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.