News Kashmir Magazine

Owais Ah Shah
Professionals are of multiple colours. A professional can be enthusiastic, motivated only if he is brimming over with the ideas of truthfulness and honesty. The biggest threat looming over every society can be of supposed professionals. An individual who is an ignorant can’t become a professional but the craze and an image created around the idea of career prospects has hijacked the idea of true professionalism in the eyes of beholder. We also come across these elements who always preclude and repudiate the true values of professional integrity. These people are lured on multiple tenuous objectives. They are susceptible to these ideas and more and more wrong footed by dealers. A poster mounted on the wall is of vital importance. But when this poster turns out to be a disaster then every human individual would say “Close this shop of deceit and fraud”.
The aforementioned phrase is not yet visible to us. When our kids walk 12th exams, every parent has an urge to send kids outside. They want to make these kids Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Pharmacists and other professionals. But these professionals are always on the Verge of collapse. This is good to send kids outside state or country to become professionals but before jumping into this,we need to get them proper counseling and every institution should have proper govt recognition.
A large number of kids who go outside fall prey to institutes that lack confidence and high quality education, then it becomes a menace. These students were to be brought into an institution which must have been exuding intellectual strain but we and our misconception has bounced us into doing this. Extolling the virtues of an institution to assimilate much and more kids is like a machine that eats all stuff. These quality students are eaten away by the idea of farcical institutional craze which maw’s them into it.The lack of ethical importance is another aspect which has driven wedge between professionals and Jekyll and Hyde.
If I am said,what are the noble professions after teaching, I and every individual would say Professional doctors, professional nurses, professional pharmacists. But these all have become objects. A true pharmacist is always helpful if he has completed his studies with vigour, dynamism and commitment. Then we can never have drug peddlers selling the drugs below the counter.But where a supposed professional opens a drug store,he will either bring his own relative, neighbor or friend into this. He will never ever dream of having his shop setting an example but money is all his life. This idea derives its roots from political patronage which is a canker eating away at the heart of society. Who says hospitals are places of impersonal warmth.It is wrong. In hospitals we see professional doctors as well as nurses.
But these people are very small in number. Having touch based with a professional nurse at SMHS in Srinagar,he believes professional nurses can do wonders if they maintain positiveness and hope, adding the large number of prospects have messed with it.There should be balance and hard work in every field. Students come to become nurses but very small in number, a large part of students are crestfallen students who never wanted to be in the field. Having failed in MBBS,the second option of Nursing is always available. This frustration does great harm. He said his personal aspiration brought him into this and proper counseling is must to shape up the future of kids.
I believe there is a way to get rid of all menaces provided that proper counseling is done. A noble teacher can do it in his school, a noble doctor in his clinic and a noble pharmacist in his drugstore. Others can also do it well.Any craze should not contaminate minds of young kids.IAS,IIT,MBBS,B-Tech,B-Pharm,LLB and journalism should not be misunderstood. We should choose our goal to work for the well being and development of our society, not to earn ill gotten money or to show it off. We have a tremendous talent but misguidance of dealers and others can do massive harm to this society. Let us pledge to work cohesively for professionals.
(The writer is Student at GDC Handwara).

Umar Bashir

Linguistically, the word fasting in the Arabic language means unconditional ‘restraint’ (imsak) from any action or speech during any time.
According to the Sacred Law, fasting is the act of:
Refraining from entering anything into the body cavity, whether deliberately or accidentally, from true dawn to the time the sun sets and refraining from engaging in sexual activity.

Refraining from entering anything into the body cavity’ refers to the acts of entering food, drink, or medicine into the body cavity, regardless of whether this is a typical item one would enter into the body cavity or not.

From the time the sun begins to rise to the time the sun sets’ refers to the true entering of the Fajr time to the entering of the Maghrib time.

‘Accompanied with the intention of fasting’ means that one must intend to fast in order to distinguish if one is really performing an act of worship or not when one refrains from eating, drinking, or having sexual intercourse. For example, if one were to merely stay away from food, drink, or sexual activity without an intention to fast, then this fast is not valid and does not count.

Who Is Excused From Fasting ?

Fasting the month of Ramadan is not obligatory upon a menstruating woman or a woman in the state of lochia (post-natal bleeding) because fasting is not permitted while they are in this state. [Imdad al-Fattah]

Stipulations For a Valid Fast?
stipulations for a valid fast : #) the intention,
#) to be free from menstruation and lochia #) to be free from anything else that would break the fast.
[ Nur al-Iydah]

What Happens If One Decides Not to Fast?
It is a condition that the intention to fast remains with one.

If during the night one decides to not fast the next day after previously intending to fast it, then one is not considered to be fasting for that day. If one renewed the intention, however, then one is considered to be fasting.

