geo.kashmir

India's General Election Goes Smoothly - Photos

2014-04-17T06:49:00.001+05:30

India's General Election Goes Smoothly - Photos

Elections In India: The Way It Goes

2014-04-17T06:47:00.001+05:30

Elections In India: The Way It Goes

2014-04-17T06:46:00.000+05:30

http://newsblaze.com/story/20140404151409mukh.nb/topstory.html

Women of Kashmir

2013-05-16T22:08:00.001+05:30

Women of Kashmir

The Need of New Drug for TB

2013-02-27T00:39:00.001+05:30

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Winning the battle but losing the war

2013-02-22T15:42:00.001+05:30

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Winning the battle but losing the war

5 Broken Cameras - Official Trailer [HD]

2013-02-21T23:02:00.001+05:30

2012-08-13T21:14:00.000+05:30

Beyond Imagination

Any person with all the senses working properly, we call him a normal person, but as things appear that does not necessarily mean that they are actually the same way. A person who may have one sense lesser than those whom we call normal may possess a greater vision. His other senses would be much more developed which make him like a person living in some other world where he enjoys all the respect and love as a reward of his association with that world.

A world which is out of this idealistic world, where what is perceived as it is seen does not end up the story but behind the curtains there lie wonders which the normal eye does not see. This I realized when I happened to meet a person who by birth was having only four senses. He was a blind man walking in the crowded area of lal-chowk city; besides being blind he would walk as if he was normal.

He had a stick in his hand, knowing his destination and remembering the ways were he was walking. When I passed by I heard someone talking about him and he said that he was a blind man but still did not accept any ones help. I followed him and it seemed as if he was talking to winds, which would guide him to his ways. He would come to know of any obstacle from a distance I was surprised after observing all his activities and his bravery and self-confidence.

I was overwhelmed with all this and could not stop thinking about him and I tried to realize my own self at his place. I found his world different and we being aliens to their world. The world which is somewhere beyond the imagination of a common man where the dawn sprouts with the rays of light but these rays have no colour, it awakes the people of that world who too have hopes and aspirations, who want to contribute to their world what ever they can and they struggle and strive for that.

This seems to be some other planet where people can talk to air and ask it to guide them, where the smell of flowers led them to their destination, where the movement of the air when touches the leaves of trees makes a beautiful sound. The sound which makes them dance. They enjoy each rain drop which falls on their body and feel the structure and manifestation of the rain drops.

This seems to be the world of fantasy and it is impossible to believe that it exists, but the fact is that these are the people from some other world who have come into our world and who have special capabilities. We need to give them space and acknowledge their presence among us and try to be the part of their world and encourage them to be part of our world, then and only then we can prosper and call ourselves civilized.

We have sympathy for them but we are not ready to share our space with them, they are not aliens nor are we for them, we are the parts of the same social structure. We are of the same origin but the thing is that we have lost our vision of thinking and looking at things, we only believe what we see, but there are lots of things which are beyond our senses and we have to come out of these curtains so that we can see, realize and feel those things.

Kashmiri Art of Stone Carving

2012-06-05T14:20:00.000+05:30

Stone carving is an ancient art where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone. Owing to the permanence of the material, evidence can be found that even the earliest societies indulged in some form of stone work.

In Kashmir the art of stone carving has a long history of centuries, the people used to carve stones into sculptors. The stone even used presently known as Devri stone is an impure lime stone extracted from earth at various parts of the Kashmir. The stone is soft in its nature and gives white appearance after carving. The stone can be molded to any form or shape.

The first person who used this stone was Raja Dever Singh, on whose name the stone was named as devri stone. The traces of which can be seen in the Pattan, Baramulla, where the place named Dever still exists. The remnants can even still be seen in that village of Dever. Then further it was turned into an art by the Mughals, who are considered to be the art lovers, they used these stones in different gardens and monuments in Kashmir like Mughal gardens, Hariparbat and different mosques made by Mughals one such example is the Mula Aakhoon Shah Masjid.

