Author: Kashmir Newsline

The sufi songstress will always be remembered for her unforgettable folk songs.  Lily Swarn Whenever the strains of Reshma ‘s arresting, unabashed voice cut through the borders and reached people’s hearts, no one could help being moved by its pure passion. It was as if the desert sands had shifted around us when her haunting voice came with its rustic richness of timbre which was embossed with raw emotion. Generations of her banjara tribesmen forefathers must have crooned in the same manner as they crossed the silent desert. Known as Bulbul-e-Sehra–Nightingale of the Desert–Reshma was born in 1947 in…

 How, at Test level, nerves got the better of two enormously talented batsmen. Faheem Gundroo According to psychology, human brain wasn’t built for high performance; it was built for safety. Perhaps it’s because of the thousands of years that we humans lived as foragers in the wild, hunting and scrambling for food, trying to protect ourselves from wild animals. In 1988, Australia toured Pakistan, always a tough opposition. Steve Waugh was part of the squad. These were times when Allan Border was rebuilding the famously tough Aussie image. Kim Hughes, quite dramatically, had given up captaincy in 1985, virtually…

 Imran Gabol On November 3, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) worker was killed while seven others, including former prime minister Imran Khan, were injured in an armed attack during the party’s long march in Wazirabad. PTI chairman was leading the long march on Islamabad to demand early elections in the country since the ouster of his government in April. The PTI started the march from Lahore on Friday and Khan and other leaders continued to demand, in addition to early elections, the removal of the current government which they claim was formed at America’s behest. Khan and his followers continued…

From a callous chopping of chinar trees to not engaging with various stakeholders and local communities, the smart city paradigms are being brazenly violated. Jaspreet Kaur Under the Smart Cities Mission (SCM), ‘beautification’ and redevelopment works are being carried out in Srinagar, since the last few months, in Lal Chowk and a few areas around it – The Bund Road, Polo View Market and Residency Road. This entire stretch, and the northern Foreshore Road, bear the look of a construction site, hampering traffic and adversely impacting the shopkeepers. The projects include upgradation and redevelopment of Nishat-Sathu and Nishat Bagh…

At its prime, it housed many families of Ughyur, Kazakh and Yarkand origin. Jaspreet Kaur The two Sarais abutting Safa Kadal area of Downtown Srinagar – the Kak Sarai and the Yarkand Sarai – were rest houses (caravan sarais) built by the pre-partition government of Kashmir for the foreign traders coming from Central Asia. Kashmir maintained commercial and cultural relations with South Asia and Central Asia mainly through the Ladakh route since ancient times and served as the trading centre that connected multiple geographic areas. As regards the volume of Indian trade with Central Asia via this route, it was…

Click on the text below to open the pdf of the weekly print edition. Issue 19

Long boundaries, fast tracks, overcast conditions and new ICC rules make it a connoisseur’s delight. Bilal Ahsan Dar The eighth edition of the T20 World cup is almost at halfway stage. The air is thick with excitement. While the 2021 edition broke all the previous records of viewership with Indo-Pak clash clocking a record reach of 167 million people , this year started off with an upset followed by a few more and, of course,  some thrilling duels as well. There is an added excitement in the matches because of the conditions  Down Under  which probably have caught teams by…

Choose experts not astrologers. Sajjad Bazaz Let me begin with one of the beautiful motivational quotes about money management: “Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W’s you control in your life-  what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it.” So, it’s the level of control over your money which will describe your financial health. In the present times, saving the right amount of money alone does not matter, but choosing the right investment option cannot be ignored to ensure that your savings multiply more efficiently. In…

by Sanjay Kapoor As the world teeters on the precipice of a nuclear Armageddon in Europe, it is important to revisit what happened during the Cold War between the erstwhile Soviet Union and United States of America. The Cold War Years In a Netflix series scripted in the backdrop of the Cold war, there are Russian KGB agents embedded in the American society. Like Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent, they step out from their shadows and the comfort of their American identity only when they get orders from their handlers to execute a project, like placing a bomb or killing…

Inflation stats can be deceptive, experiences, however, are real and the experiences of making everyday purchases in a local market are now only going to worsen as the winter has started setting in. Inflation is the rise in the prices of goods and services over a specific timeframe. India’s retail inflation accelerated to a five-month high of 7.41 percent in September and the wholesale inflation was at 10.7 percent in September and 12.4 percent in August. Assuming that these inflation percentages are correct and not underestimated, since these are provisional figures, these numbers may make little sense to a layman…