Muneer Ahmad Dar was drawn to a calendar inside a mosque in Indian-administered Kashmir on a calm summer afternoon in 2020. It included a poem composed in the local language, Kashmiri. He pondered how, as other languages like Hindi, Urdu, and English proliferated, his generation had gradually moved away from their native speech.
After coming to this realization, he started the Muneer Speaks social media page to promote and preserve Kashmiri culture. After five years, more than 500 million people have viewed his profile on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
He states, “I want to share stories about our history, places, and proverbs, as well as poetry and folklore.” “The goal is to document how we have laughed, lived, cooked, and recalled. Mr. Dar is one of a growing number of young content producers who are preserving pieces of Kashmiri culture through digital channels.
Decades of war have left the area, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, scarred and has seen thousands of deaths due to insurgency. Many young people have fled Kashmir in recent years; some did so to avoid the bloodshed, while others did so in quest of better prospects. A new generation, however, is shifting the narrative away from the turmoil and bloodshed and toward art, tradition, and everyday life.
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