Reminiscences of My Early Boyhood at Malikyar

  I am said to have been born around five in the morning (not a convenient time for deliveries even in modern times) in a hospital, from where my mother and I were taken to my maternal grandfather’s house, which contained a sprawling household of six brothers, their families, and a battalion of servants. I […]

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Best of Raj Begum

    Raj Begum in 2011 (at 84)   Raj Begum continues to have a special aura among the singers of Kashmir. It is because she had a high-pitch, deep-drilling, haunting voice, that touches the timeless and sorrowful plateau of a listener’s psyche. Sorrow, more than joy, touches the deepest chords of human soul. There […]

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Anupama’s Heavenly Birthday

Her word was soft, Her footsteps were softer, Yet her presence was louder than others.   Today we grieve the friend we lost, The light that was shut off, The voice that is heard no more.   We find you now in the corridors of heart, In the recesses of our shared memories, In the […]

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KOA Presidential Elections 2020

Dear KOA Biradari,   In 1977 I attended, what is considered now the first meeting of an organization that later was called Kashmir Overseas Association, at Surinder and Mohini Nath’s residence in Washington D.C. There were about eight people in attendance. After the talk about the advantages of having an organization of KP’s in U.S., […]

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Qabali Raid in Kashmir, Oct. 22, 1947

I have not read a more thorough description of the 1947 Qabali Raid than what Shanti Swarup Ambardar has given in his book, Day of Destiny, A Memoir, published in 2014. He was in Srinagar at that time and closely followed the raid. He even interviewed some survivors of the St. Joseph’s Convent and the […]

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Reflections on Human Happiness

Life Comes with No meaning at its Birth   It is correct that human life does not come with a meaning at its birth, but it is endowed with a strong biological force to live right from that point on till its end.   This strong will to physically survive forms the basis of the […]

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In Search of Happiness

A human being is born mostly as a physical system, which later on evolves into a physical and mental system. Together two of them propel human life, under the guidance of the latter. The need for happiness only arises when the combined system is unable to fend off general unhappiness and peace of mind. Left […]

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What is the purpose of human life?

One thing we sure know is that human life as it comes from nature is not exactly the same for everyone. Though there are commonalities, but each life falls into a few personality types. But that is given. Beyond that each life has room for growth. That is the area where we can pin down […]

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Every Day Life is a Quest for the Unknown

Every day life is a quest for the ideas that will carry us happily to the other shore, Every day our material existence is an anchor-line to our happiness and dreams.   Every morning a sleeping hope struggles to wake up, To try out the theory that life produces what you sow in it.   […]

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