer would not show up. No one bothered to ask why. One assumed it had to do with the "haalaat" being "kharaab" (the times being bad). Maybe his haalaat were really kharaab that day. Maybe he was apprehensive his haalaat could turn kharaab in the hands of his class! Maybe he had just lost his drive to go thru the motions of holding class. The class wouldnt miss him much anyway. Even if he had turned up, few would have shown up in his bare classroom. Yes, many classrooms were indeed bare of furniture or held just remnants (I once took an annual exam in a bare room. The next day was better; they had desks; no chairs though!).

Among all this chaos, in a barely furnished damp classroom at the end of the same dark gloomy corridor, Ghulam Hassan would hold his English Literature class. Whatever desks were present in that hall would be occupied, as one might expect in normal times. However, the rest of the room would be packed as well; taken up by students standing to listen to the lecture. Some would be sitting on the window sills; others would be standing outside the large ground floor windows trying to listen in.

That year, the class had three different sections, each with its own lecturer. The overcrowding just described was due to all enrolled showing up in Ghulam Hassans class, while ignoring their assigned lectures.

Such a crowd and such absolute silence. Such times and such respect for authority. An amazing display of commanding respect, based in my opinion, on the sheer force of personality and individual ability.

As i write, the year is 2007. May the Ghulam Hassans please stand up.

How much Panun is Kashmir

Taking off from where this blog was left last, i was thinking about the time when this uprising was in its infancy, probably not only new as an infant, but definitely as innocent as well. Most definitely i was a blind eye witness to the scenario. Was it Governor Jagmohan, the theory i myself adhere to, or was it just panic? It was not the Kashmiri muslims, the honest pandits would definitely tell you that, or was it a third person? Whatever it was, we definitely needed to stand up to the trying moment. And by we, I mean all kashmiris who think kashmir is their panun, not only in an euphemism for a lost cause but in the honesty of the blood in the veins. So, i might not know the reason or the cause, heck, i might not even know the effect in the long run but i definitely know this - the panun in that kashmiri was just a statement and probably a motto as strong as that kashmiri himself was. Life has taught me that what i love, i will stick to it no matter the trials and tribulations i have to go through. Turning ones back used to be the last of the options that 'men' used to consider but probably there is not much of manhood left in the man anymore. Who stood up to the challenges? Who showed the relentless love for his motherland? Who owned the responsibility and decided to stand as one against the relentless forces that have been hounding my motherland for the last so many decades?

Well, i guess no matter what the reason for the mass exodus was, there definitely was a factor and that was the kashmiris for whom kashmir became panun only once they left, had a place to go to, a place that they could call their own, that always considered them a part unlike the kind that stayed behind. Where would the other kind flee to? Out of the frying pan into the fire? I guess they took their chances with the pan. As for the others they decided to get on the bandwagon and watch the show of barbarism , cruelty and ruthlessness from outside of their Panun Kashmir.

Sometimes it does happen

Just like any other place on earth Kashmir is not perfect, neither are its people. We have our own share of strengths and weaknesses. We might not have smooth roads nor continuous supply of electricity, but we have beautiful mountains and valleys. ALLAH puts love in your heart for your birthplace. ALLAH put the love of Kashmir in our hearts with all its shortcomings which exist because we never set them straight or never tried to. As a result of some shortcomings sometimes we don't rise to the occasion and we fail ourselves.
One such occasion that I think when Kashmir as a nation failed itself was when hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits left their homes. It is very painful to leave a place where you have lived for centuries. Leaving everything behind: homes,friends, aspirations, dreams and even memories. As if you start your life afresh but then you can't really get rid of your past , can you? So for all these Kashmiri Pandits who had to leave Kashmir, it must have been very painful and I am sure Kashmir resides in their hearts.
Different people give different versions for the reasons of their migration. The two most prominent ones are: the Kashmiri muslim version and the kashmiri pandit version. According to the kashmiri muslim version; hindus left because Jagmohan, the governor of Jammu and Kashmir, wanted them to, so that he could have a free hand in crushing the mass movement that was erupting at that time. Kashmiri pandits say, they left because they were killed by muslim militants and feared for their lives and the lives of their families.
I don't know which version to believe. Probably I don't even want to know. One thing I know is that Kashmiris are very loving people. However, I fail to understand, why then did they not stand as a nation and tell these Pandits that we are with you and we will be with you. May be things were too complicated at that time and everything was changing so fast that majority itself didn't know what to do. Ask any Kashmiri pandit and I am sure they will acknowledge, the muslim majority of Kashmir never hated them and they did not drive them out. No matter what the reasons were, on that occasion we failed ourselves. I hope they return back to Kashmir sooner than later.
Things happen and sometimes nations do fail themselves. But then things could be set right, may be.

