MUMBAI
Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor arrived in Kashmir last Sunday to shoot for Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider, adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The actors were seen shooting on different location along Jhelum, Dal Lake and in the heart of city. Haider, is a love story with tragedy thrown in, is set in Kashmir and all its characters are Kashmiri. There are 22 Kashmiris working in the film making it a trend setting movie. This is Vishal’s third cinematic adaptation of a Shakespearean work. He previously has adapted Macbeth as Maqbool and Othello as Omkara.
DELHI
Micheal Steiner, the German ambassador who organised the controversial music show, Ehsas-i-Kashmir, will receive this year’s awards from SaMaPa, the music Academy belongs to Abhay Rustum Sopori, who shared the stage with Zubin Mehta in the Shalimar show. Sopori said that Steiner is being honoured for his efforts in promoting music in Kashmir.
PAMPORE
Yet again, the EDI proved others wrong. It completed a huge multi-story state of art complex in record time at Rs 15 crore, a cost on which JKPCC can not even create a tourist hut. The new complex will host 220 students. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who threw it open formally also interacted with 20 best role models that the EDI created. He told the new entrepreneurs as path breakers and assured them the government will hand-hold them till they stand on their own feet and become the role models.
LEH
The arid desert is not in news because it is experiencing the lowest temperature in the region. It has other distinction as well. An 11 months old dog of named Rupe has trekked to the base camp of Mount Everest. Rupe was found in a rubbish dump in Leh by Joanne Lefson, an animal rights crusader and a former professional golfer based in South Africa. The frail puppy was taken to Sonam Angchuk, caretaker of Leh Donkey sanctuary. He was fed milk and meat. After a month Joanne took it away to her country. Now the dog is a star! Will it have a Three Idiots effect.
MUZAFFARABAD
When PaK authorities fought over the geographic indexing of Kashmir handicrafts, there were tensions with people saying how come they know pashmina. Now they must get ready for another shock: Muzaffarabad has one shop that makes, sells harissa and make good money. Located in Main Bazaar, the shop is run by Lala Mustafa. He is the second generation harissa maker. They have been running the harissa shop since 1947 when his father migrated to PaK from Baramulla. It sells Rs 1000 a kilogram.
GUPKAR
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah may require an Urdu teacher. He wanted to recite Iqbal’s famous couplet Khudi Kou Kar Buland Itna..in two public meetings at Budgam and Pampore but could only deliver one part and forgot the second one. In order to prevent the chief executive of the state from such an embarrassment, some people have suggested he should take Urdu classes, especially for poetry. The idea is not bad. Urdu poetry is the language of love and war. Given the fast approaching elections, he would require both.
SHIMLA
Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir is about to be appointed as acting Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court after the position got vacant with the transfer of Justice Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar to Madhya Pradesh. Justice Mir was sworn as an additional Judge of High Court on January 31, 2005 and subsequently appointed as permanent Judge on July 7, 2007. A resident of Rajpora in Pulwama, he had served as Principal District & Sessions Judge, Srinagar (2004), Additional District & Sessions Judge, Special Judge POTO for Kashmir Division (2002-04). He has topped the higher judicial service examination in 1992.
Omar Abdullah government has doubled the monthly allowance to Rs 3000 for all the surviving veterans of world war II and the widows of those who laid their lives. Of around 12455 soldiers who had participated in the great war from J&K, mostly from Poonch, 521 had died.
At a time when major banks like SBI and PNB recorded fall in profits, the J&K Bank netted a profit of Rs 610.58 crore in the first half of the fiscal 2013-14.