Devri stone is dug from the surface and carved by hands using tools. The various places from which these stones are dug from the surface are Ladoo, Mondakhpal, Sadirkoot etc. The selection of the stone for carving depends on the quality of the stone which is determined by the color, quality and relative hardness. These stones after extracting are sent to the place of molding and carved into different structures.

The person who mold’s the stones is called as Sangtaraash, it is the combination of two Farsi words Sang means stone and Tarash means moulder. The sangtarash selects the stone as per the design and carves it accordingly. Ghulam Mohammed, sixty years old has been working since forty years. He takes it not only as his livelihood but as an art of converting unworthy stone into a treasure.

The art of stone carving is found in various places of Kashmir, but Panthachowk is the famous among all. The artists of the area are considered to be the best in carving. The place has a history of centuries. Most of the people in the area are associated with the trading of stones.

In the contemporary time the architect gives the design to be molded and the rest of all the work is done by the molder and the people associated , it then depends upon the skills of the moulder how artistically he would carve that design into a monument. While sharing the experience Manzoor Ahmad said ‘to make a statue is much difficult for me because you are supposed to do all the work yourself and you don’t have any measurement, while other things can be made on the empirical designs.

Devri is famous all over Kashmir and for that matter we can see almost everywhere devri stone are being used whether at private or public places. In Srinagar city alone we can see various fountains of Devri stones adding the beauty to the city at various places.

The fountains at various crossings, footpaths and the gates of Assembly, High court, at Makhdoom sahib and many more carved from Devri stones shows its importance in Kashmiri culture. Not every stone can be moulded into such architecture, Devri stone is the specialized stone used in carving such monuments. It all depends upon the patience and experience of the moulder to turn a simple work into an artistic work.

This work is not only the art of Kashmir but it also provides the livelihood to about one lakh people who either work as dealers, contractors or as a carvers.

The process begins with the selection of a stone for carving. Then the artist usually knocks off large portions of unwanted stone. This is the "roughing out" stage of the chiseling process. For this task the moulder may select a point chisel, which is a long, hefty piece of steel with a point at one end and a broad striking surface at the other. A pitching tool may also be used at this early stage; which is a wedge-shaped chisel with a broad, flat edge. The pitching tool is useful for splitting the stone and removing large, unwanted chunks. Those two chisels are used in combination with a masons driving hammer.

For further designing and extra artistic work the carver may also use toothed chisel or claw chisel. These tools are generally used to add texture to the figure. An artist might mark out specific lines by using calipers to measure an area of stone to be addressed, and marking the area to be removed with pencil, charcoal or chalk.

In the contemporary times the art of stone moulding starts with the design of the architect and then the people associated with the trade start the work on the project and utilize the best carvers to work in order to make that artistic creation.

This art has very much potential and the artist or the carver can mould the stone to any shape, ‘even we can construct Taj Mahal of Devri stones, says Manzoor Ahmad a Devri stone entrepreneur’.

‘On chiseling the devri stone it gives a natural colour which is very much attractive, and the stone we use is very soft and can be moulded into any shape’, said zahoor ahmad, he further added that ‘it is our third generation associated with this artistic work'.

Not every stone can be molded in to any shape, it is a special kind of stone and it also depends upon the molder’s artistic level and experience to make pearl out of simple stone says Gulam Mohamad of about seventy years of age.

The Arabic word Allah molded in the shape of almond at Badamwari represents the present day stone carving. Thousands of people visit the monument every year which is sufficient for our appreciation says Ghulam Moh-i-Din and Javid Ahmad who have carved that monument.

‘This is an ancient art of Kashmir which has developed from centuries; we have learnt this from our forefathers. We are satisfied with the work we are doing and especially when we make some special architectural piece that is the pinnacle of our satisfaction’ says Gulam Nabi a Molder.

Stone carving is present all over the world and new technologies are being used to ease the stone molding, but in Kashmir people are still carving stones with hand. The stone is moulded into variety of items and sold in the local market. ‘It has the potential of being introduced in the international market also’, says Farooq ahmad.