Hajj on Sale

Visiting my beloved moj kasheer is always a kaleidoscope of mixed feelings. On one hand, the beautiful vale, a cradle for all its children, the sense of belongingness, the family that is mine and the family that is kasheer, the faces that started growing wrinkles as I grew, the same neighborhood, the small streets often serving as our cricket fields, the mosque standing tall as always and the same shop around the corner. On the other hand, the broken roads that never got fixed, the overflowing sewer, the stinking garbage and the hapless child’s first breath in the filthy maternity hospital which smells of corruption and gross negligence. Well, whatever it is, it would not stop me from visiting home this summer. With passion in my heart, love in my eyes and nervousness in my limbs I went out of the aircraft to feel, breathe and see Kashmir. Besides other things, top priority on my to-do list was to convince my maternal aunt and her husband to make the intention of the journey that every Muslim must undertake at least once in his lifetime. Perhaps waiting at the carousel for my baggage never was a more monstrous task as it seemed this time. Anyway, I stepped out of the airport and into the daily life of a Kashmiri visiting Kashmir.

The first step – meeting my aunt itself proved to be quite an uphill task. “We can’t take the car, the main roads are closed for public, the inner roads are jammed with traffic and the buses are taking an hour to reach where it should take them five minutes. It is the assembly”, jeered my dad. “Isn’t the government supposed to be ‘for’ the convenience of the people and ‘main’ road is off-limits for the common man?”, I mused. Anyhow, where nothing goes, the bus no. 11 is what you can always trust. I was greeted by one of the most emotional welcomes and without much-ado I jumped onto my mission. “You guys have to go to your first Hajj this year. I ain’t listening”. “Definitely!”, came what was music to my ears. In no time the papers, pictures and money was ready and in the hands of my dad and there goes the application. “inshaAllah”, I could hear it from the hearts of my aunt and uncle.

Due to a large number of people applying, there will be a lottery draw for the people making it to Hajj this year – I overheard somewhere, but it was time for me to head back to US – adieu. Days passed by and every now and then, I would pick up the invention of Alexander Graham Bell and enquire from my parents. ‘Na gobrya, weni draw ne kiheen’ (No, son, the decisions are not made yet). Anyway, the inevitable had to come and they were the unlucky ones to be dropped out of the list. ‘But there is still hope. The people have requested for more quota and there may be some additions’, was what I heard my dad saying. Indeed, the greaterkashmir.com did give new life to my hopes one day as I read the news that the number of Hujjaj has been increased. “An old couple, its their first time, people who are going for the third and fourth time are getting it. Now, they are definitely going to get it.”, I convinced myself. Anyway, the office of the DC, the nemesis as it proved to be, did not bring any great news. They were dropped the second time also. “Our pleas fell on deaf ears. Hopes were shattered and the hearts were broken”, was what my dad conveyed to me. “Now there is only one way. There are people who paid bribes of five to ten thousand per head to get in. I have already talked to one such person and he has assured us two spots for ten thousand rupees”. “Never”, came my reply, ”you can bribe people, but you cannot bribe Allah. Softly, almost choking at her tears, hardly able to speak out, “teli inshaAllah nawi waryi”, said my aunt.

