Paradise Lost
On 23 June 2026, President Droupadi Murmu conferred the Padma Shri on Brij Lal Bhat. For a moment, the marble halls of Rashtrapati Bhavan turned toward a story that official India has too often looked away from. Kashmir is widely known for headlines about political tension and conflict. Today, however, the region is celebrated for … Read more
The chinar trees still stand where they always have. The Vitasta River continues to flow through the valley. Ancient prayers can still be heard echoing from the temples. However, a profound shift occurred in 1990. It wasn’t merely the movement of people; it was the very displacement of memory. In this article, we will discuss … Read more
“Ann poshi teli yeli wan poshi.” Food will last only as long as forests last. Six centuries have passed since Nund Rishi uttered these words. Yet every passing year makes them more relevant. The glaciers are melting. The rivers are shrinking. The forests are disappearing. The summers are becoming harsher. The rains are becoming unpredictable. … Read more
As devotees gather today for the Kheer Bhawani Festival 2026, I find myself unable to begin with history, dates, or rituals. I must begin where every Kashmiri Pandit heart begins. At the feet of the Mother When villages emptied, your name remained. When hope flickered, your name remained. Maej Daya Kar. Mata Nazar Kar. Maej … Read more
Why does time feel faster as you get older? At some point in life, almost everyone begins to wonder about it. Years that once seemed impossibly long now disappear with startling speed. Birthdays arrive sooner than expected. Summers pass almost unnoticed. A decade slips by and feels like a few short years. I have often … Read more
Few poets have shaped the cultural identity of a people as profoundly as Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor. Revered as Shair-e-Kashmir (Poet of Kashmir), Mehjoor transformed Kashmiri poetry by bringing it closer to the language, emotions, and aspirations of ordinary people. Literary historians widely regard him as the father of modern Kashmiri poetry because he expanded … Read more
A Kashmiri Pandit’s Perspective on the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir Protest I left Kashmir thirty-six years ago. My family did not leave by choice, nor had we planned to abandon the valley that our community had called home for centuries. In January 1990, a campaign of targeted killings, threats broadcast from mosque loudspeakers, and organised terror forced … Read more
Pain has a strange, insular effect on the human psyche. It possesses the unique capacity to shut out the external world, creating a sudden silence in which a person is forced to look at themselves with absolute clarity, perhaps for the very first time. For Arnimal, the eighteenth-century Kashmiri poet, this silence was not chosen. … Read more
The concept of ‘home’ for the Kashmiri Pandit community has undergone a radical, involuntary transformation. Since the exodus of 1990, the physical markers of our civilisation (Our heritage temples, the intricate woodwork of our ancestral houses, and the holy touch of Vitasta have been relegated to the realm of memory. Yet, as we cling to … Read more
Author’s Preface This article was not written from a distance. It was written ahead of the 36th martyrdom anniversary of Sarwanand Kaul Premi and his son, Virender Kaul, at the family’s request. They wanted someone who understood the historical weight of what they had endured, and who would write it with the seriousness it deserved. … Read more
April 1990 Killings in Kashmir marked a grim phase of targeted violence, where individuals were singled out and killed in a climate of fear and silence. This article documents verified names and case profiles, including Bansi Lal Sapru, Sarla Bhat, BHL Khera, and Sh. Sarvanand Kaul Premi with his son Virender Kaul, to present a … Read more
Spring came to the Kashmir Valley in 1990 with blood on its hands. Bansi Lal Sapru, a forty-five-year-old Kashmiri Pandit from Gulab Bagh, Srinagar, never saw summer. His neighbours shot him dead in the compound of his own home on 24 April 1990. Three bullets at close range. The killers knew his face. They … Read more