Speaking Silence - Nazir Ahmed Shawl

Speaking Silence' reads almost like an autobiography of a man's journey through life as we wander through different planes and plateaux of the writer's emotions discovering the imprint Kashmir has had on the man. The author naturally creates his form of expression, making it uniquely his own. Within the pages of this book Nazir Shawl shares the memories of much within his life, in fact we can dip into nine different segments which have shaped and influenced him from people of stature to beloved friends, or wander down paths following nostalgic signposts both past and in the now. Throughout we are aware of the passionate love he has for his land and the tragic circumstances Kashmir and her people find themselves in, and beneath the layers within this work we read much of what the title suggests. In some of the poems far more is left unsaid, in that place of 'silence', where it finds us struggling to comprehend another's pain, leaving us aware that the Kashmir issue is very real and politically a time-bomb, with politicians passing the ball in time to a music which only the deaf can hear, and as ever in any conflict it is the ordinary folk that suffer most. The poems, dedicated to all Kashmiris living in the author's 'imprisoned paradise', cover a broad spectrum of the author's life and influences.