This is really a work of art and one can develop into an artist only if he works hard, keeps concentration, and have interest, ‘I have been working since last thirty years and I can mould stone into any sculpture. Earlier I have made a flower vas of about three square feet’s with designing outside’ says Basher Ahmad.

Thousands of people are associated with stone carving. Earning sufficiently enough and can be called as skilled labors. The people are not keen about the art but the money they earn, which is damaging the essence of art associated with it.

When you have will you can make anything, so don’t go after money. ‘If you develop art, money will follow’ said Ghulam Moh-i-din a stone carver.

The artistic hands of the carver infuse life in the stone by carving it into an artistic piece, this white gold can be seen all over the Kashmir valley ranging from the foot paths, monuments, mosques, pillars, gates and to the simple floor.

Moments of school

2012-06-05T14:19:00.000+05:30

Moments of school

Childhood is the most pleasant part of every ones life. We keep the memories of childhood embedded in ourselves. We often keep talking about those events of our childhood and relive once again those moments which one calls the moments of kingship.

The days when the mother uniforms the child, prepares his bag and keeps his Tiffin ready. Those moments never come back but their memories remain always in our mind and when ever any such event happens which resembles to our childhood days we went back into those days and sometimes we pry those days back but the time never stops.

School days are always very special in ones life and he always goes into the deep thoughts of the schooldays, wearing neat and clean uniform so to become volunteer and doing home work at schools and irritating teachers by making noise in the classroom and always try to be smart in front of the teacher.

There are thousands of memories about the ones childhood days. In my schooling days a day happen when a newly joined principle announced the painting competition. Ali Mohammad who had few days back joined our school as principle was a retired teacher with dedication towards the progress of the school. Hartals used to be always in Kashmir and schools would remain shut, but Mr. Khan would come on foot and keep school open, he would assign higher class students to teach lower class student.

I was the favorite student of Mr. Khan, and would try to keep my image good enough to be the favorite. As the painting competition was announced, it was not a kind of artistic painting which used to draw anything artistically on the paper but it was rather very different it was to paint our classrooms and the best decorated and painted class would be awarded. I was selected as the representative on behalf of my class and we were given the time of three days. We had to bear all the expenses by ourselves. Then all the class mates contributed 30 rupees which was collected by me.

We selected pink colour for the walls, green for the top and brown for windows. We first brought colours and mix them with water and started painting. Every student was assigned work by me, few students for painting, few for cleaning matting, few to make wall paintings and few more to prepare black colour for black board.

Every student was busy in their work assigned and our school for those three days was looking like painters hub. Students were painted with colours besides doing their work they were having fun by putting colours on other classmates. The atmosphere in the school was different and it was looking as if there were the celebration of holi in our school.

After three days of hard work every one was ready to listen to results and were hopeful that their class would be the winner of the competition. Each student’s face was glittering, with confidence that they have don worth to be awarded.

Our class was more attractive because of the multicolor painting and black board shining as if attached a newly sin mica board. The colours, drawings, mapes and more hanging items on which was Quran written gave a very pleasant and attractive look to our classroom.

Ours was really the best among the all classes and now silence spread as the principle took the mike for announcement of the winner of the competition. First was announced the third position of the competition which was given to the seventh standard they where given a prize which was covered with the wrapper sheet with a label written as third position. The class representative collected the prize and sit with his class mates happy with the prize. Now was the turn to be announced second prize, but the principle first talked about the eighth standard of the school who where having last year in the school. Mr. Khan said’ “keeping in the view that the students of the eighth class have last year in this school so we call upon the stage both eighth and the sixth class” we went on the stage and then principal announced that the most beautifully painted and decorated class was sixth but eighth was not much lesser then that, so with the consensus of all the teachers and keeping in view that eighth class is leaving this year the first prize goes to eighth class. We were very upset by receiving the second prize instead of winning the competition.

We were not happy with this decision of the teachers but we then realize that it was a moral support to the leaving batch, we had yet three years to spend in the same school and lot more was yet to be seen in that school more competitions and more prizes but the moments which give happiness to others made us feel proud.

