Author: Kashmir Newsline

While a lot is made of his love for Krishna and 11 Hajj pilgrimages, his contradictions and shifting positions, what gets obscured is the quality of his poetry and his Sufi-like sincerity to the cause of humanity.  Salim Arif Known by the sopbriquet Raees-ul-Mutaghazaleen (The Lord of Ghazal Writers), Maulana Hasrat Mohani can be credited with revitalizing the poetic form with a new flair in the 20th century. Classical in nature, his poetry brought in fresh, everyday feel to subjects of different shades and stages of love, with nostalgia and reflection, creating moments of charming passion. Chupke Chupke Raat Din…

As the much hyped counteroffensive begins, the Ukrainian forces are faced with multiple disadvantages.   Saurabh Kumar Shahi            After months of dithering, the much-hyped Ukrainian counteroffensive is about to start, weather permitting. Ukrainian regime, which thrives on optics and PR victories, considers WWII Victory Day celebrations month of May, as a perfect month for such an operation. It also makes sense bearing the weather in mind. The spring has been unusually rainy in Ukraine, and it has turned the black soil of the Donbas into sludge. Any counter-offensive in such a situation will falter before it starts. Therefore the date got pushed…

Can India wriggle out unscathed from the competing demands of G20 and SCO? Sanjay Kapoor As the host of the Group of 20 (G20) nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) later this year, India finds itself in a pickle. Although, the global attention is welcome but what follows could be unpalatable. In the best of times, it would not have been easy to balance the competing demands of the two groups, but due to the raging war in Ukraine, the exertions from both the groups have acquired an unexpected intensity that is posing a major foreign policy challenge to…

 Jaspreet Kaur Ask Kashmiris what they had for lunch or dinner, the answer is always batte – rice – whatever the accompanying dish. That is perhaps why the popular food street of Srinagar is known as Batte Galli. The Food Street, located at Lal Chowk, was started by the Jammu & Kashmir Tourism in the 1960s. It has since been the go-to destination for clean and affordable food that includes non-vegetarian, vegetarian, especially the Kashmiri haakh, cheese, pickles and dals. A plate of vegetables with rice is served at Rs 50 and the meat dishes at Rs 100 0nwards. The…

The party, along with its allies, needs to get the electoral arithmetic right rather than dabbling in soft Hindutva. Sanjay Kapoor Immediately after Congress’ humiliating defeat at the hands of the BJP in 2014, senior leader A K Antony was given the task to ascertain the reasons. His advice was succinct: Congress was perceived to be anti-Hindu and it should do something to correct that impression. There were also suggestions that the party should celebrate Hindu festivals in the party offices around the country. In other words, conduct itself the way BJP did. Interestingly, Antony, who had an incorruptible lily…

Although the café is known for its quality and delectability across delicacies, the aromatic, succulent kebab remains its pièce de résistance.  Farooq Shah There are kebabs, and then there’s the Kashmiri kebab – uniquely different in taste, texture and the lingering aftertaste that it leaves you with. No gathering in Kashmir is complete without the mouth-watering kebab and as one of the seven authentic elements of the traditional wazwan cuisine, it garnishes the platter, known as traem, like no other dish. A restaurant menu in Kashmir is considered incomplete if it doesn’t have kebab on it. Almost every single restaurant…

This is the first chapter from Dr. Qazi Ashraf’s forthcoming book, Religion: A Brief Story from Big Bang to Baghdad, that examines God, religion and history. This is a story of the long walk of the humankind on the edge of uncertainty and invention of religion.    Religion – Its Divine Origin The Universe is big. Very big. And old. Roughly 14 billion years. In comparison, our planet Earth is young. Only 4.5 billion years old. For the best part of more than 4 billion years, Earth was undergoing Evolution. The conditions were harsh. Only rudimentary life forms could exist.…

District-level projections from 2021-2050 indicate a warmer and wetter future, marked by extreme events.  Rasheed Kappan  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis report is due for release this month. The report will collate the contents of the three Working Group (WG) reports released during 2021–2022 on science. The WG reports have already highlighted that “climate change is impacting all parts of the world, and more severe impacts can be expected in the future if greenhouse gas emissions are not cut down by half in this decade.” Adaptation actions are the need of the hour, says Dr Indu K…

How a young poet-podcaster from Chandigarh is celebrating love, healing wounds and bridging gaps.  Lily Swarn Amy is a French female name meaning ‘beloved’. Though I have known Amy since long, I felt a strong urge to write about this spunky ‘beloved’ after a longish telephonic conversation with her. I have always admired her never-say-die spirit, but I know that very few people are aware of her traumas and what she has been through – she has been through fire and water. “I haven’t spoken about myself to anyone since 2018. I was never after recognition, but when it came my way,…

The China-brokered deal heralds a new era in West Asia. Saurabh Kumar Shahi             It’s a balmy February morning in the Middle East as the United States, with the UK in tow, brings together a motley group of countries to counter the influence of an upcoming superpower. Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan sign on the dotted lines as a militarily alliance takes shape. It is seen as a major diplomatic victory for the US as it entrenches itself in the region. The year is 1955 and the Baghdad Pact has come into being as an alliance against the Soviet Union.…