Kashmir Pandits Quotes

Poet's Note: Kindly do not use my poem without giving me due credit. Do not use bits and pieces to suit your agenda of Kashmir whatever it may be. I, Srividya Srinivasan as the creator of this poem own the right to what I have chosen to feel about the issue and have represented all sides to a complex problem that involves people. I do not believe in war or violence of any kind and this is my compassionate side speaking from all angles to human beings thinking they own only their side to the story. THIS POEM IS THE ORIGINAL WORK OF SRIVIDYA SRINIVASAN and any misuse by you shall be considered as a violation of my copyrights and legally actionable. This poem is dedicated to all those who have suffered in Kashmir and through Kashmir and to not be sliced and interpreted to each one's convenience.

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Weep softly O mother,
the walls have ears you know...
The streets are awash o mother!
I cannot go searching for him anymore.

The streets are awash o mother
with blood and tears, pellets and screams.
that silently remain locked in the air,
while they seal our soulless dreams.

The guns are out, O mother,
while our boys go armed with stones,
I cannot go looking for him O mother,
I have no courage to face what I will find.
For, I need to tend to this little one beside,
with bound eyes that see no more.

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Weep for the home we lost O mother,< ~ Srividya Srinivasan

Even in the palmiest days of the Khalsa it is astonishing how small a proportion of the Punjab population was of the Sikh profession. The fierce fanaticism of the earlier years of the century was succeeded by the unequalled military organisation of
the Maharaja, and these together enabled a people who were never numerically more than a sect of Hinduism to overrun the whole Punjab and Kashmir, to beat back the Afghans to the mountains, and to
found a powerful kingdom in which they were outnumbered by Hindus and Muhammadans by ten to one. ~ Lepel H. Griffin

Lalla Ruk
Dearest dream, my soul's enchantment
Lovely guest from heav'n above,
Most benevolent attender
To the earthly realm below,
You gave me blissful satisfaction
Momentary but complete:
Bringing with you happy tidings -
Like a herald from the skies.

I dreamed dreams of life eternal
In that Promised Land of peace;
I dreamed dreams of fragrant regions,
Of a tranquil, sweet Kashmir;
I could witness celebrations,
Festivals of roses vernal
Honoring that lovely maiden
From lands strange and far away.

And, with glistening enchantment
Like an angel from above, -
This untainted, youthful vision
Came before my dreaming eyes;
Like a veil, a shining shroud
Screened her lovely face from view,
Tenderly she did incline
Her shy gazes toward the earth.

All her traits - her timid shyness
Underneath her shining crown,
Childlike her animation,
And her face's noble beauty -
Glowing with a depth of feeling,
Sweet serenity and peace -
All of these completely artless
Indescribably sublime!

As I watched, the apparition
(Captivating me in passing)
Never to return, flew by;
I pursued - but it had gone!
T'was a vision merely fleeting,
Transient illumination
Leaving nothing but a legend
Of its passing through my life!

T'is not ours to harbor
Beauty's spirit - ~ Vasily Zhukovsky

Kashmir Shaivism also developed an integrated and effective method of spiritual practice that includes intense devotion, the study of correct knowledge, and a special type of yoga unknown to other systems of practical philosophy. These three approaches are meant to be carefully integrated to produce a strong and vibrant practice. Yoga is the main path that leads to Self-realization, theoretical knowledge saves yogins from getting caught at some blissful but intermediary level of spiritual progress, and devotion provides them the strength and focus with which to digest correctly the powerful results of yoga and so avoid their misuse. This is a practice for both the mind and the heart. The teachings offers offer a fresh and powerful understanding of life that develops the faculties of the mind, while the devotional aspects of Kashmir Shaivism expand the faculties of a student's heart. Combined together, both faculties help students reach the highest goal to which Shaiva yoga can dead them.

The yoga system of Kashmir Shaivism is known as the Trika system. It includes many methods of yoga, which have been classified into three groups known as sambhava, sakta, and anava. Sambhava yoga consists of practices in direct realization of the truth, without making any effort at meditation, contemplation, or the learning of texts. The emphasis is on correct being, free from all aspects of becoming. This yoga transcends the use of mental activity. Sakta yoga consists of many typ ~ Balajinnatha Pandita

Kashmir is my last resort. I think, if I truly deserve it one day, I should go there and stay there for quite a while. Or if I really need it at any point, it should be my haven, my Shangri-la. ~ Robert Plant

As a historical legacy, the Kashmir conflict has been an outstanding issue for more than half a century. ~ Li Peng

For 14 years no PM had gone to Jammu and Kashmir. Atal ji changed that and went to Jammu and Kashmir. He gave 3 Mantas- Insaniyat, Jamhuriat and Kashmiriyat (Humanity, democracy and J&K). We aspire to walk on that path ~ Narendra Modi

I was in Kashmir last weekend. Went to visit one of my sweaters. ~ Albert Brooks

Except in Punjab and the NWFP, the central government's Kashmir policy had little support in Sindh or Balochistan and even less in East Bengal. Instead of serving the people, civil servants and their allies in the army hoisted the political leaders with their Kashmir petard to become the veritable masters of the manor through autocratic and unconstitutional means. ~ Ayesha Jalal

For us Deewan Bhai, whatever it takes ~ Sanchit Gupta

I respect the Indian government for the fact that there are no settlements in Kashmir. ~ Zubin Mehta

TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'

begum Dil Afroze was a well-known opportunist who believed, quite literally, in changing with the times. When the Movement seemed to be on the up and up, she would set the time on her wristwatch half an hour ahead to Pakistan Standard Time. When the Occupation regained its grip she would reset it to Indian Standard Time. In the Valley the saying went, 'Begum Dil Afroze's watch isn't really a watch, it's a newspaper.