We were awarded second prize which was a big world map and a general knowledge book to each student. We then enjoyed the moment and looked for the future and from the next day the regular schooling once again starts but in between more such moments also came.

Everyone is worth listening to

2012-06-05T14:18:00.002+05:30

Everyone is worth listening to

Gulam Mohammad an old man of about 70years of age, wearing a customary shabby blue cap with white lining. His face with deep wrinkles shows ages of anxiety. His eyes were deep and green and they showed as if he was searching for someone who would make him feel relaxed. Gulam Mohammed wearing a traditional Pheran, with one side folded on his shoulder with his body slightly bent, one hand in the pocket of waistcoat and the other holding a stick to support him to walk. His whole body was shuddering and he was walking very slowly. I offered a helping hand to him and tried to interact with him, he too was very interactive. I took his hand in my hand, and we walked for a distance together, while he started telling the tragic tale of his life, which turned him into a beggar.

Gulam Mohammad a farmer from the hilly area of the Tangmarg, comes to Srinagar regularly to implore for money. He had two sons but time changed drastically for him which separated both of his sons from him, and with the result he started begging. His elder son lives separately with his family and his younger son died while crossing the line of control (LOC} in the nineties and left his wife and three children behind. Although his elder son sometimes offers a little monitory help but of no avail.

Gulam Mohammed,s wife passed away very early. He brought up his children and also got them married. In nineties when the arm's movement in Kashmir started, his younger son joined the movement and left to Azad Kashmir for training and did not return. Gulam Mohammed was in the dilemma that his son is living in Azad Kashmir but after ten years he came to know that while crossing the border his son was shot dead. This news broke him down, he suggested his daughter in law to remarry, but she refused. Gulam Mohammed was earning through farming till he heard the news of his younger sons death.

As days turned into months and months into years, his grand children were growing, and expenses were increasing, and he too was approaching towards old age. Although his daughter in law would help him in farming but their life turned more terrible when Kashmir was in turmoil for consecutively three years from 2008-10. They could not cultivate anything. They would live without food for days. Gulam Mohammed who became very old and weak with time was not able to continue farming. His grand children who had now grown up understood their condition, and his elder grandson started working in a restaurant at Tangmarg on 500 rupees a month only but this was not sufficient for their family expenses.

Gulam Mohamad's patience ended and for the sake of his grand children, he came to Srinagar for begging. ‘My conscience does stop me says Gulam Mohamme, ‘but my need pushes me forward’. Gulam Mohammed who walks with the help of a stick has only one wish left before he meets his end and that is to see his grand daughter getting married.

Conflict has changed our whole discourse and those who suffered need to be looked after. Thousands of organizations work in Kashmir but still a lot more is yet to be done. We need to systemize the organizations which work on solving such problems, so that those who lost their dear one’s would not feel alone and helpless.

Beyond Imagination

2012-06-05T14:17:00.001+05:30

Beyond Imagination

Any person with all the senses working properly, we call him a normal person, but as things appear that do not necessarily mean that they are actually the same way. A person who may have one sense lesser than those whom we call normal may possess a greater vision. His other senses would be much more developed which make him like a person living in some other world where he enjoys all the respect and love as a reward of his association with that world.

Delighted Fritters of Kashmir

2012-04-02T08:40:00.000+05:30

Commercialization of profession

2012-04-02T08:25:00.000+05:30

Commercialization of profession

Ill effects on our society

In every human society Doctors are highly respectable persons and parents wish their children become Doctor. When I was in my high school, teacher would always tell us that Doctors profession is great render.

Doctor have very special place in every society, but with each level the person is obliged to responsibility. Doctors who play very important and essential role in the society they should be morally upright. They should show respect towards their profession and patients.

In case of Kashmir when we look around our society we found in every new commercial complex doctors are the first who book the space. Every doctor having long lines of patients at their clinics, they try to reach their clinics as quickly as possible so that they can check many patients for which they charge according to their criteria and reputation and keep on increasing their consultation charges.