One more soul falls and who knows how many will follow

Abdur Rehman Padder, the carpenter from islamabad was killed in a fake encounter, his body mutilated and buried. He was dubbed as another foreign militant and the security men who killed him were rewarded. But, his family had a missing bread winner who had left his wife , five kids and an old father behind. Their search resulted in unveiling the truth. He had been killed in cold blood to earn rewards by the Jammu and Kashmir police' Special operations group (SOG). Police in their investigation of the case, traced his missing cell phone in the possession of the SOG cops. The cops were arrested and two senior police officers who had instructed them to carry out the killing have been temporarily attached to the Inspector General's office.
The government has ordered a time bound judicial probe. It reminds me of the pathribal case in which five men were killed brutally and dubbed as foreign militants in 2000. It has been proven that the army was involved in the murder but nobody has been indicted yet. Hundreds more are missing. Every now and then we keep hearing about the elimination of foreign militants by security forces and the subsequent rewards. How many of them were kashmiris killed in similar circumstances? Will anyone ever know about the result of the hundreds of investigations that have been announced in the past? Will anyone ever find out about the fate of the tens of thousands of missing people? The head of the state says that the missing people have crossed the line of control to get trained in the other kashmir. This may be true, but he hasn't proven it to us. Could it be all of them are already dead, may be, and that is the popular belief. Wouldn't it be helpful to set up a commission to look into these missing people and for once report the findings in specific time period. Personally I doubt it is going to happen. It is very difficult to believe that in this age it would have been too difficult for these missing people to contact their family no matter where they are. They could still indicate that they are alive if they were.

Kashmir Bloggers

Kashmir Bloggers is a blog to present a glimpse of the current situation in Kashmir. For those of you who are not aware of Kashmir, it is a himalayan state divided between India , Pakistan and China. The Pakistani side is called Azad kashmir by Pakistanis and the people living on that side of Kashmir and the same region is called Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) by India.
The Indian part of the state is officially called the Jammu and Kashmir State (J&K), with three major regions: Kashmir valley, Jammu and Ladakh. The J&K state is called Indian Occupied Kashmir(IOK) by Pakistan .
The J&K state is separated from the other two parts by a dividing line called the Line of Control(LOC). India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir and it has remained a disputed region since 1947. In 1989, an armed struggle started in the kashmir valley and in parts of the Jammu region for independence from India. Ever since, there has been large scale destruction of life and property, particularly in the Kashmir valley. Tens of thousands of kashmiris have died since the inception of this struggle.
This blog will mainly focus on Kashmir valley, the center of the current conflict. The posts would not only include political thoughts but also religious and social expressions.

Ghost Prisoners

Recently I read a book called "Ghost Planes" by Stephen Grey [1]. It is a book about the true story of the CIA torture program. I was shocked to read about the torture that so many people around the world went through as a result of this rendition program. It is ugly. But here, I am not going into the details of the book. The reason I mentioned it is because it made me think. It made me think about those thousands of young kashmiri men who went missing in the last seventeen years.
These kashmiri men who disappeared have nothing to do with the CIA rendition program. Their crime: Being kashmiris who want to secede from India. Some of them might have been militants fighting for the independence from India, others just ordinary citizens who happen to live in the wrong place at the wrong time.
World was shocked to hear about one Mehar Arar [1], the canadian software engineer, sent to Syria during his transit at a US airport on way to Canada, where he was tortured for a year. Eventually he was released and Kashmir has lost thousands of Mehar Arar's never to return again and nobody is shocked. They left behind, half-widows, aging parents and orphan kids. They are seeking answers to their questions: Are the wives of these disappeared men, widows? Have these elderly parents lost their son? Are their kids, orphans? Nobody has an answer or may be people who know don't want to say it.
Many of these young men were innocent people. My question is even if all of them were militants, does the international or any ethical law permit their disappearance? Isn't it the moral responsibility of the Indian government to answer what happened to these young kashmiris.

Mohammad Nayeem

[1] Grey, Stephen. Ghost Plane, The true story of the CIA torture program. St. Martin's press, New York. 2006.