Q 1: What is the moral of the story? ~ Arundhati Roy

By sheer faith the walls of Jericho had fallen , after they were encompassed for about seven days, while,we weren't able to achieve the " so called " attainable freedom of mind ,within 7 prolonged months !

The question is , do we have the faith alive in us or alike everything tangible ,we lost it somewhere while creating a momentary deception amongst us ? ~ BinYamin Gulzar

Madano!

What if I tell you
that
I often confuse my innerself
with a place
more like kashmir,
and you
with its seasons
for
Whenever you arrive
I know
It is spring in Kashmir
and
whenever you depart
I know
It is fall in kashmir. ~ Aqib Shah

My dad was in the Indian Army. He died in a terrorist attack in Kashmir in 1994. After that, my mum and I settled in Noida. I went to Delhi Public School in Noida and then to Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi University. It was in college that I realised I wanted to be on the stage and in front of the camera. ~ Nimrat Kaur

The alliance in Jammu and Kashmir is one of the most important developments on the contemporary political scene. ~ Narendra Modi

Srinagar is a medieval city dying in a modern war. It is empty streets, locked shops, angry soldiers and boys with stones. It is several thousand military bunkers, four golf courses, and three book-shops. It is wily politicians repeating their lies about war and peace to television cameras and small crowds gathered by the promise of an elusive job or a daily fee of a few hundred rupees. It is stopping at sidewalks and traffic lights when the convoys of rulers and their patrons in armored cars, secured by machine guns, rumble on broken roads. It is staring back or looking away, resigned. Srinagar is never winning and never being defeated. ~ Basharat Peer

Everyone wants Kashmir but no one wants Kashmiris.
Aren't I a miracle? A seed that survived the slaughter & slaughters to come.
I think I believe in freedom I just don't know where it is.
I think I believe in home, I just don't know where to look. ~ Fatimah Asghar

Why? Don't you know why you love me?"
"I know that I'm happiest at your side," I said fervently. "I know that when we're apart, my heart is with you, when we disagree I still want you near. It's like I was made for you, amira, but I don't know why."
"Kashmir . . ." She laughed a little in disbelief. "That's . . . that's what love looks like."
"But is it only a trick of Navigation?" I asked, nearly pleading. "And if so, what is truly mine?"
"I am."
Her words took me by surprise. She said it so simply - so quiet, so true. Only two words, three letters, one breath, but never had a promise held more meaning. She turned to me then, and in her eyes, I saw not oblivion, but infinity, and the stars were not as bright as her smile. ~ Heidi Heilig

Love isn't much of a legacy, Mr. Firas."
"I think there's none better."
"It doesn't last."
"It doesn't have to. ~ Heidi Heilig

Our freedom walk is adorned by the schools that we have burned, embellished by the eyes that no longer see and haunted by the wails of half widows that we left to be damned! Let go. Be free. ~ BinYamin Gulzar

It is time to end the western policy of malign neglect. It is in the interest of the whole world to help tackle the actual grievances in Palestine, Kashmir, and in central and southern Iraq, and to help the region out of its economic backwardness. ~ James Buchan

I am trying to stop being mystified. Important to concentrate on good hard facts. But which facts? One week before mu eighteenth birthday, on August 8th, did Pakistani troops in civilian clothing cross the cease-fire line in Kashmir and infiltrate the Indian sector, or did they not? In Delhi, Prime Minister Shastri announced "massive infiltration ... to subvert the state:; but here is Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's Foreign Minister, with his riposte: "We categorically deny any involvement in the rising against tyranny by the indigenous people of Kashmir". ~ Salman Rushdie

She is not philosophy, I am not an ethical question. I will not risk my existence to satisfy your curiosity. ~ Heidi Heilig

The thread of shattered hopes covered us with the masquerade of betrayal. As always we will start picking up the pieces of our worthless life, scattered over the last 150 days in the hope of deliverance. With so many of us blinded for life ,some of us taken away for life all together, (you broke your promise once again), And I shall close the eyes of my conscience so that I don't introspect about the distrust,
long term suffering we will have to endure ,for we will always remain the nation of the suppressed!

