Culture

For Hamid Butt, a Tibetan Muslim, the tensions in eastern Ladakh are personal. His restaurant in Srinagar speaks aloud of an exodus, his identity, and of the dumpling that has caught the imagination of Kashmir’s youth.

Grand houseboats lined up along the Dal Lake is one of Kashmir’s most recognisable view, over the years reducing down to something of a cliche to represent the Valley. What would the Dal look like if the last houseboat maker quits?

The Khan family has lived up to the reputation, passing on these “supernatural” skills down the generations. Groomed to head the family business since childhood, Mr. Khan is today the fifth generation waaz’e to head the team of the devils dedicated to the art of making the wazwan.

On 28 July, Vijdan Saleem was a radio news presenter, reading out the day’s most important news: if statehood and special status were delicacies,...

“Don’t you want to learn? Don’t you want to read?” Bayed Mubarak asks this question to himself whenever he finds it difficult to read....

The coronavirus pandemic gave way to an improbable musical collaboration between Kashmiri and Iranian artists in the United States. Kashmiri Sufi singer Qaiser Nizami was...

The usual hustle and bustle in the run up to Eid is missing in Kashmir. Flocks of sheep blocking the roads in Srinagar and...

Poets have emerged in Kashmir throughout the centuries, shaped by the turmoil and zeitgeist of their time, writing poetry in Sanskrit, Persian, Urdu, but...

Away from the numerous bakeries that dot the streets of Kashmir, there is a confectionary of joy and celebration that has its place intact...

Kashmiris no longer needed to wait for these songs to be played on the radio--the demand for these records increased and MTI’s reach spread to several households.