The Byline Is Back

She stepped away for family. She stayed away for grief. Now, she’s back with a voice stronger than ever.

- Khurram Rasool

Ten years... That's how long it's been since I last sat at a newsroom desk. My fingers racing against deadlines, my words shaping stories, my byline carrying weight in Kashmir’s media landscape.

A decade ago, I walked away from the adrenaline rush of chasing stories, from the ink-stained pages that once held my voice.

I left on my own terms. At least, that's what I told myself.

Marriage, motherhood, the expectations of a life that demanded more of me than just my profession. I embraced it, but in doing so, I unknowingly exiled a part of myself.

For years, I told myself it was just a pause, a necessary detour. But time has a way of distorting perception.

The pause became an absence, and the absence became a void. While I poured my energy into nurturing my children, I felt myself fading, reduced to the echoes of who I used to be.

My voice—once firm, once fearless—became a whisper within my own home, suffocated by routine, lost in the mundanity of everyday existence.