Worked as labour for 3 months to publish my book: AabidGulzar

BY: Jahangeer Ganaie

Shopian: A 19-year-old youth from South Kashmir’s Shopian district inspired by the famous Kashmiri poet, Rasool Mir has published his maiden poetry collection.

Aabid Ahmad Wagay (pen name AabidGulzar), a resident of Woyen village in Imamsahib belt of Shopian district is currently working on his 2nd poetry collection.

Aabid said that while listening to the poetry of Rasool Mir on radio, he got inclined towards poetry and started writing when he was a student of class 11th.

“After passing class 10, my desire was to opt for science stream, however, financial crunch didn’t allow me to do so and I took arts subject. Currently, I am in a 3rd semester at GDC Shopian,” he said, adding that, after taking arts subject, he realized that he must do something so that he must be heard by people.

“During 2016 agitation, I got time to write more and more poems and in the year 2019, my first book was ready. However, due to the financial crunch, I wasn’t able to publish my book,” he said. “In the year 2020, I worked as a labour in local orchards for about 3-4 months and used the money to publish my first book.”

“We don’t have any land and we don’t have our own house and are residing in the house of others for decades but I don’t let my poverty come in the way of achieving my dreams,” he said.

Gulzar said his book “In Search of Lost”, is a collection of 41 poems and is based on love.

“The main message in the book is that we must teach everyone to love every creation of Allah. We should continue our love even if somebody hates us,” he said, adding that, there are hundreds of talented youth in our society who are unable to work on their dreams, however, the need of the hour is that society must help, support and encourage them—(KNO)

By: FaizanWani

Srinagar: Aggrieved over alleged ‘unjustified delay’ in exams, Polytechnic students on Wednesday staged a protest here demanding authorities to hold online exams or announce mass promotion in their favor.

Students, including scores of girls staged a protest at Press Enclave here and accused the Technical Board of ‘ruining’ their future by delaying their exams from 2019.

Protesting students had also carried placards in their hands which read “hold online exams, do justice with Polytechnic students”.

They said the Technical Board has been delaying their exams since 2019 without giving any justifiable reason even as the students presented several memorandums to the higher-ups to consider their demand of holding online exams.

“Our exams were delayed since 2019; we really don’t know why the Technical Board is delaying holding exams. Our exams were supposed to be held in July 2020 which were later postponed due to lockdown but no decision was later taken in this regard,” Farhan, a student told reporters.

He also said exams in Leh, Ladakh were conducted through online mode while results were declared within three days. He said if online exams could be held in Leh, what problems doe’s authorities face in Kashmir.

Farhan said the authorities in October last year also announced mass promotion for those students who have cleared two or more subjects, however no decision was so far taken vis-à-vis conducting their exams.

“We demand exams through online mode or mass promotion, authorities already wasted our precious time by delaying our exams, we now want the Lieutenant Governor to intervene to ascertain the logic behind ruining our future,” he added—(KNO)

Srinagar: A four-day Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Unified Martial Arts (JKAUMA) winter camp commenced on Wednesday in world famous health resort of Pahalgam to promote healthy living through martial arts and raise awareness about ill effects of drug addiction.

JKAUMA, under its flagship programme ‘Drugs out, Sports in’, has been organising seminars in different schools and colleges from last about one year across Kashmir valley to raise awareness about drug addiction and its ill effects.

During the camp — which is sponsored by Tourism Department, AS cements, Drug Plus and Star Homes — about 160 players from central, north and south Kashmir are participating.

JKAUMA is also hosting second winter Tong IL Moo Do seminar that is being held in the run up to the national championship later this year.

The players were flagged off by senior journalist SanamTasaduq at around 1200 hrs from Gindun Stadium in Raj Bagh, Srinagar. “I’m really happy that such events are being organised by our youth. It is a good measure and the ‘Drugs out, Sports In’ initiative launched by JKAUMA is the way forward to fight the addiction of drugs,” Tasaduq said after flagging of the players for the camp.

“The idea behind organising winter and summer camps is to give an opportunity to young players to experience the joy of camping, which has been lost due to the current situation. The camp given an opportunity to our players to interact with youth from different parts of J&K,” Adnan Ayoub, one of the organizers of the event said.

He said during the camp, the association not only imparts martial arts training to the participants, but also hold seminars and interactive sessions to raise awareness about ill effects of drug addiction. “Promoting healthy living through martial arts and raising awareness about ill effects of drugs and its impact on the families of the victims is the prime focus during the camp,” he added.

Srinagar: In a first of its kind, Mudasir Ali Online Memorial Session organized by Media Education Research Centre (MERC) Wednesday the invited speakers discussed the ‘Journalism during pandemic: Opportunities & Challenges’.

A galaxy of media professionals working for local, national and international media besides the faculty and the students of the department marked the occasion.

Mudasir Ali was a pass out of MERC, batch 2005. He worked as Senior Editor at ‘Greater Kashmir’ besides contributing to ‘The Wire’news portal.

RiyazMasroor, J&K BBC Correspondent, MehmoodurRashid, Op-ed Editor Greater Kashmir and ZafarIqbal, Associate Editor MOJO,   were the invited speakers while DrNisar Ahmad  Mir Registrar KU was the guest of honour on the occasion.

In his remarks, Registrar KU complimented the department for conducting the session and conveyed the appreciation of the Vice Chancellor for the same. “There is a lifelong connect between teachers and the taught”, he said while expressing condolences to the bereaved family. “Mudasirwas a gem of a person who stood for value based journalism”.

Regarding the challenges and opportunities, Nisar described Infodemic as one of the biggest challenges along with pandemic in contemporary times.“Thesituationhas generated interest in healthcare reporting which needs more attention”, he remarked.

Zafardescribed the pandemic as a mixed bag for journalists where there are concerns for ensuring the safety while reporting the story from the ground.

Describing pandemic as the biggest story of our times, Mehmood-ur-Rashid opined,“Pandemic is still unfolding  itself  and we don’t know in how many ways it may affect us. Riyaztalked about the changes journalism as a profession had undergone recently.The challenge is how to adapt to thechange”, heobserved.

Jehangir Ali, brother of Mudasir Ali, was the special invitee on the occasion. He thanked the department for organising an event in memory of Mudasir Ali.

Emotional scenes were witnessed during the session when condolences were conveyed to Ali Muhammad Wazir,father of late Mudasir Ali who watched the proceedings online.

The proceedings of the memorial session were conducted by senior faculty and former HoDMERC NasirMirza.

“Mudasir has become immortal as he lives in our memories”, he said while highlighting the objectives of the session.