Congratulations to our achievers of the month!

GCSE results are out and our KP children
have made us proud yet again!

Twin brothers, Vatsal Raina and Vyas Raina secured distinction grades with 12 A* (Vatsal) and 11A* both securing highest markes in the UK in 3 subjects each. Well done both of you!!

"The true happiness for a parent stems from the realisation that the children have surpassed them in their achievements. I walk a bit taller today on cloud nine as our twin sons have done us proud with their GCSE results. From singing 'Twinkle Twinkle little star' as a toddler to bringing 23 A* at GCSE as strapping young men, I am once again humbled by the kindness bestowed by God. Anyone out there who has twins would agree that twins bring twin pleasures!"
- Anita Sharma Raina, proud mother of the twins.

Tejas Kotwal, features on our website yet again with his 12 A* and 2 As. 

Very well done Tejas!! 

Prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar
for KP Boy

"Feel humbled after receiving the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for theatre direction today at Agartala from His Excellency Governor of Tripura ................I express my gratitude to my Gurus and Teachers.This award is yours, not mine. I just implemented what you taught me." 

- Asheish Nijhawan, recipient of the prestigious award

Kotwals scale the heights of Mount Snowden, Wales

   

Well done to Kotwal family for having climbed up Mt. Snowden. Dr. Chandan Kotwal, Dr. Shafalica Bhan Kotwal and their sons Tejas and Tanishq succesfully completed the treacherous walk up Mt. Snowden in Wales.

"It's conquering one's doubts and focussing on our innate strength, that's the key challenge", says a proud Chandan Kotwal having completed the climb with his family. 

The Kashmir Debate

Today has been a rather interesting day for all Londoners! A hot debate on one of the leading media channels here - BBC Asian Network where the Kashmir issue was discussed. The presenter - Nihal asked these questions on the show: 

"Can India and Pakistan ever come to an agreement over Kashmir?" 

"Can this issue ever be resolved?" 

"What would you like to see happen?" 

"What is the best solution to bringing peace in the region?"


Click here to listen the debate. Well done to Krishna Bhan, Sanjay Jagatiya, Vinod Tikoo, Kapil Dhar, Devki Nandan Dhar, Anisha Safaya and Akash Kaul for contributing to the debate in the programme. 

Excerpts will shortly be available on our youtube channel - watch this space and let us know your thoughts on this very pertinent debate. Opening this forum for discussion. This isn't just a regional issue, this is a humanitarian debate! So speak up NOW.

PEOPLE SPEAK:

"India is a secular county so questions of minority or majority holds no ground. Kashmir is home of thousands of Hindu families and they were forced to flee. Given an option of leave or die with no support from government, the only safer option was to leave, secure females and our lives. Not that it's hidden from the world how brutally were Hindus murdered. Exile has to end one day and people must go back home."

- Anisha Safaya


"Speaking from the perspective of a Kashmiri pandit who was forced to flee from Kashmir; all this talk about minorities like Sikhs being safe in Kashmir is rubbish. Kashmiri pandits were mercilessly killed and their dismembered bodies thrown on streets. The azaan every morning urged the pandits to leave. Properties were looted after Friday prayers- temples desecrated. No- Kashmiri Pandits were not safe to continue living. The choice was to leave, to die or to convert. Yes, they chose to leave – but have in no way given up claim to their motherland."

- Anupama Handoo

"Kashmir is a part of India and will remain so. The communal color that Pak introduced into the Indian state is highly unacceptable. J&K was a Hindu major state, and muslims have forcibly driven Hindus out, and effected rape, conversions and threat on the non muslims. We all know every Islamic country in the world has been truly bad in terms of Human Rights for other religious minorities, and even majorities, except for Turkey. Does one need to name Iraq? We Indians are secular, and will remain secular. However, just because a smaller chunk of Sunnis want to move to Pak, they alone can't decide the fate of the rest of the substantial Hindus, Shias, Sikhs, Buddhists. Terrorism was introduced by Pakistan in J&K state with double speak and denial in the international media. Inspite of it, India extended a warm hand to solve the issues, and Pakistan keeps double dealing still. No negotiations on that front at all, unless it mends it ways and walks the talk!!!"

- Sai Venu Gopal

"I have many muslim friends (kashmiri Muslims) who are serving in Indian army.... There are more than 20,000 kashmiri muslims working for Indian army and ready to die for India..... I don't hate Muslims, I hate fanatics among them....I hate when fanatics are allowed to decide fate of state by terming their Jihadi aspirations as human rights.....Sopore town has more than 15,000 kashmiri muslim population of retired personal of India army......"

"My house was burnt by my muslim neighbours n I had to flee along with my family in middle of cold November night in 1989, I was 5 years old....I would call it god's grace we managed to flee somehow....the point world needs to realise is majority of kashmiri muslims are settlers from central Asia, even so called hurriyat leader Sued Geelani came from central Asian province of Geelan n the ethnic kashmiri Muslims were converted under shadow of sword.....if the non ethnic population can decide future of state on basis of numbers, I wonder what will happen if people living in Birmingham demand a separate state in 50 years on the basis of their numbers? You can't gift ancestral land of Kashmiri pandits n allow it to become another Jihadi factory threatening humanity of world under influence of Pakistan........"

