Legendary Broadcaster from Hyderabad |
My connection to this story began in 2021 when I met Kabir Sir’s daughter on Twitter. I told her then that I had read her moving article in Kashmir Pen regarding Kabir Sir’s passing. We remained in touch over the years, and last week, she sent me a PDF of her article in A New Chapter. While I read it then, I was truly and deeply moved when the physical copies finally arrived; holding them in my hand brought back a flood of memories.
When you are asked to speak or write about someone you did not know intimately, but have heard a great deal about, it becomes difficult to choose the right words. I did not know Kabir Sir very well initially. I call him “Sir” specifically because of the way he welcomed me so whole-heartedly whenever I visited during the winter from Shillong; even though he did not know me well, his reception was incredibly warm.
In 1989, I was transferred from Radio Kashmir to the Northeast as a program executive to inaugurate a new service-the Northeastern Service of All India Radio in Shillong. At the time, militancy was at its peak, and we had no phone or postal services. Because the Kashmir and Northeast regions shared the same academic calendar, closing for winter vacations, I was compelled to return home to Kashmir during holidays.
One of those winter breaks, 1994, was a very cold morning. Social media wasn’t invented then, so it was difficult to know who was or who had been posted where. I walked in and asked, “Who is the head of the family here now? They said........