That is what Hotel Anand seems to be asking us – and repeatedly – in the supremely ugly town of Poonch that seems to have stopped caring about itself long, long ago.
The poignant tale of Fazal Hussain As we were nearing Chingus, on the barren patch of land by the road side we saw the group of Gujjar- bakarwals, about fifteen of them. Latter Hussain told me they were all family.
Small town, significant history Partitioned twice in 1947 and 1965, witness to three wars and pained by deaths and migrations, Poonch however stands as epitome of history. Moti Mahal still stands tall as repository of history.
Mission
Kashmir After a bitter summer
of turmoil, Kashmir will put the credibility
of the world’s largest democracy to test
this winter. New Delhi is desperate to win back
a peace that it had gained through years of
strife in Kashmir. Its opponents are scrambling
to tap the sudden surge of public rebellion.
Kashmir and India never
seemed so far apart. HT embarks on an ambitious
road journey across the state to tell the
Kashmir story and capture its churning of
history versus future, of angst versus ambition.
National Special Projects
Editor Neelesh Misra travels with two Kashmiri
colleagues — Chief Sub-Editor Peerzada
Ashiq, a Muslim who grew up there through
blood-laced years, and Ashutosh Sapru, National
Editor, Design — a Pandit who had to
leave his homeland two decades ago. It is
a journey that will weave in the present and
the future.
Using daily news reports,
photographs, videos and blogs, the three-week
journey of rediscovery tells the six-decade
story Kashmir, taking the reader to the different
flavours of the Kashmir story.
The brush runs into the bullet The shades of blue in the shimmering waters of the Dal, the flaming orange of Chinar leaves and the translucent white of snow have all dissolved into a new colour on Kashmir's canvas. A report by Ashutosh Sapru.
History's school: Journey from kabaylis to the satellite
That is the spot where the frightening tribal raiders shot the European nun in 1947, the corridor through which her body was dragged to the babies' ward, where she died watched by Kashmiri patients, Italian nuns and a British journalist. A report by Neelesh Misra.
A snake-like lane from the main road leads to the 79-year-old separatist's ancestral house. There is no security picket to guard the house, nothing unusual. Horse driven carts are still a mode of transportation for most of the residents for the villagers. A report by Peerzada Ashiq.