[Shurunbulali]

the principle returns to deliberately performing an act that vitiates the fast by one’s own free will and without a valid reason. Deliberately means that one remembers that one is fasting and purposely performs an action that breaks the fast.

It also includes acts performed by force of a third party. Accidentally means that one remembers that one is fasting but broke the fast by one’s own doing without the intention to purposely break the fast. [Tahtawi, Hashiyya al-Tahtawi; Related in Radd al-Muhtar]

“Oh Allah, for You I fasted, and in You I believe, and on You I place my reliance, and on Your provision I break my fast. And I intend the fasting of tomorrow for the month of Ramadan. Forgive me for what I did before and what I do after.”

Owais Ahmad Shah

Pandit exodus is a major tragedy that Kashmir has ever witnessed.Pandits were true Kashmiris,proud of their identity.Before armed insurgency in 1990s,pandits offered there sevices in Kashmir with unswerving loyalty,unfaltering commitment and steely determination.Just the arrival of militancy,the Chinar tree had started shedding off its leaves,a loud bang jolted Kashmir.Peaceful days were going to enter into tumultuous volatility.People’s happy lives were going to enter into blood and gore.Militancy started to flourish in Kashmir and pandits left their humble abode forever.Kashmir was their home and the chaos and confusion all around forced them to leave.Pandits bore brunt of tension,got killed in numbers and houses burnt to ashes.
Kashmiri Muslims lost their pandits,Shaam Lal,Makhan Lal,Prem Nath and others.Some lost their school friends,some lost neighbours and others their fellow employees.Kashmir
peace and brotherhood vanished into the thin air.People in a helter-skelter manner carried dead bodies of their loved ones and the unending bloodshed started.Kashmir started to burn.
Pandits participated in Muslim festivals and in return,Muslims would wholeheartedly take part in their festivals.The arrival of 90’s took away pandits but the memories they left with people in Kashmir are alive.The young generation of Kashmir,who are unknown to Kashmiri pandits always keep on urging elders for pandit stories.I am also one among them.I have heard about pandits,their lives.They would hold their heads high for their Kashmiri identity.Muslims would love them and they would share it back.I haven’t had any gossiping with Kashmiri pandits or its very rare I see them,but it makes me emotional when I see their houses in shambles presenting a ghastly look which not only haunts me but tugs me at the heartstrings.I always pray for their safety and rehabilitation.They should be sent back to their places.Kashmir is their home and Kashmiris are waiting to receive them with a liberal heart.
It’s very unfortunate that our pandit community is betrayed and subjected to vicious,retrogade policies by ruling dispensations at many turns.Politicians play a card of Tokenism for pandits to earn brownie points but in reality they never want their re-settlement in Kashmir.Pandits declaim their agony but that is also politicised and used as a political fodder to raise TRP’s of TV channels.Politicians leave no stone unturned to drive a wedge between Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri pandits.Kashmiri Muslims are presented in such a way if they have played a major role behind the exodus.But it is a gospel truth that Kashmiri Muslims have always stood up for the resettlement of Pandits.It’s not good in a growing, healthy democracy that communal harmony is attacked for political benefits but it sends a wrong message across and vitiates the communal atmosphere.
Kashmiri pandits have not only been fobbed off with threadbare excuses by state govt of different times but central govt has also been good at false promises.
A grand overarching approach has to be put in place at the top level for their rehabilitation and resettlement.These Pandits want to live a life of dignity but they worry about safety.I hope their safety lies within confidence building.Let that hope be instilled in them and let they embrace Kashmir again.The people are waiting,The Chinar is waiting and it’s time for home return.May the joy and bliss spread all across Kashmir.May peace come and may Pandits come.
The writer is student at GDC Handwara.

