Speaking Silence
by
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‘Speaking Silence’ is an eloquent collection of poems touching the waters, both sweet and bitter, of a man’s journey through life, as he shares with us his love and longing for that which so far, is out of reach. We follow the strands of distant memories which cling to his web as he silently weaves, alone in his loss, witnessing the snags, ripped threads and the occasional drops of sparkling joy.
These poems belong to all humanity. We may not be Kashmiri, our land may not be divided and torn apart through conflict, yet within the deepest recesses of our soul we too strive and hope and have our dreams of a better world and battle our own demons which define the parameters of our world.
Embedded in all the strife, political, ethnic and religious of
The poems follow those joyful memories of a land of spectacular beauty, the home and birthplace of Nazir Shawl, and we are privy to the ongoing pain of a divided land and a divided people which torments the soul, not only of the author but touching the reader too. ‘Murder, genocide, coercion and terror – people disappearing in this period of horror … those of conviction carry their cross. The nightingale searches alas, at her loss, all over a silence has descended in gloom, the conscience-sellers with swords and guns roam’ – and here we glimpse the awful tragedy and horror, the ground realities of Kashmir.
It is a journey of deep personal memories, viewed through the eyes of a sensitive man witnessing the bitter conflict of his beloved Kashmir as he poignantly laments ‘between me and my mother over the years has come a wall, I can do no other to bring about its fall’.
You find yourself becoming acquainted with the writer’s family as you enter his personal world, walking with his father, ‘Majestic, sweet and tall, who bore the name Noor-Uddin Shawl’ over the ‘hills and vales’ of
Respectfully we enter the poet’s room in Barramulla on his personal invitation; Barramulla, that ancient place of learning once in a time now long past, hidden and forgotten, with history repeating itself, for the world has again forgotten
Rarely does one get to feel the pain and impotence of a people living and witnessing the tragic loss of their birthright and their freedom yet there is hope which lies in the simple, delicate beauty of Nazir’s love for his family and passion for his land.
‘No one can bar my way’ he proclaims, ‘Mirror the people’s dreams, scatter the dazzling beams, light the lamps of hope, untie the knotted rope’ and in his self imposed exile in Great Britain where his works constantly to advocate the rights of his people in order to bring peace and security to their tormented lives, he does just that.
There are many doors in a persons life, leading to places rich and joyful, sorrowful too, and just as when one visits a stately home in England, Nazir allows us to walk through the private apartments of his life, each filled with memories. And it is here where he reminisces for a moment on a long past friendship and speaks kindly to a misted image asking gently ‘Do not punish me for all my wrongs, in the gardens of
He too shares with us his memories of the va
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About the Book
‘Speaking Silence’ reads almost like an autobiography of a man’s journey through life as we wander through different planes and plateaux of the writer’s emotions discovering the imprint
Having heard songs which lie drifting in his consciousness from the earliest of memories, and those in the informative years of his schooldays, receiving the bread of the great poets Mahjoor and Iqbal who fed the imagination and the soul, the author quite naturally creates his form of expression, making it uniquely his own.
Within the pages of this book Nazir Shawl shares the memories of much within his life, in fact we can dip into nine different segments which have shaped and influenced him from people of stature to beloved friends, or wander down paths following nostalgic signposts both past and in the now. Throughout we are aware of the passionate love he has for his land and the tragic circumstances
In some of the poems far more is left unsaid, in that place of ‘silence’, where it finds us struggling to comprehend another’s pain, leaving us aware that the Kashmir issue is very real and politically a time-bomb, with politicians passing the ball in time to a music which only the deaf can hear, and as ever in any conflict it is the ordinary folk that suffer most.
The poems, dedicated to all Kashmiris living in the author’s ‘imprisoned paradise’, cover a broad spectrum of the author’s life and influences; and perhaps through these poems more people will come to know of Kashmir, a tragically divided country striving to be heard above the indifference of the world.
About the Author
Nazir Ahmed Shawl was born in 1947 in Barramulla,
His career began as a teacher at
His interests include philosophy, religion, environmental and general education which has influenced all that he became involved with.
In 1992 he migrated to
Between the years of 2001-2004 he served as Secretary General to the South Asian Centre for Peace and Human Rights after which he moved to the
Nazir Shawl is extremely active within the Kashmiri Diaspora in
The Author is now living in England with his wife and family.