B’Pora : For Shazia Anees, the young literature post graduate and a school teacher from north Kashmir’s Bandipora has lately found an ‘eloquent expression in drawing calligraphy during the lockdown, when she mostly found herself confined to the house.
Shazia’s father is a shopkeeper, and she a local private school teacher at Faiz-e-aam Secondary School-a sister concern of Dar-ul-Uloom Rahimya Bandipora, one of the largest Islamic seminaries in north Kashmir.
With schools being off, Shazia found much of the time for herself and apart from reading her favorite literature, she was drawn towards calligraphy, which, the young lady says was ‘eloquent’ as it gave expressions to her inner feelings ‘extensively’.
“There was no one around to talk to apart from family, and the lost touch with children among whom I would spend most of my day was depressing Shazia shares.
“Being a town resident in congested Plan locality of Bandipora, there was also no place to take, fresh air or effort venturing out, in all this desperation, I tried drawing letters and in the meantime, someone introduced me towards calligraphy,” Shazia says.
Shazia says she was so drawn towards calligraphy that it began an everyday affair. “I would spend hours together in my room drawing and writing, I fell in love with the art form.”
Feeling to be privileged to have born and grown up in Kashmir, Shazia says she is drawn toward nature and this is what has motivated her to admire calligraphy too.
“Besides it, I find it eloquent as it gives words to my feelings which so far seemed to have remained buried under my chest,” she shares with a sigh.
Shazia is practicing the Kufic form of calligraphy which she says has some form of connection to one’s inner self. “It’s kind of mysterious and it quite amuses me,” she says with a wide smile.
