Mosques First, Schools Later
years after a devastating earthquake flattened a vast area straddling the LoC, Sameer Yasir spent a day in Uri to understand that the area...
The Grace of Charity
Orphans and destitute widows pose a huge moral challenge to the people in Kashmir. The society has responded through personal and private institutional efforts...
Business And Blessings
Some businesses go into a month-long hibernation during Ramadan but the fasting month also means brisk business in some food items generally not consumed...
Moses In Butho Village?
A myth brought hundreds of devotees from across continents to a remote Bandipore village looking for the grave of Moses. But a demystifying campaign...
Courting Disaster?
Record rush to the Hindu cave shrine has been complimented with record deaths this year. Permitting massive crowds on the treacherous track could trigger a...
For the Lingam to last longer
Along two difficult mountain trek routes, from security to availability of food, medicines and warm shelter, SASB and numerous state government agencies manage everything...
Buta Malik Is Out Of Business
History books credit a shepherd, Buta Malik for discovering the Amarnath Cave that attracts tens of thousands of half pilgrims every summer. For decades,...
Crashed godhood
As Yoga guru Baba Ramdev continues to dominate news headlines across India, J&K has forgotten Dhirendra Brahmachari. Under patronage of Indira Gandhi, the Bihari...
Home Coming
Two decades after the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, a combo offer of employment and rehabilitation by the state government beckons them to return....
Mosque With Warmth
In the chill of Kashmir’s winters when everyone loves to sit in their cozy homes at leisure, a mosque in the frontier district of...
In Good Faith
In the name of preservation of historical shrines, the government is building new structures within their premises, irking experts, who say these ugly brick...
Outsourcing Qurbani
A new concept in the centuries-old Islamic practice of offering the sacrifice of animals on Eid-Ul-Azha is gaining popularity in Kashmir. S Ikhlaq A...
Faith no barrier
A Muslim woman is taking Sikh boys and girls in Srinagar closer to their religion by teaching them kirtan singing. Tasleema Langoo is a...
In Baba’s Nagri
Every year thousands of Gujjars from all over the state congregate at Baba Nagri near Kangan for the annual Urs of Hazrat Baba Jee...
A knot of faith
Their firm belief that wishes are granted at shrines takes the form of a unique ritual. Devotees tie votives for whatever they wish and...