A chain of grassroots reading communities is reviving Kashmir’s parks as third spaces, echoing the Valley’s century-old tradition of collective reading, reports Lilac AliUnder the sprawling canopy of a Srinagar park on a quiet weekend afternoon, a circle of men and women sit cross-legged on the grass in the shade of Chinar trees, simply reading. This is a typical Sunday meet-up of Kashmir Readers, one of several grassroots reading communities breathing fresh air into the Valley’s social life. State authorities kept a nervous eye on the premises, but the reading never stopped, and that single book club eventually seeded the political consciousness that catalysed Kashmir’s modern history. “If it were performative, people would not keep showing up every weekend, reading books, and spending hours discussing them,” Aqib responded. The LegacyAsked what they hope these reading circles leave behind, the organisers give a modest answer: to make reading a visible, normal part of everyday life.