Author: Kashmir Newsline

There was no human emotion that the maestro couldn’t bring alive. Shabir Hussain Rafi is to playback singing what Shakespeare is to literature, Mozart to music and Da Vinci to painting. Maybe more! From his childhood days of following a crooning fakir, Mohammad Rafi’s destiny as a singer was chiseled. He knew all he wanted to do in life was sing. And as if — in Paulo Coelho’s words — the universe was conspiring in helping him achieve his dream, an opportunity presented itself from nowhere. Music director Shyam Sunder spotted him at a stage show in Lahore where the…

To understand the unexplored potential of the sheep and wool industry in Kashmir, it is imperative to go through some quick facts from global success stories which should help in understanding the realm of possibilities. Australia is the first case study. It produced 8 percent of the world’s sheep meat supply in 2017 and exported 56 percent of its lamb and 95 percent of its mutton to countries around the world. Australia’s sheep meat industry is worth about $5.23 billion and the wool brought another $3.4 billion home in 2018-19. There are nearly 67 million sheep – including 31 million…

To put it bluntly, India had run out of money. Sajjad bazaz The month of July has a special significance in the history of India after independence. The economy of the country was weak and fragile in the eighties, going further downhill. Despite several fiscal reforms, the economic growth couldn’t pick up and continued to grow annually at a meager 3.5%. The Balance of Payment (BOP) crisis, rising fiscal deficit and increasing overvaluation during the decade had led to a chaotic situation. As the country was all along struggling to stabilize its shaking economy, the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq…

Babar and co. will have to win all the remaining Tests. Bilal Ahsan Dar As part of the fixture of 2021-2023 ICC World Test Championship, Pakistan toured Sri Lanka this July to play a two-match series. Originally, the tour also included three ODIs which were cancelled in the month of May as they were not a part of the 2020-2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League. The matches were scheduled to be played at Premadasa Stadium in Columbo and Galle International Stadium, but due to the ongoing turmoil in the country, the second Test was moved from Columbo to Galle.…

The actress of Chashme Baddoor fame was in Chandigarh for the launch of her book, A Country Called Childhood. Lily Swarn She had a calm, almost imperceptible, aura around her as she walked into this room full of eager humans from the city of white beards and green hedges, Chandigarh. A neat knot of jet black hair at the nape of her neck added to her understated persona. Later, someone in the room wanted to know if she was particularly partial to the colours black and white as the cover of her latest book also had a black and white…

Series of excerpts from Not Just Cricket by Pradeep Magazine. The next encounter at Karachi’s National Stadium made up for the lifeless first match. The stadium was overflowing with thousands of spectators and the contest had everything one would expect from an India–Pakistan match. It had a thrilling finish, with India needing eight runs from the last over to overhaul Pakistan’s score of 265. Off-spinner Rajesh Chauhan sealed the chase with a six, and India won by four wickets with three balls to spare. Chauhan became an overnight star in India for his unexpected batting exploits. In my memory…

A scintillating tribute to the maestro on his forty second death anniversary Santosh Bakaya On 31 July 1980, India felt throttled and suffocated. It had lost its musical notes. A heart-breaking threnody filled the air. There was a hushed silence. 55 was no age to go. The sparkling sun had set, and a melodious voice had fallen silent, but even in that hushed silence, one continued to hear the pulsating notes of the greatest and the most influential singer of our times: Mohammed Rafi. Who can deny that Rafi’s voice has ignited a fire, making our comatose hearts suddenly break…

There is a lot more to food than just tingling our taste buds. Lily Swarn The best people I’ve ever known are those who light up like Diwali at the mere mention of their favourite foods. A glazed look of euphoric satisfaction illuminates them. Food is not just something one fills one’s stomach with. Debilitating hunger pangs and low energy disjointedness aside, food is a need that falls just short of love. Mahatma Gandhi explained, “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”  Strangely, a sluggish human…

Series of excerpts from Not Just Cricket by Pradeep Magazine.. Having spent my early years living on cordial terms with Kashmiri Muslims, and as a child receiving a lot of love from individuals of the Muslim faith, I was keen to visit Pakistan someday. Cricket writing provided me with that opportunity. My first visit to Pakistan was in 1997, when I was the sports editor of The Pioneer. Even in the best of times, India’s cricketing relationship with Pakistan has been frosty. By the time I started covering the sport more regularly, India had stopped touring Pakistan. India’s tour…