I am pleased to bring our readers the third consecutive Year-End issue of Kashmir Life. Our theme this time identifies individuals and institutions that made exceptional contributions to the society this past year. They symbolize the spirit of a society that tries it best even in times of ruthless uncertainty.

As my young colleagues in KL newsroom started identifying the individuals who have been achievers and contributors to the society, it became a long list. A young boy who is awaiting his twelfth standard results is already crafting opportunities for himself and others. A middle-aged man whose family business took a hit forcing him to wander between continents exploring new possibilities finally made best his home. So he is fighting red tape to re-establish and contribute.

Then there are a number of other young men who are trying their luck in the virtual world. The youth have started thinking beyond government jobs and there are countless stories of innovative ideas these boys and girls incubate while in college and schools. Since the internet has opened new windows of knowledge and reduced the exposure-deficit somewhat, they are competing in globally and bagging the best of berths in funded studies. They form a good portion of the young achievers list. They are the ‘Kashmiris’ of the year 2011’.

As our reporters fanned around to profile the individuals, they came back with huge information, so huge that KL’s 32-pages could not accommodate it all. We will endeavor to bring parts of it to our readers on our website or in the first issue of 2012.

Kashmir politics again remained the staple of social life here in 2011. But you might notice that not much of content in this edition is political in the regular sense. It is because we want our readers to have a liberating experience. We at KL believe if a young boy or a girl opts out of traditional systems of livelihood, it actually makes a quality political statement.

The KL newsroom worked round the clock for the past week trying to understand every area of activity around us and identified more than two dozen areas in which our reporters summed up the major happenings so that you get to know most of the vital developments in Kashmir during the year gone by.
Waheed Mirza debut novel made it to the list of the Guardian Books of The Year. KL brought you his very first interview after The Collaborator was published as soon as the author launched it in Kashmir. A lot has been written on the novel and we just got one of his childhood friends to write about the man, his childhood and what his novel means to him.

On the horizon are many young faces like Feroz Rather, an MFA student in the US who just penned his first short story to raving reception of the readers.  Our endeavour at KL is to get you the best and unreported and underreported stories in the most professional manner. Please keep us posted about our shortcomings.

Editor

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