“Better Bharat”….
Owais Ahmad Shah
Student at GDC Handwara(Kashmir).
Elections are taking place across India. In this febrile atmosphere, the voter carries a serious and a careworn expression writ large in his face. Why does he feel so? What’s the worry?.Variety of questions on the platter and almost every question unaddressed.
In 2014,India voted for change. A man of unbridled enthusiasm called Narendra Modi appeared before people..He promised ad infinitum. He talked about carrying everyone along and carving out an all-inclusive society. People pinned their faith in this leader and BJP shell-shocked Congress.This was a Waterloo defeat for congress, the Teflon dynasty and they also accepted their defeat with grace. In a fair democracy, every opponent should have a fair shake of hand to address the worries people are confronting at large.
The catchphrase of “Acche din” worked astoundingly well for BJP and they succeeded in having the audience in the palm of their hand. Later on what happened to the country, the recent past bears testimony to that. India had voted for change, not for political vendetta, not for muzzling of independent voices. We witnessed a massive chaos in the country. The land of dreams was reduced to a dustbin where people were mal treated and shoved around. Taking over the govt,NDA retreated from their promises. Job creation was left on the shelf. Well BJP may well credit itself with GST and Demonetisation but the savage irony of this capital measure was that it is still haunting us and the economy.
The rhetorical disorder gnawed away at NDA and the dispensation started falling apart.
This time people are conscious of using their right to vote in a fair way.We have witnessed enough trouble. India hadn’t voted for war or communal polarization. India had voted for change.It had voted for the best possible future.Politicians as we know always good at fobbing others off with their threadbare excuses traded on the generosity of common masses.We can’t hold the ruling dispensation only culpable for the harm done but the powertakers before them also had done the same that’s the reason people had voted overwhelmingly for NDA govt.
This time we see Congress in action. Its obvious that every opposition is the next govt. But why we are still repeating on ad nauseam that Congress or BJP.I think we should talk about “Behtar Bharat”, we should talk about peace and tranquility.
This time we will be not lured on votes. The process of “Lurism” has reduced the value of a common man to an object or a toy. But our awareness and conscious mind will pave our way for success.
The future augurs well if we fight like a sound and a mature audience. We will have a country that will offer best space for every citizen irrespective of caste, creed, colour, sex. This time India will vote for “Better Bharat”.

THE ESSENCE
Malla Jameel Ahmed ,
A chilly winter morning in our land with a temperature freezing below minus, snowing heavily and a breeze that can easily send shivers through an innocent body with hypothermic effect. No matter how much one tries to escape, it will engulf you make one submit in front of its rage. Even the droplets of water dripping and oozing from snowy rooftops are spared by this irreconcilable temperature freezing them to acquire spear shaped icicles as if the nature also tries to guard us from tormentors. What is left is window of my room surrounded by houses, hindering my desire to look at the other side of the window but somehow managed to see, see it all with my eyes though the limited view from my window. The anomaly in understanding the Human nature can be more appropriately elucidated by the fact that the very blanket/bedding that protects you from cold and keep one warm throughout the night suddenly becomes a source of ill omen if continued to be kept laid in the house. The matter of being ill omen is debatable but i need it most which means there is no point of blaming it of any unpleasant effects.
As I was telling about my window, there on the other side was a small boy with a white complexion, the only thing that noticeable from a distance. The mere presence of this person made me curious to observe him as in this bone chilling temperature, how he dared to walk like this in the street and when i say dared it is indeed an act of daring at least for me who even in normal summers catch cold and start coughing copious amount of phlegm. Leave it, what am i telling, the other side of window is what entices me, not this side, it gives me insight of a life as that small boy in itself depicts life . with every step coming closer and closer, more and more clarity came. He has a red cheeks reminding me of one of the guests in the News show mocking the cheeks of the people with no remorse, still not at all dispelling the effects of the winter, frail look said it all. My desperation is always a precursor of undesirable consequences that illuminates with the tears of other people, thereby profiling my temperament to the best of the readers. Desperately leaving my room in a jiffy, went
downstairs with my full energy just to catch a glimpse. On reaching starting staring , the staring is bad atleast that is what we are taught but i can’t resist myself, my desperation to know the story of a boy meant no limitations. Unnoticeably, there is a bucket in his hand, filling every time it with snow but not coming full, maybe he is confused, anxiety on his face reflects the chronicles of the past. Again asked what is this snow for, smile is what i got in return. He doesn’t want to answer but why the bucket is not filling up to the top, i know but wanted to hear it from him. All of a sudden, a word came what do you think why is this bucket not filling up to the brim with a snow. Feigning my ignorance simply not in scientific terms, nodded in denial. He continued with his words addressing me your life is like this bucket, initially not understanding anything but i continued to listen. The handle of which is in the hands of your family who always try to provide utmost care, guide you. This snow is like a love that is ushered upon you by the parents but always feel it less , sometimes take it for granted . Take the parable of melting ice seeping through the openings & crevices of bucket, love of your parents is always shadowed and sometimes diminished by external influences. Retaining the same will help you achieving a highest degree of contentment, wasting it will lead to disillusionment. Choice is yours. Feeling bit irritated, asked the boy why are you telling all this to me. Smilingly he said, times in the valley were not same for everyone, here a different story unravels with every new person, from the stories they try to derived their identity. Still not convinced, asked him why are you telling me all this. Smilingly, he said “I am an orphan”. Meanwhile, a feeble voice started running in my mind becoming louder and louder with an impatient effect on me, slightly making me angry. At once, i woke up with this frame of mind. It is my mother, why are you still sleeping. Smile on my face said it all, after all I belong to the nation where pain is asleep.
The writer is Government employee at Govt Dental College & Hospital, Srinagar.