Promises and lies!! ~ BinYamin Gulzar

Losing the plot again to the rhetoric called "Azadi".
Trapped in a "Status quo"of fragmented reality , we eroded the seeds to our future.(yet again).
Somehow (I) forgot that -
Actions have consequences. Non actions have "deadly " consequences too & turning blind eye to something so obvious will eventually produce the generation of "vision less society". (Literally and figuratively). ~ BinYamin Gulzar

Thus, both Mountbatten and Nehru stipulated that the ultimate fate of Kashmir should be settled 'by reference to the people', and on 2 November Nehru broadcast on All India Radio that 'we are prepared when peace and law and order have been established to have a referendum'. ~ Katherine Frank

K H A D I J A S A Y S . . .
In Kashmir when we wake up and say 'Good Morning' what we really mean is 'Good Mourning'. ~ Arundhati Roy

My dad was a Punjabi from Amritsar, and my mom is a Punjabi from Kashmir. My dad was a soldier in the Indian Army. ~ Akshay Kumar

For those who live in Kashmir, the expectations of justice, rarely fulfilled in the Indian subcontinent, are more than optimistic; they belong to fantasy. It makes it all the more difficult for the victims to bear their human losses. At Dalal's house, the once carefully tended plants and hedges were already running wild just a few weeks after his murder, the fish in the pond were mostly dead, and few men sat slumped on the floor in a bare hall under the Islamic calendar of mourning. His mother, persuaded by her male relatives to emerge from the dark room where she had taken to since her son's death, broke down as soon as she noticed the photos of Dalal I had been studying. The pictures showed a young man in dark glasses and trendy clothes, a happy, contented man, someone who had managed to find, amid the relentless violence of the insurgency, a new style and identity for himself, and when Dalal's mother, still crying, while her mother, Dalal's grandmother, sat beside her, quietly wiping her tears with the frayed end of her headscarf, asked what was the point of talking to the press, of speaking about her son to me- he was gone and wouldn't come back; the people who had killed him were too powerful- it was hard not to feel pierced by the truth of what she was saying, hard not to be moved by her grief, and the pain, amid the great human waste of Kashmir, of her helplessness. ~ Pankaj Mishra

I forgot the maid who works in my P.G. and struggles to make money, every day, who is in fear that one day her cruel husband will find her out eventually and beat her and her son to death.
I forgot that auto driver I met on my way to M.G. road metro station, and who wanted to be in the army but gave up study due to the financial crisis.
I forgot that security guard I met at IIT Delhi, and who was forced to leave the study and marry at the age of 15.
I forgot those little kids I generally encounter at Railway stations and trains selling packets of pens @ Rs.25 per packet.
I forgot that 75 years old ricksha wala I met in sector 23 market with only one eye and high power lens
I forgot that washroom cleaning staff at my office who always welcomes me with a broad smile.
I forgot the dead body of that martyred soldier I saw at the Kashmir airport, laden with garlands of marigold and people shouting," jawan amar rahe!"
I forgot the scream of that pig near my office when a thick rope was brutally tied in its nose and it was forcefully taken by some people on a bike.
I almost forgot everything! ~ Sangeeta Mann

She lives between the Vale of Kashmir & nirvana, beneath a bipolar sky. The voice speaks of an atlas & a mask, a map of Punjab, an ugly scar from college days on her abdomen, the unsaid credo, but I still can't make the voice say, Look, I'm sorry. I've been dead for a long time. ~ Yusef Komunyakaa

The government of India and the government of Jammu and Kashmir are determined to ensure that every Kashmiri lives with dignity having equal rights and equal opportunities. ~ Pranab Mukherjee

From Palestine to Kashmir, Occupation is a Crime. ~ Sayam Asjad

I totally hate when somebody takes a classic and desecrates it. I like Jimmy Page and P. Diddy, but what they did to 'Kashmir' was a debacle. ~ Chuck D

The labours I devoted between 1888 to 1900 to the critical edition, translation and commentary of Kalhana's Rajatarangini, the only true historical text of Sanskrit literature, afforded me ample opportunities of gaining close contact with Sanskrit savants of Kashmir, the land where traditional learning of Hindu India had flourished in old times greatly and survived until recent years. ~ Aurel Stein

I should have guessed Kashmir would become a nuisance. And a bad influence. But most importantly, a friend. ~ Heidi Heilig

So long as there are forces of other countries in a place where they have no right to be, irrespective of our rights." (said this to the countries supporting Pakistan's aggression on Kashmir) ~ Krishna Menon

There were people dying everywhere getting massacred in every town and village, there were people being picked up and thrown into dark jails in unknown parts, there were dungeons in the city where hundreds of young men were kept in heavy chains and from where many never emerged alive, there were thousands who had disappeared leaving behind women with photographs and perennial waiting ,there were multitudes of dead bodies on the roads, in hospital beds, in fresh martyrs' graveyards and scattered casually on the snow of mindless borders. ~ Mirza Waheed

It is our priority to win the hearts of people of Jammu and Kashmir. That could only be achieved through development and their welfare. We have a responsibility to see that people of the state are prosperous. We are not talking about Hindus or Muslims, but the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Development comes when there is integration. ~ Narendra Modi

People still were emotionally connected to the vale by seeing a value in their local cultural life. They were still seriously political and tried to find their identity by inheriting memories from the experiences of each other. For Kashmiris, the struggle to remember never ended. ~ Naveed Qazi