Patients coming from distant place with hope and trust on these doctors who view them only as consumers and try to sell more and more medicines to cover their target without thinking about these poor people who do not know how are they getting addicted to medicines without health improvement. Doctors do behave like sales executives who only think of the target achievement.

It seems doctor’s consider patients as consumers who would keep consuming these medicines and be the target achiever for doctors and associates. Doctors keep their patients wondering, extending their visits and keep changing the doses of medicines only. Unfortunately there is also no regulation what the consultation fee should be and doctors according their wish charge the consultation fee.

Although there are exceptions but in whole sum it is being found that doctors have commercialized their noble profession and very less they care about their patients.

Now this is the time to introspect and realize what our ethical duties are and what we are doing. We need to think about and check our moral duties towards our society, which is already in a state of depression because of long conflict of more than sixty years.

Social Concern

2012-02-18T14:24:00.002+05:30

Suicide kills father

It was pleasant morning, cold winds were blowing, and sun was shining, roads full with traffic, streets full of people, children in uniform waiting for school bus, people moving towards their daily works. It was the same day as was yesterday, nothing seems to have change over night except the trees have turned a little green, buds blossomed a bit as if leaves coming out from these buds.

Salman, ready for his college took his bag asked his parents permission and left, the whole day in his college was nice, he enjoys the moments with his friends. Today he was much happy with his friends as they where planning to go for some venture after college as it was the last year of their college. Salman was doing his B. Tech engineering and had very high iradain, he was the elder son of his parents, he belonged to the family of businessman, they where strict Muslims.

On that day when the college day was over he was yet with his friends, in a very decent mood having fun with his friends. His phone rung up, after he received the phone the color of his face turn red and very quickly he told his friends that he is going to leave, with out explaining anything to his friends he left towards his home, but immediately he realized that he should call back to confirm what the matter was, as the earlier call was his fathers, who just told him that, he has got injured rush to hospital. Neither knowing the actual position nor to which hospital. He called his cousin but he did not picked the phone, then he called to his brother he too gave him short description that reach to the SMHS hospital and disconnected the phone.

Nader Monje: Delighted Kashmiri Snacks

2012-02-14T10:34:00.000+05:30

Nader Monje: Delighted Kashmiri Street Food

Nelumbo nucifera, known as Lotus, its stem called lotus stem is being used in the preparation of various dishes. Traditional fried lotus stem snacks locally called ‘Nader Monji’ are very popular in Kashmir. It remains available throughout the year. The traces of it are found in the long history of centuries. Nader Monje is prepaired in Kashmir only, and can be found all over the Kashmir especially on the occasion of Urs”s. The snack is mostly sold around Sufi shrines, as some residents believe that the famous Sufi saints have blessed ‘Nader Monje’.

The popular practice among residents is that on visiting the shrine of a Sufi saint, the devotees buy 'Nader Monje' as a benediction for family and friends. The makers of this Kashmir delicacy earn their livelihood by setting up their shops on carts full of 'Nader Monje' at different shrines on festive occasions. ‘Nadir Monji’ is the pride of such occasions.

“Ali Mohammad who has the experience of more than forty years in the preparation of snacks has learned this art from his father, who from their ancestor. Ali Mohammad has three sons who too are in their ancestral business, we have put forward our ancestral art of living, now this is our fifth generation in this field, we have the experience of more then century” said Parwaiz Ahmed the snack seller son of Ali Mohammad.

There are people who are ‘Nader Monje’ lovers eat regularly. “Instead of buying the packed snacks I prefer to buy ‘Nader Monji’. It is always fresh and hygienic, and of high quantity as compared to the packaged snacks” says Asif Ahmad who is a regular Nader Monji eater. “Nadir Monje are served with chatni which adds the flavor.

“Traditional snack food of Kashmiris 'Nader Monje' is liked by kids a lot, in fact we also relish it equally," said Gulzar Ahmad, a customer.

