Our naags have either dried or are drying. Many are almost dead. Now imagine Kashmir without its naags. For centuries, naags were the invisible arteries of Kashmir’s civilization. Villages were...

Around 280–320 Deputy Commissioners have served in the Kashmir Valley since Independence. That means approximately 30-35 DCs per district on average – counting from three districts from 1947-1968, five districts...

Garbage has quietly become one of the most visible signs of governance failure in Kashmir. Plastic bags flutter along highways, household waste piles up on village roads, and many streams...

There was a time in Kashmir when thirst had direction. You did not open a tap. You walked to a spring. Every settlement had a naag, every orchard its channel,...

The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Khanabal–Baltal 2/4-laning road corridor already exits and it had been submitted to National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) in January 2024....

When the proposal for a railway line to Pahalgam was first floated, it did not initially trigger ecological alarm bells. Kashmir had lived through far worse assaults on its environment...

Every winter, India’s cities witness a quiet, unsettling ritual. A Kashmiri shawlwalla rings a doorbell, opens his bag on a stranger’s sofa or compound, recites the language of heritage, and...

Kashmir is perhaps the only place in India where entire government departments behave like seasonal shops – they open briefly when nature or crisis forces them to, and then quietly...

For decades we have spoken of Jammu and Kashmir as if it were one political soul. The truth – however uncomfortable – is that it has often been two temperaments...

There was a time in Kashmir when spirituality did not announce itself. It did not need microphones, entourages, or a cheering gallery. It arrived quietly – often barefoot, often hungry,...