Onaiza Drabu, Author at INVERSE JOURNAL

Onaiza Drabu

Onaiza Drabu is a Kashmiri anthropologist, writer and artist. She writes about identity, nationalism and Islamophobia, and co-curates a newsletter called "Daak" (on South Asian literature and art). Her book "The Legend of Himal and Nagrai: Greatest Kashmiri Folktales" was published last year (2019) by Speaking Tiger Books. Her earlier book, "Okus Bokus" (Sonth Kashmir), introduces children to "the A to Z of Kashmiri culture." Some of her writing can be found in Scroll.in, The Huffington Post, Himal Southasian, Dawn, and several other publications. She blogs at: https://onaizad.wordpress.com/

Dictionary of Kashmiri Imponderabilia — by Onaiza Drabu

February 20, 2020 | Books

An “annexe” to a book can reveal the great detail and dedication with which such a book has been researched, elaborated and written. Such is the case with this excerpt from Onaiza Drabu’s The Legend of Himal and Nagrai (Spoken Tiger Books, 2019) that the author names the “Dictionary of Kashmiri Imponderabilia.” The excerpt is an annex listing words, proverbs, expressions and phrases taken from the Kashmiri language in a retelling in English of a series of Kashmiri folktales that, in the field of world literature, are equivalents to One Thousand and One Nights (Alf Laylah wa-Laylah), Aesop’s Fables, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, The Decameron or James Stephen’s Irish Fairy Tales. We have included the summary of Drabu’s book (from the publisher), along with her author’s note on this “Dictionary of Kashmiri Imponderabilia” as well as relevant links. All materials published with permission from the publisher, Spoken Tiger Books.