A young and budding author Zaakir Altaf from Nambal area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district has written two books and aims to translate writings of Sufi-poets in Kashmir in the future.
A 24 year old, Zaakir is pursuing Bachelors in Mass Communication and Journalism from Government Degree College Khanabal, Anantnag. He said, he was inclined towards poetry from his childhood.
Zaakir has written two books including ‘Three Thousand Days’ , a great amalgam of poems, in which he focused on real life incidents, fragrances of loss, hope, love, romance etc. It was released in August 2021.
His second book‘Islamophobia’ willbe released by the end of this year.
Zaakir has also contributed his poetry in several anthologies compiled by various authors across India for which he was showered with praises and appreciation by everyone around him and that encouraged this young man to continue his passion.
“There is a depiction of personal, social and psychological traumas through the poems which have been painted withits canvas of emotions breamed with the bizarre incidents of life and self,” he said.
Zaakir says in future he wants to translate the sayings of Sufi poets of Kashmir. “There are hundreds of shrines in Kashmir and literature is only limited to Urdu or Kashmiri language. I will translate it into English, so that a wider audience can read about their contribution,” he said.
In a message to budding young writers, Zaakir says if someone is in the poetic line, he or she must review more literature and understand its depth. “The mother tongue should be given more priority as it can be the biggest contribution to it,” he said adding “There is no shortcut to becoming successful. We have to work hard to achieve the feat,’ he added.