The ingredients used in the preparation of Nader Monji are Lotus stem, Rice flour and oil. Lotus stem is the main ingredient of ‘Nader Monje' is cultivated in the lakes of Kashmir. The Lotus stems are cut into small pieces and are marinated in rice flour mixed with other ingredients to make the snack colorful and tasty. The mixture is then deep fried twice in a big oil pan to make it crispier. The red color ‘Nadir Monji’ are now ready to be displayed on the stall.

The lotus stems are cultivated in the lakes of Kashmir like Dal Lake, Walur Lake, Zadibal, and Anchar Lake etc. The Lotus stem of Kashmir are considered as tastier. “We use only Kashmiri lotus stems, wash them properly and fry in the hot oil to make them crispy” says Parwaiz ahmad the snack seller in Jamalut Nawakadal area of Srinagar.

'Nader Monje' is still mouth watering for the younger generation although their life styles have changed. This specialty of Kashmir contains good amount of nutrients. There may be very few people in Kashmir who would not have enjoyed its taste and are even sent to other parts of the world. There are so many varieties available in the market like pakoras, paratha, teli-mattar, aloo chips, monje gaade, peanuts which contain good amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, calories and vitamins and are thus a good substitute when you skip your routine meals. But eating them regularly can increase the weight as they are highly energetic containing a lot of calories. People took the ‘Nader Monje’ as ‘prasad’.

The person who deals with this business is locally known as ‘Monji Gour’. From distance one could essence the smell of snack shop. The vessels decorated with the varieties of snacks and the bathi on which large frying pane filled with hot oil, fumes of which are painted on the whole shop, walls turned as painted with oil, the snake seller sitting in the middle of these vessels with Balance in front of him surrounded by customers, calls one to taste the hot ‘Nader Monje’.

“It needs few people to run this business, we have to prepare and sell at the same time so that people can taste fresh and crisp snacks” Says Asad Ullah the snake seller.

Kashmir’s have been associated with the preparation of snacks since generations but now non-Cashmere too is indulging in this business. “This is our ancestral business, we have been in Kashmir since last sixteen years, before that we had sweet shop in our state” says Zulfikar Ahmed of Utter Pradesh.

All the non-Kashmiri are experts in sweet preparation but seeing the demand of the local snacks they too ventured into that. “I have learnt the preparation of Nader Monji from Kashmiri, viewing the association of local people with these snacks we too started its preparation, as we were always in this business having all other verities it added one more variety in our business” says Badshah Khan of Utter Pradesh.

People of Kashmir buy ‘Nader Monji’ it hardly matters for them to buy from a Kashmiri or from Non-Kashmiri. Nor is it too difficult to prepare, even some people prepare it at homes. But in any field experience matters so is the case with Kashmiri ‘Monji Gour’ who is with long background of experience, which becomes the secret ingredient for his ‘Nadir Monji’.

On festival days, the snack is sold at a premium price. A few of the 'Nader Monje' vendors at Hazratbal shrine on the outskirts of Srinagar make more than sixty thousand rupees on festival days. (ANI)

Ahmad Mukhtiyar

Perusing M. A. Convergent Journalism

Center University of Kashmir

Communication

2012-02-10T01:03:00.000+05:30

Communication

Evolutionary and revolutionary tool of world

Human is a social being and is so because of the communication. Communication is the only tool through which the humans share their experience and emotions with each other. Since the beginning of the human’s race on this earth they learn and develop communication.

Starting with the imitation of the natural sounds to the writing on the wall was the beginning in the communication evolution. They start expressing themselves by these natural sounds and by writing and painting on the walls. Then with the evolutionary discovery of ink made it possible for the man to write and draw on the leaves and bones of dead animals. All this development in communication was to make better communication and understanding. Humans does not stop their but this evolution in the communication goes on for centuries.

With the advent of the printing press in the 17^th century by Johans Guttenburg was the revolutionary period in the human communication which changed the whole discourse of the communication. With the help of printing press humans now were able to reach to the large number of people and express their concerns.

