Sheikh Mujtaba, 18, a class twelfth biochemistry student from Lachipora in Uri’s Boniyar block, can’t receive the WhatsApp message from his school until he treks to the top of the nearby mountain. That is how he is able to catch 2G signals on his phone and access online classes.
Sheikh Mujtaba is not alone. Along with him are his friends and students of various classes from primary to university level and also teachers from surrounding villages. Against a backdrop of dense lush green mountains, students squat in straight lines to catch signal while ensuring physical distance.
The small sliding tin roofs of houses, the vast golden rice fields and dense cornfields are the sights below the unconventional open-air classroom that apparently lack a teacher. Birds hop and swing on branches of trees, the raven’s voice echoes in the silent dense jungle and at foothills, the brooks rush and roar.
EXAMINATION OVER!
As the cool fresh breeze flips the pages of the book of the 12-year- old Shahid, a student of the sixth standard, he turns his head upwards and smiles with a sigh of relief: “My examinations are over. I have to return the phone to my elder brother and then I will play.”
Shahid’s pastime these days involves climbing walnut trees in the village with his friends. His hands bear brown stains from harvesting of walnuts.
From a distance, his hands look hennaed, as if he has come from a wedding event.
His senior, Shakeel Ahmed Sheikh, a seventh-grader, travels more than two kilometres for online classes. “My uncle apprised me about the better connectivity at a higher altitude. But I am scared of shooting stones, landslides in rains and snakes,” said Shakeel, who uses his uncle’s mobile phone for his classes.
“From 10 am to 4 pm I have online classes. At times I cannot go home for lunch. Either I bring food along with me or I eat junk food”. Reclining on a rock Sheikh Mujtaba chats with his teacher in the school WhatsApp group.
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RENDERED JOBLESS
As non-local mining concerns bagged most of the mining works across Kashmir, tendered at the peak of internet shutdown, thousands of people have been rendered jobless, reports Umar Mukhtar
VIRTUAL TRADE
With the Covid-19 pandemic dictating a new regime, most of the activities of life are getting into virtual mode. Owing to the communication blockade, Kashmir has finally managed its hiccups and is trying to manage the digital deficit. Shakir Ashraf reports about Kashmir’s new online stores
CONSUMED CAREERS
Successive governments have mindlessly “hired” people on an ad-hoc, provisional and temporary basis. They keep the government’s service delivery show going on at almost half of the daily wage guaranteed by law. Merely surviving on a hope that one day their services will be regularised, these more than 60,000 families are dying almost on daily basis. They are at the core of a social crisis, reports Yawar Hussain
THE VERSATILE: VICE-CHANCELLOR
Exactly this was a time of the year, 13 years ago in 2008, spring officially sprung, that I was finally a graduate. Out of college, I was looking forward to pursuing my further education outside the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. My family, however, wanted me to stay back.
BEHIND BACK-CHANNEL
Halt to sugar-cotton imports from India has not stalled the India Pakistan peace process. While the two sides are engaged in back-channel diplomacy, they do have differences on key issues as per the reports appearing in Pakistani media, reports Tahir Bhat
‘THE FEAR, THREAT AND SHRINKING SPACE FOR DISSENT IS A KEY FACTOR THAT MARKS WINS AND LOSSES IN KASHMIR'
Rajani Patil is a third-generation politician. Her grandfather, Ganesh Pingle, a member of the Gadar Movement, was hanged in Lahore by the British in 1915. Her mother, Shantabai Pingle married her father, Baram Patil while they were imprisoned by the British. The former Congress MP is now in-charge General Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir. Ms Patil to Tarushi Aswani about recent developments and challenges that shape party politics and mainstream politics in a post 370 Jammu and Kashmir.
SHOULD THERE BE A NEW FEDERAL COMPACT BETWEEN THE CENTRE AND STATES?
In the book, Beyond Covid’s Shadow: Mapping India’s Economic Resurgence, Haseeb A Drabu makes a case and suggests an alternative. Here is an abridged version of a chapter
FOR PEACEFUL SUMMER
Like Kashmir weather and politics, Indo-Pak relations are also unpredictable writes Zahoor Malik
CANINE TERROR
Free-roaming dogs in Kashmir bite thousands every year. Though the authorities assert that they have been sterilising the dogs and managing the waste food, the availability of lot of free food is a key factor in the dog population surge, reports Syed Samreen
EXCEPTIONAL CARVER
One of Srinagar’s oldest craftsmen, Ghulam Nabi Dar’s designs on the wood remain unmatched for their intricacy and detail, reports Khalid Bashir Gura
Audacity vs Audition
Battle of the digital audio workshops
PACK UP THE FUN WITH Healthy KIDS' LUNCHES
Liven up your midday meal with these delicious, healthy, and kid-friendly recipes.
MAPLE LEAF FARMS
ATHLEISURE LIST: Food
Your old Android phone isn't dead yet: 7 ways to make it run faster and last longer
Freshen it up with a good reboot, an OS update, battery-boosting tricks and more.
Light Summer Grill
Sweet summer peaches add the perfect dose of seasonal flavor to this simple-yet-elegant entrée
How I Load The .45-90 For Long-Range Target Competition
This will be short and to the point. Loading the .45-90 and similar capacity black-powder cartridge rifle calibers has, for me, evolved into a process that is repeated each time I crack a new case of black powder or begin a relationship with a new rifle.
A CHARMING ABODE
The 740 sqft apartment, designed by Natasha Naik of Studio Aline, is a picture of sheer elegance and vibrancy.
Record cases in India with worse to come
INDIA has yet to hit the peak of its second wave experts warn – despite setting a global daily record for a third day running with 346,786 new Covid infections.
Cyber Shadow
Management loves saving money, so when Stacey Henley says she’s using fewer pixels and reusing old ideas they were all aboard.
AIADMK promises free washing machines, 1-yr maternity leave
Women will get 50% discount on city bus fares, unemployed youth will get better shot at govt jobs, says party manifesto