in bits and pieces
And a cry went up in the mini-van, ‘National School, National School. Kus school ous.What a school, it was!’ A lot of them had studied in this school.
And I turned to see broken window panes painted on red brick walls and a traditional wooden electric pole.
‘English medium for Boys & Girls’
Continuing…
Warren Senders, the leader of the indo-jazz ensemble Anti-Gravity, is a talented composer/musician who has studied and rendered Hindustani music for over 20 years. [check out the Website of Warren Senders]
On March 21 1986, Warren Senders enjoyed some traditional Kashmiri music aboard the houseboat of musician Ghulam Mohammed Ahangar. By the end of the performance, Warren Senders had recorded around 90 minutes of pure traditional Kashmiri music.
Now recently, Warren Senders started uploading these recording at his wonderful Youtube channel.
In fact, has already uploaded around 60 minutes of the recording, setting them to beautiful photographs of Kashmir shot by himself.
Here’s a link to the beautiful recordings (have also embedded some recording that I really found amazing):
“Three Kashmiri musicians: Ghulam Mohammed Ahangar, Abdul Aziz Parvez and Moiuddin Bhat, recorded in Srinagar, March 21, 1986. This video is the first of a series of Kashmiri traditional music. The presentation begins with a 20-minute suite of four instrumental melodies for rabab, sarangi and harmonium.”
In which the musician set, tune and play their instruments.
Is that actaully a Heart beat in the background?
Kashmiri Traditional Melody for Rabab, Sarangi and Nuht
Amazing stuff to say the least!
And
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Starts right in from the last strain of previous song…
Time – 12:57 AM
While the music plays, in an adjacent room, almost invisible, men play zaar – cards, they play Flaash – Flush and they play Paplu – ‘Rummy’. Money goes around. Alcohol moves around like a shy new bride. Prized. Concealed. Consumed. In moderation.
Hato
The street looked deserted. Not a sound. As if nobody lives here anymore. A man carrying a burden of trash on his back was the only one walking down this lane. My mother grew up in a house on this lane.
Photograph of a Security man posted on Habba Kadal.
Count the number of street lamps and the number of security men, if the security men out number the lamp posts, you know you have set foot on a troubled street.
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On way to Gulmarg, I saw a security man standing, on duty, alone, in the middle of a vegetable field, shooting. He was taking pictures using a digital camera.
On the United Nations Assembly Floor:
A representative from India began: ‘Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Rishi Kashyap of Kashmir, after whom Kashmir is named.
When he struck a rock and it brought forth water, he thought, ‘What a good opportunity to have a bath.’
He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.
When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Pakistani had stolen them.’
The Pakistani representative jumped up furiously and shouted, ‘What are you talking about? The Pakistanis weren’t there then.’
The Indian representative smiled and said, ‘And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.’
– a ‘forward’ Email that was in circulation a couple of years ago.
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Pages from History.
‘Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the Countries Adjoining the Mountain-Course of the Indus, and the Himalaya, north of the Panjab with Map’ By G.T. Vigne (Published 1844).
Godfrey Thomas Vigne(1801-1863), an English travelers visited Kashmir in 1835.
Each of the point listed here rings true…chaeyn kasam 🙂 but I am making some additions
1) You have the Kashur Nass.. we have a face on a nose!! Its like a nose broken into pieces and then reassembled by a 2 yr old..2) You luuuuuv food!! No offense to fellow food lovers but we take our love for food one step ahead. (Even celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain had to concur during his visit to Jaipur where he ate out at the house of chef Vimal Dhar)
3) You take pride in being a Kashmiri .. So much so, that you think that the human race should be divided into two groups; People who are Kashmiris and people who wish they were Kashmiris:)
4) You have atleast 10 Avtarkishan, Hridainath. and we pronounce it has hadeynath.. we just don’t pronounce the r , santosh, pamposh, usha, bhusha, shanta, kanta ..in your family.. And people with nicknames like pyntu ji, paapu ji, byttuji….
5)You like alhach, wangan hach, hogaad.. I think kashmiris are the only people who dry perfectly good vegetables and then eat them even if they are living in tropical region.
