The Book That Keeps Srinagar's Old City Alive

By Aamir Jamal

The book begins in a house that feels as alive as the woman who inhabits it.

Moghel Daed, an aging mother searching for her disappeared son, moves through rooms where dusted bulbs sag under cobwebs and iron bars carry the weight of years.

Her house is a witness, a body holding onto grief long after words have failed.

As you read, the air thickens with the smell of damp walls and rust. You can almost hear the slow sigh of wood as it remembers footsteps long gone.

This is how Yaadgah: Memories of Srinagar opens its door, by inviting you to step into a space where architecture itself mourns and remembers.

Edited by Kashmiri scholar Arshi Javaid, the anthology is a living map of Srinagar's old city, a place where memory hides in every crack of a wooden beam and every turn of a narrow lane.

The title Yaadgah, meaning both a memorial and a keepsake, perfectly captures this dual purpose.

The book itself becomes a memorial to a city still breathing through the rhythms of those who stayed, those who left, and those who continue to watch its slow transformation.

The early chapters focus on families who chose to remain in the valley after the violence of 1989, when thousands of Kashmiri Pandits fled their homes.

Phemba and Ragini, two women who stayed, speak with a careful mix of fear and defiance. Their decision was a daily wager between the safety of the familiar and the uncertainty of migration.

As they weigh risks, you feel the pull of their alleys, the smell of their kitchens, and the comfort of a neighbour's knock.

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