Growing up in the poetic gatherings and influenced by the words and verses of the legendary poets, Zeeshan Jaipuri started his poetic journey from a very young age.
In the present age, he with his creative traits had to face struggles to carve out his path. The struggles made Zeeshan along with his friends to initiate an innovative website called The Kashmir Tales to give a platform to the young and budding writers of Kashmir.
Rekindling love for the Kashmiri literature and language, The Kashmir Tales also became a source for preserving the rich Kashmiri literature of the past.
The idea of starting The Kashmir Tales starts with the struggles and hardships of a number of writers.
“In the fast commercial times, the creativity of the writers is still not valued by society. There is a lot of favoritism and lobbying in the public spaces. To break that culture and have an independent and a free space for writers we came with this initiative,” said 27 years old Zeeshan, who After studying English literature, is now pursuing his studies in Urdu Literature.
In 2019, the website was launched but with the subsequent internet shutdowns, their plans were derailed. However, with the restoration of the internet, they resumed their activities and many writers and poets got associated with them. It was during the time of covid when they saw the unprecedented rush by the viewers with more and more people joining the community.
“The online mushaira became very popular. We were able to get veterans and young writers on the same platform. Our very first event was noted by the reputed literary forums which boosted us,” he added.
From poetry to thrillers, the website caters to different genres of English, Urdu and Kashmiri literature. There is a section for the artists to present their sketches as well.
Backend, there is a team of editors for each language who checks the submissions of the writers before getting it published on the website.
“Our priority is quality work. We have a very friendly model of working unlike others who exploit the writers. This is the age where everybody wants to present their art. Currently, we have a lot of poetry on social media. Social media has also given rise to the content which is not so good and unfortunately such content gets more hype. Unlike in olden times, legendary poets had to pass the strict code to get their poetry published. There used to be a sense and serenity in those verses and we are trying to get back the same discipline,” he said.
The platform gives opportunity to the budding writers who don’t find space in the mainstream world and the motive of the team is that writers job remains confined to writing.
“If a writer or a poet has to do everything on his own, how would we get time to write?” questioned Zeeshan and added, “the platform can help them to turn their passion into a profession.”
As Kashmiri language is very less available in the digital world, the web developer of the team, Syed Burhan has to use a special keyboard which deals with Kashmiri.
Currently the website is under working and there are many changes that the team is introducing next. “We will come up with better equipment for Kashmiri literature. Our English team is more developed. We are introducing a podcast section as well where we can discuss literature and everything,” he said.
Zeehan who manages the Urdu section of the website has got the influence from his grandfather, Syed Akbar Jaipuri who was a renowned poet of India. Some of his poems evoked warm responses on Facebook and crossed million views.
He said, “A poet is very good with his thoughts and words. It’s a serious thing. His involvement with his own world detaches him from society. A poet has a sensitive moral code. This thing bothers me a lot.”
Mentioning his grandfather, he said that he has seen a lot of struggles that came with the challenges of life.
He said, “Earlier in the gathering of kings, poets were called. They used to get the incentives and rewards to live a good living. After that got over, the poets had no place to go. Today we have the same poet who is giving the same art to society but now he enjoys no importance. A poet ends up being a teacher or any other thing which doesn’t go well with his creativity. It halts his creativity.”
He is hopeful that in the long run The Kashmir Tales can solve a lot of problems poets face in contemporary society.
Holding the opinion that Kashmiri literature can work for revival of the language, he said if Kashmiri literature is presented in a better way, people will come to it.
“In Kashmiri literature, we had big personalities but I don’t know why we have left them and wander here and there. These things are in our mind. We will make some strategies by which we can attract more people towards Kashmiri. There are many people who are already doing much to keep the language alive. I believe our hard work won’t get wasted,” he said.
The team is hopeful for their future plans and aspire to be at a place where they can create a free space for young enthusiasts and at least preserve the Kashmiri literature by doing the documentation in a concrete way.
For the team, it is to provide equal opportunities for all the writers who don’t get a place in the mainstream platform and for some it is the way of learning, polishing and keeping creativity flowing.
