In Pictures : Kashmir sans The Pandit

” Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood languages. ” - Walt Disney

As for the the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits , it can never be justfully described in words or pictures.  This post is a small effort from my side to mitigate the oblivion that exists among Indians on the Kashmiri Pandit exodus.

I am greatly indebted and thankful to the very gracious, very talented Onir for having permitted me to share the pictures which he had accumulated while shooting for IAM. I have always been an unabashed admirer of his cinema and now his open heartedness has overwhelmed me. Big Thanks Onir!

I  urge  fellow bloggers to write and post pictures related to the Kashmiri Pandit exodus. Two years back, I wrote a fictional story on Kashmiri Pandit exodus – you can read it here .

These pictures, taken mostly in and around Srinagar, aim to convey the Kashmir sans Kashmiri  Pandits – 22 years later. 

The Time Is Now For Israel

One of the issues which titillates my mind insuperably is the Israel-Palestine Conflict. The issue is smoking hot these days as the Palestinian authority has approached the United Nation General Assembly demanding membership in the United Nations and international legal recognition of statehood. It is amusing to see that Barack Obama, Son of a Muslim, is opposing the Palestinian Bid- a cause close to Muslim Hearts all over the planet. Equally intriguing is to observe Nicholas Sarkozy- grandson of a Jewish man, Father-in-Law and Grandfather of Practicing Jews , whose own son Jean Sarkozy has “allegedly” embraced Judaism- sharing sympathy with the Palestinian Cause. But I am being woefully imbecilic- It is ludicrous to use glasses of religion to analyze this – The issue has always been a Political one. Large parts of the Arab and Muslim world share the same incongruity.

9/11, TEN YEARS LATER : RUMINATIONS

 Ten years. Wasn’t it sometime nearer?  Aah!!  Indeed, it’s been 10 whole years.

9/11 is an immensely pivotal event in our generations’ time.  It remains etched in our minds and so fresh are the engravings that 9/11/2001(or 11/9/2001 by our Indian standards) seems to have happened just sometime back. Different images come up – The second plane crashing into the South tower. The two towers coming down .The shrieks of helpless New Yorkers. Osama Bin Laden. George Bush. Conspiracy theories.

9/11 will be analyzed by many experts on almost every media portal. On this blog, I intend to write about my personal ruminations, nothing else. Nothing Stellar.Just whatever comes when I think of 9/11

The Day of the Hyena

“As your sword bereaved women, so will your mother be bereaved among women.” (1 Samuel 15:33, Samuel’s words to Agag, king of the Amalekites)

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”(Jesus in Luke 14:11)

Rakysh Threeparty is walking down the college corridor. He looks at students attending classes and gets pumped with pride for it was his assertive character that had compelled the students to attend classes (Rakysh believed everything that happened- from the decline of Hitler to the tearing down of the Berlin wall, was because of his brilliant self).An arrogant smirk comes across his face.

Helpless with his instinct to sniff people’s toilets and rooms, he ends up sticking his nose and ears outside the Dean’s chamber. He hears the Dean talking over the intercom.

Optimism for the Capricious Middle East

Ben Ali’s declaration of a state of emergency in the Tunisia and his dissolution of government on 14 January 2011 boomeranged as his own nemesis. Protests in Tunisia forced an inelegant skedaddle of Ben Ali from the country. It also escalated demonstrations among other countries in the Middle East and Africa against their long incumbent rulers.  Egyptians have come out in what can be coined as a full scale uprising against Hosni Mubarak and incipient voices of discontent in Yemen and Gabon bear the potential to make colossal changes in the complexion of Middle East politics. However, the political dynamics and the potential outcomes of these events are staggeringly labyrinthine.

My Tribute To Freddie Mercury(1946-1991)

“Art reveals the human emotions-The strongest emotions to the softest, the important emotions to the lightest of them, the most beautiful emotions to the dirtiest of them. The work of an artist is to reach an emotional height and to impart it to the admirer through lines, colours, sounds, movements and words and make him feel the same emotional height”

—Leo Tolstoy in About Art