Insights & Instincts

From Sufi to Salafi A report by Vedang Bhatt, Mass Communication Student, Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication. This research essay explores the role of Wahabi and Salafi school of Muslim thought behind rising violence in the Kashmir valley. The paper also looks at Pakistan’s double standards and how a political solution to the issue might never be possible.             “O n Burhan Wani’s death anniversary, Zakir Musa declared Al-Qaeda’s Kashmir unit head”, read a First Post report on 28 th July 2017. A video recently went viral and Indian Media was taken by a storm. Zakir Musa, the recently appointed chief of Al-Qaeda – Kashmir Wing, announced the terrorist group’s plans to bring the State of Kashmir under strict Sharia rule. Zakir Musa, in his video, also warned Separatist leaders to not generalize Kashmir’s fight for Independence as a political movement, since it is essentially a religious propaganda, and ...

Hello everyone! I'm sorry I've been away. I was a little bit messed up, little bit busy and a little bit confused lately. There are multiple reasons I can list down but none of them, can be called : "okay, that's the one i'm upset about''.  I suppose all of us have been through this phase. You just don't know what's happening around. You have nothing which makes you smile and neither do you have anything to cry for. But you feel the void over everything. You start being a pessimist and eventually hating your life.Worst part of it is that you know you're wrong but you cannot help it. This feeling, neither has any definition, nor a solution. Let me tell you one interesting story. Once upon a time, there  was a sage and his student. Once the sage asked him to cross a river and go to the other side but the student wasn't ready to go in as he couldn't swim. But he had deep faith in his teacher. He spoke to the sage about his proble...

I was sitting quietly in my room, disturbing and talking to no one while doing so. Everyone I knew in college was talking about going home for the extended weekend. I decided that it's pointless to go home for twenty-four hours and kill the already on lifeline financial situation. Father made me a video call just as I was about to dump my homecoming plans and fall back into a slumber. I picked up the call and instead of him, they had put my two-year-old nephew Dev in front of the camera. He screamed in ecstasy as he saw his favorite uncle in the screen. He put up the most wonderful smile and screamed "Chachu!" and I swear I almost teared up watching my bundle of joy jump around here and there, calling my name. So I decided that I must go, lift him and listen to his incredible laughter I long to hear. It was still around 9 pm here. "If I leave in next thirty minutes, it's not crazy to think that I can reach Mumbai by one in the morning and from there a cut th...

It was a rough day. I was lost in thoughts and was blue. I decided to go in hibernation, go out of sight. I went to my bedroom and shut the door behind.  My room had seen some changes. Bed was moved to the left and replaced by my computer table so as to hide the cables or the 'jungle of cables' as my mom says and provide the PC better power connection from the plugs. Everything else was in its place. I whisked in, switched on the lights, gave the room a short glance and fell into a slumber. I had not been able to attain sleep since long. Every day, I would try to sleep but always failed. Unnecessary thoughts occupy my mind now and then. The other day I woke up at three in the morning and found myself surfing the web and searching colleges for my PhD. I know its crazy trying to plan stuff that is not gonna happen until next three years.  But so is my mind. Anyway, if I am sleeping, which is rather uncanny I’d say, it won’t be asleep where I would sleep at ten or twelve a...

She flickered her eyes the sun cascaded it's light the dark lost sight and beautiful became lives She smiled at the infinity blushing maybe, she says there, just right there is where I want my days. She gracefully moved, her hair playing with her cheeks ; eyes searching some wonder why she so beautiful? Her hands , meticulously designed You would want to hold them And when you do, you would never want to lose them. And then when she kept her lips on mine, I lived

Well, it's harmless to write a love letter for a friend, so that he can give it to his girlfriend on their anniversary. Right? And since I really liked what I wrote, I am sharing it on my blog here.  I never thought I could be romantic someday. Romance in the literary world does not necessarily mean affection towards the opposite or the same sex in a lovey-dovey manner. It could be about anyone from your mother to your sister and from the girl living next door to your favourite class teacher. So the point here I am making is that love does not necessarily be like Nicholas Sparks writes where the protagonist goes through all sorts of adventures like staring the girl and almost scrutinizing her or sometimes stalking her to know the smallest detail about her life such as what she likes and what she doesn’t just to impress her with the fact that he knows stuff about her more than anyone else she could think of ; which in the end of the day, would  sweep  her off her...

We all have friends. Some have some. I have many. And by many friends, I literally mean many many friends. I can even make a list of top ten best friends in my life. But when it comes to naming the one, I never talk straight. I have tried more than a few times to write about this friend of mine but never came through writing anything more than 'I love you and you're the best person I've met in my life' . Why is it that only when a person is not around us, we fathom what impact they had on our lives. I guess somewhere we know. We just never express it because they're our best friends. They already know. She was in the same class . We spent a whole year as acquaintances. She knew my name is Vedang and I knew hers. I knew she went to the US and she knew I went to Japan. That's all. Who would have thought we could have such a beautiful friendship and kizuna between us? So back when we started hanging out, we hardly knew each other. And now there is almo...