- Deepak Koul

Janmashtami Celebrations at Gravesend

The KPCS family got together on the eve of Zarmastam to celebrate the festival with much zeal and enthusiasm. An excellent mix of tradition and modernity, the get together was a grand success.




A big thank you to our lovely hosts with the most - Anupama Handoo, Pankaj Raina and Aunty Khemlata Handoo.

It felt like a big joint family function where everyone is doing something or the other, cooking, decorating, setting up and serving. There was lunch for everyone as people came from very far off to participate in the puja and celebration. The menu and preparation was courtesy aunty Khemlata Handoo who served it with much love. The mouthwatering Monj-Nadur, absolutely delightful Phool Roganjosh, Chaaman and Muj Chatin was just perfect for the afternoon.

Lyra & Ishita frying the Pakoris

 Parallely, the Batnee Brigade were busy making the Gaaryi Pakoris with Marchwangun (Chilly Peppers), Vaangun (Aubergine), Olaw (potato) and Choont (Green Apple). There were rounds of different kinds of tea including Kehwa and Sheer Chai keeping the kitchen as busy as it can get!

Aunty Ruby telling the Krishnu Story

The children were busy playing, enjoying the fervour of the Janamashtami festivity and constantly planning and were extremely engrossed in role playing the Krishna story among themselves. Their enthusiasm was encouraged and our dearest Ruby aunty (Mridula Kaul) sat down with the children to tell them the Krishna stories which they thoroughly enjoyed for over an hour...not an easy job to keep these high energy kids engrossed for that long! Well done Mridula Kaul!

Men folk doing the Roff

Children Perform

As the afternoon sun progressed into evening, the variety programme by children and then grown ups began. A range of talents in music and dancing came out and everyone had a great time. The grown ups did Roff (Kashmiri Traditional Dance) and the men folk danced to the very popular spoof done by our biradari members in the US called Pheran Dance (spoof of Lungi Dance, a popular bollywood song). Soon the whole garden was full of all of us dancing, enjoying and having a grand time.

Ishita cutting the cake with kids

Ishita Pandita and Sandeep Pandita, a young couple from Harrow, brought in the cake (eggless) for the celebration of their adorable nephew's 2nd birthday. "Since you are all our family here, this was the best opportunity to celebrate our nephew's birthday amidst all of you and with your blessings for him as he celebrates it with his parents in India," said a happy Ishita.

As everyone settled into the evening's sombre mood, everyone moved to the puja area to begin the Bhajan Sandhya. The Bhajan Sandhya started around 7 pm with Ganesh Vandana, then progressing into Krishna Bhajans, Vishnu bhajans and everyone participated wholeheartedly. By around 1 pm everyone then began singing patriotic songs and it was a highly emotional and charged up environment. The singing of patriotic songs brought childhood memories and tears of joy, pain, love and extreme emotion in all of us. Slowly with dawn fast approaching, the mood lightened up and bollywood old songs took over, moving into ghazals, favourite songs.

In all, yet another amazing community get together, bringing the KPs in the UK closer. It was as usual very heartening to welcome some new faces to the group and see them dance, sing and even make the pakoris! The spirit of KPCS lives on...

Lakshmi Kaul

Bamiyan Budha...by Anupama Handoo in Northern Times

Bamiyan Buddhas all over again

By Anupama Handoo

My uncle was furious. He was looking through his prized collection of National Geograhics’ for a special edition about Bamiyan Buddhas. He wanted to show me how glorious these were and compare those beautiful pictures to the grim headlines of the day’s newspaper – ‘Bamiyan Buddhas destroyed’. I wasn’t particularly young or naïve, I understood that an act of religious fanaticism had destroyed a monument of world heritage. I had seen this fanaticism with my own eyes in 1989-90 when several Hindu temples were destroyed and desecrated in Kashmir. I was hurt and pained but not enough to loose sleep, refuse food and swear in monologue:  I thought that my uncle had lost his mind. I believed that loss of inanimate symbols should never drive sensible people to frustration. I was wrong. Symbolism IS  important .

When we were denied the Kausar Naag pilgrimage in 2014, I felt just like my uncle. He had never been to Afghanistan to see the Bamiyan Buddhas – I had never done the Kausar Naag pilgrimage… but the underlying frustration was probably the same… who gave them the right to rewrite history… all over again?

Every time the fanatics desecrate a temple or rename it, an attempt is made to wish away history.  With every pilgrimage denied and disrupted, they are denying us our roots. Kashmir was Kashyap V:r much before the influence of Persians. Most of the population can still trace their lineage to Hindu families who were forcibly converted to Islam over the years. Why then this mindless whitewash of heritage? The denial of religious and cultural symbolism may appear to remove undesirable chapters from history – but not for long. In the age of Facebook and Twitter, any denial will come to bite back manifold. It will not be easy to erase the Kashmiri Hindu existence from the history of Kashmir. In the process, the links will get stronger and undeniable. Long after they were mindlessly destroyed, Bamiyan Buddhas have not been forgotten – neither will be Martand Temple, Shankaracharya Hill, or KausarNaag….