It was this evolutionary invention which played a great role in the independence of America in 18^th century and the independence of India sub-continent in 20^th century. The Indian struggle movement spread all over India with the help of these communication channels. Recognizing the power of these communication institution it was referred as the forth estate of the state and the people associated with it as watch dogs of the society.

Then after the world war 2^nd new world order came into being, and nations turn into the race of modernization, still people where in the business of improving communication for development. In this race at the end of the century internet came into being which revolutionized the whole world. Now the reach is the whole world, and social utility networks added more twinkles to the internet.

21^st century started with the bang of communication and information century and made it possible for the people to be connected with the whole world just at one click distance and express you to the global audience. Social utility networks are the revolutionary channels of communication and we are witness to the revolutions in the Arab world Egypt, Syria,….. all these so called revolutions were called as social media revolutions, as the whole communication was don through these communication channels.

In this modern field of communication Kashmir is not far behind. Kashmiri people too are very much active on these social utility networks expressing their tale to the whole world. Being in with communication and expressing their views and concerns makes these people a bit lite. This we have witnessed since 2008 unrest in Kashmir when all the communication were shut people especially youth turned to alternative communication channels. Since then more and more people are going online and tell their stories in their way and experience to the much wide circle of people round the globe. So at any way humans does not stop communication and try new mediums to communicate. Communication has developed from immature to mature and now to advance and will remain till the social being is there.

Ahmad Mukhtiyar

A week without cell phone

2012-02-09T09:50:00.000+05:30

A week without cell phone

In the present scenario when people often are busy on their cell phones connected with their family and friends updating them every time, it is very hard if you lost your cell phone and the things become much worse when it is in Kashmir.

In the valley of Kashmir the things are much more complicated on one side almost every one is having not only one, two connections but some times more then that. Besides business class the students of even high school too are having high ended gadgets. On the other side it is very hard to get a sim card in Kashmir. Once a person gets a sim card he keeps it very protected so that he could not lost it. Same was the case with me, although I had only one sim which was enough for me to be in connection with my friends and family.

In the evening of the 18^th January 2012, when I was approaching towards the market at Panthachowk. In between my house and market I lost my cell phone some where, as I put my hands in my pocket to call my friend but I could not found it. Immediately I told my friend please call my phone I have lost that. When he called on my number the reply was “The Number You Are Trying To Reach Is Currently Switched Off”. After listening reply I understood that, someone has picked my phone, I was not worried about the phone but about sim. Now with broken hope I tried to search it along the way back to home but I could no t found that.

On the next day, early in the morning I reached to the airtel outlet for duplicate sim. He gave some instructions for getting duplicate sim. He told me that you need to submit FIR, I. D. proof, Residence proof and a photograph. It was easy to manage I.D proof, Residence proof and photograph but for FIR I rushed to the police station panthachowk.

In the police station panthachowk I was told that in orde to get FIR you need to submit affidavit, I.D proof, Residence proof and a simple application. Now once again it was easy to give the Photostat of I.D, Residence proof and to write an application, but for affidavit I had to go to the lower court lal-chowk.

On the next day early in the morning I rushed to Lal-chowk to make an affidavit, for which I paid 40Rs. to the typist for affidavit.

Now with the affidavit along with I.D proof, Residence proof, and application, I got FIR for the lost of sim, with fir along with all required documents in reached to the outlet and got the duplicate sim for Rs. 50. Then after two days my sim was activated. It took me one week to go through all the procedures to get duplicate sim, which in case of other states of India is the work of minutes.

In the whole week I was out of touch with my friends, I could not know what was going on in University and other places.

Besides all this I enjoyed the week so much because all time was mine alone, no one disturbed me at any moment. I was bit a free no one traced me throughout the whole week.

Ahmad Mukhtiyar

Perusing M. A Convergent Journalism

Centre University of Kashmir

Kashmi poem

2011-12-15T21:52:00.000+05:30

Wanum Nafsan Gatan Manz Ais Pakaw

Wazmalan Hind Gash Jariki Ais Pakaw

Nafsani Main Donkh Dutna Har Satha

Yee na Pannu Chui Tourkun Ha ais Pakaw