6) All through your childhood you thought your father’s name was ” HEY YAPARHASA“.
7)You learnt all the kashmiri” WOH WOH” before you even learnt how to spell your name..
8)You look at non kashmiri people and say ” Uhn shikass“
9)Get excited when you see a kashmiri on television even if he’s standing in the corner and all you can see is his finger…” Oh look Kashmiri..” [Example in point 2]
10) Your sense of fun is having batta and sleeping..
11) You are obsessed with giss and mandloo..
12) You go to a Kashmiri gathering and turns out the next person is your relative that you havn’t ever met.. some mamtur poftur boy…and you don’t even know what the relation is called.
13) Your father addresses every person as ” this is my another brother” turns out that person is the next door neighbour’s sweeper’s son..
14)You have a typical Kashmiri name like Sheen, Sondri Gondri, Sukta..
15) If you translate Kashmiri into hindi in an attempt to speak hindi..”hum ghar main teen aurtey hain“-” uss chi gharass manjh trey zanaan“
“airport pay takleef nahin aaya” – “airport peth maa ove takleef.“
16) Your mom gets scared at every tiny thing and says “kossay trath hey payam“.. and then reads the yindrakhi paath . She screams ‘hai kya gom‘ on hearing about ill health of next door neighbour’s sweeper’s son.
17) You are a Doctor or an Engineer..
18) You eat every single organ of the goat like the chagul( goat testicles) , charvan( liver), hooves, the kidneys we don’t spare any part..
19) You have the funniest surname…
zalpuri ( zall which means pee) whyyyyy..
mattooo, kher ( donkey) or what kashmiris call ” Dunkey”
wattal( garbage man).. pure genius..20) Have a thick accent and pronounce scotch as ssakaych.. or smoke as ssamokh
21) Have the weirdest style of dancing as if you are screwing two bulbs..
22) When your mother yells into the phone because its a long distance call!!
23) Your real birthday is called “cake vohorvod” or ‘angree’z vohorvod‘.
24) You go into a kashmiri store just to show off how much you know about Kashmiri artifacts but buy nothing..
25) Stuff people with food even if they are bursting up to their throats. Meyean dree…ahk piece byakh piece. And the curry is poured onto your palm and the piece is in your lap.
26) You are a Kashmiri if you pick that piece up, put it in your thaal and quitely eat while praying they don’t come back with more.
27) You prefer kandarwaan over the baguette..
28) While going for an exam your mother asks the kachravol or the dodhwol to walk to your right…and usually asks you to avoid Zanaan’e zang.
29) Your mother sees some women on television with skimpy clothes and calls her shikass mach, nang mach!!
30) Your father teaches you how to drive and all he can tell you is breyk breyk breyk and when you finally stop he says gggassuuu pppakooo..
31) “hello hello bi chass b” is your theme song..
32) Have at least 5 wokhuls and kajwatt in your house.
33) If someone reminds you every other day – Today is a aetham, don’t eat this.
34) If your scream ‘Tra’th‘ or ‘Ta’payeel’ thrice every hour, to no one in particular, without any rhyme or reason.
35) If you think smartest person in the world will one day be proved a Kashmiri. And also believe there is a good chance he or she will also turn out to be the most handsome or the most beautiful.
36) If you think every other Kashmiri is an idiot.
Photograph: A house just across mother’s ancestral house at Kralkhod. I was told Pandit Premnath Shastri used to live as tenant in this house owned by a Muslim.
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Post migration, Pandit Premnath Shastri developed his Vijyeshwar Panchang not just like it was an almanac but like a document recording ancient religious practices and rites of Kashmiri Pandits. Today Vijyeshwar Panchang is one of the threads that hold the Pandits together.
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I read that in his old age Pandit Premnath Shastri became an ardent admirer of Osho Rajneesh.
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Ever year, Vijyeshwar Panchang would carry not only a year’s predictions for people born under various Zodic signs but also for the World, India and Kashmir. Skip the first few lines, no chance of getting the meaning, the last line reads:”Rest is up to God”. India was apparently born under a bad sign. Rest followed.
Sample this: This year the World will talk about ‘Nuclear’ a lot.
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I love this cover.
