Tryst with rejections
Bilal Handoo Out from the bustling bazaar of old town Baramulla, he walks as if in seclusion. He often walks that way—apparently, he mimics zombies!...
Small is beautiful, dogs!
Junaid Ashraf All the dogs of the high-walled city of Capitaloslovakia came rushing—all at once, seemingly depressed. They walked through the oily streams, beneath the...
This Hope is hopeless
Bilal Handoo He celebrated like a Brazilian soccer fan over ‘their victory over them’. But more than one party’s win, he cherished the loss of...
Yearning for Mother
Bilal Handoo Last year on Mother’s Day, Tabasum’s face was beaming with smile. Her younger sibling, Murassa was too cheerful. 365 days after, the day has...
The fatal feud!
Aarif Muzafar Rather The word Azadi struck his ears at the age of 7. It was the period when Kashmir was passing through an uprising...
Mother, I don’t need their scholarship!
Muntaha Amin A treacherous journey had ended. I was finally home along with mates. They had shown us door—as we cheered for greens! We were...
The confined tale
Bilal Handoo It is raining heavily tonight. A haunting darkness has wrapped hundreds of households in downtown Srinagar. The clock has struck 10 pm. In...
An endless search of a mother
Insha Bint Bashir A free movement curbed half a century ago got partially resumed in the spring of 2005. On April 7 that year, the...
Dooriyan (Distances)
Omair Bhat Early Spring. Heemal. Frontier District. Kashmir.
Smoke is billowing from the chimneys, rising and swirling in twisting spirals and disappearing in the void less sky stretched...
Way too late
Muntaha Amin He sensed the opportunity—that, he could run away. And without considering anything else, he held his breath and made his way out of...
Times and trials of Sultan Mama
Bilal Handoo
Mama was the only Jehadist among scores of his time. But the sorry state of affairs is that: while India honoured Muma Kana...
A Dark Humour
Bilal Handoo The feeling was still sinking in Majeed Bhat, a government clerk when he attended his office. Melodrama of last night at his home...
A Letter from Tihar
Bilal Handoo Already two years have passed since Shaheena’s husband has gone with a group of seven men to other part of Kashmir for arms...
A Forsaken Mother
Bilal Handoo It was early seventies when Yemberzal got married amid huge fanfare in downtown Srinagar. A simple girl, she was ruling hearts because of...
The Letter: A Short Story
Nayeem Rather
As Sikandar Shah woke from his sleep in the early hours of that morning, he hastily went to courtyard of shrine for ablution....
