Srinagar: Dr Saba Shafi had started writing articles for local newspapers and magazines from an early age but the thought of writing a book never crossed her mind till around a year back. As she would regularly pen down her thoughts in a ‘stream-of-consciousness’ style of literary writing, her family members suggested her to turn her prose and poetry into a book.Though a practising doctor with an MD in pathology, Saba then finished her book titled ‘Leaves from Kashmir’, which was recently published by the ‘Partridge’. The book tells the story of a young woman’s journey from her native land of Kashmir to Delhi. And the proceeds from the sales of the book are going to benefit mental health and cancer patients of the Valley.“I would write for magazines and local papers but I decided to write a book only after my husband and aunt suggested it. I got married around a year back. My in-laws would love what I write and said let’s put it in a book. The book has now been published and the proceeds from the sale will go to charity for mental health and cancer patients,” said Saba, who belongs to the Rajbagh area of the summer capital and is now working in New Delhi.A student of the well-known Presentation Convent School, she was the topper in her Class X and XII board exams. She completed her MBBS from Government Medical College, Srinagar, and MD in pathology from the Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura.Through the ‘Leaves from Kashmir’, Saba also hopes that the book would encourage the Valley youth to give vent to their artistic expressions.“The protagonist is a young woman, who mulls over the aspects of her life and the conflicts in her personality. I also hope that the book encourages youth to come out of the woodwork as they do not have many platforms to vent out their artistic expressions in Kashmir,” she said.
