If history lives in a generational memory, the most important chapter of Kashmir's story revolves around the Abdullah family, whose successes and failures have impacted the destiny of Kashmir and its people for a century now.

The story begins from Soura in the outskirts of Srinagar city where Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was born in the fall of 1905 to a shawl trader on the banks of Anchar Lake. Abdullah was the youngest among nine siblings and was born two weeks after his father's death. He was given the name of his great grand father - a Kashmiri Brahmin who had converted to Islam under the influence a Sufi Mir Abdul Rashid Baihaqi in 1766.

In his autobiography ``Aatish-e-Chinar (Flames of the Chinar), Sheikh recalled a difficult childhood spent in penury. As a child, he had to walk 10 miles a day to attend school and worked with a grocer to support his family. Abdullah recounted his dream to join medical school, and later an ambition to go abroad for studies, which was thwarted because of the discriminatory policies against Muslims during the Dogra rule in Kashmir. Still Abdullah became one of the only few Kashmiri Muslim men, who fought and managed to proceed for higher education. At 25, when he returned to the valley from Aligarh Muslim University after completing masters in Chemistry, Sheikh's personal contact with discrimination during his student years and later in finding a job was so bitter that his entire worldview was shaped by it. His mother Khair-un-Nissa and a Sufi, Akhun Mubarak Shah - who taught him Quran in a maktab - had a major influence on Sheikh. ``My earliest memories are of my mother sitting on the praying mat,'' Abdullah recollected in his autobiography. ``I always wanted to follow her footsteps''. In a half a century long public life, Abdullah's speeches would always begin with the recitation of the Quran.

From the reading room party in downtown Srinagar's Fatehkadal to the establishment of the Muslim Conference, Sheikh primarily fought for the liberation of Kashmiri Muslims from Dogra rule. His politics changed drastically when Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan introduced him to Jawaharlal Nehru in 1937. On June 24, 1938, Sheikh renamed the Muslim Conference the 'National Conference', thus paving the way for people from other communities to join Kashmir's freedom movement. In fact, Sheikh credits Nehru for his shift to secular politics.

This led to fissures in his party and questions were raised about his leadership. The Muslim leadership of Jammu, like Choudhary Ghulam Abbas and the Mirwaiz Yousuf Shah (the grand uncle of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq), resisted this change and parted ways with Sheikh. This division widened when Sheikh turned a nationalist Kashmiri discourse as the central ideology of the National Conference, drifting further away from his initial Muslim-centric discourse. The ideological split became evident during Partition. Sheikh rejected the two-nation theory and instead favoured a special status for J&K within a secular India.

His friendship with Nehru and his dislike for Jinnah's politics was one reason for his decision not to go with Pakistan. The other was his fear of Punjabi Muslim dominance over Kashmir. His ideological opponents, however, favoured the Muslim League discourse--an unresolved issue that still continues to haunt Kashmir.

Though Sheikh's political agenda was clear, his sudden shift towards secularism had confused his party which found it hard to merge its basic Kashmiri Muslim discourse into the larger secular Kashmiri nationalist identity. In fact, this confusion has been at the core of every political debacle of the party.

In October 1933, Sheikh married Akbar Jehan, the daughter of a European hotelier Michael Harry Nedou - who too played an important role in Kashmir politics. This wedding was a major political event with well-known revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz playing an important role in the nikaah. The couple had seven children--two of them died as infants. Sheikh's oldest child Khalida, whom he was closest to, would later become part of a protracted family feud over the issue of the NC's leadership after his death. Her husband Ghulam Mohammad Shah was instrumental in an overnight coup against her brother Farooq Abdullah's government on July 2, 1984, when he broke the NC and took over power with the Congress's support. The family is still split over this incident.

The twists and turns in the personal relationship between the Abdullahs and the Nehru-Gandhi family too have influenced the politics of Kashmir and its relations with both New Delhi and Islamabad. Every time the Congress and the NC struck an alliance, it was because of the personal friendship between the two families. The coalition, however, always ended on a sour note.

While Sheikh didn't want Kashmir to go with Pakistan in 1947, he largely relied on his friendship with Nehru to get a special status within the Indian Union even as he sought a plebiscite to ratify the Maharaja's accession treaty with New Delhi. After the Indo-Pak war in October 1947, Sheikh openly supported New Delhi.

The Delhi agreement of 1952 is seen as the first political compromise by Sheikh and his party to safeguard the special status of Kashmir within the Indian Union but it created suspicions on both sides.

Sheikh recalls that when Nehru visited Srinagar on May 16, 1953, he was "not the same man". This was the first visible sign of bitterness in the friendship, which ended two months later with Nehru ordering Sheikh's dismissal and arrest. Sheikh's party soon revived its demand for a plebiscite, returned to Muslim centric discourse and waged a struggle that lasted till 1970.

The bitterness between the Sheikh and Nehru went away only after the latter's death. Sheikh became close to Nehru's daughter, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and in 1975, the Indira-Abdullah accord was signed, paving Sheikh's way to power. But he never accepted an open alliance with the Congress in J&K.

The Congress party soon decided to withdraw its support. But Sheikh returned to power in a historic election in 1977, one of the fairest polls ever held in Kashmir. He owed his impressive win more to his personality than to his politics. The opposition from the Jana Sangh and the Congress had only boosted his popularity and the NC once again became the keeper of Kashmir's regional pride. On August 21, 1981, Sheikh anointed his son Farooq to lead the National Conference. Sheikh died a year later on September 7, 1982, and the National Conference and Kashmir's history changed.

Twenty-seven years after Sheikh's death, there have been generational shifts in National Conference and both the party and the Abdullah family have changed in complexion and discourse. What Shiekh Mohammad Abdullah - eulogized as the Lion of Kashmir - began on June, 24, 1938 when he changed the name of his political party from Muslim Conference to National Conference with an aim to turn its discourse secular and widen its ambit to embrace other communities has today finally led to a total change within the Abdullah family too. Today, Abdullahs are one of the only few top political families of India who are multi-religious - tied to other communities through blood and marriage. And for the first time, the Abdullah family is not only ruling J-K but has a significant presence in the Union cabinet too.

While Omar Abdullah is J-K Chief minister, his brother -in-law Sachin Pilot and father Farooq Abdullah are in the Manmohan Singh cabinet.

And as Farooq Abdullah's younger brother Mustafa Kamal won the by-election from Hazratbal assembly constituency recently, there is every likelihood that he too will soon become part of Omar's cabinet.

Farooq Abdullah - care free and controversial

When Farooq Abdullah was sworn in as the Union minister for renewable energy recently, it was seen as too small an assignment for a politician who had spent three stints as Chief minister of J-K in his 30 year long active political career that began with his successful Lok Sabha election in 1980. But Abdullah family was happy. For Farooq, there was nothing left to do in Srinagar where his only son Omar Abdullah was now leading an NC-Congress alliance government. In fact, his presence in Kashmir had created a parallel power centre, which was becoming detrimental to the coalition government led by Omar. The father had won simultaneously from two assembly constituencies during 2008 assembly polls and the party's old guard was interested to see him as the Chief minister. His carefree reputation and subtle opposition from Congress high command had paved way for Omar. The issue did not lead to an open confrontation. Instead, the matter was amicably resolved within the family when Farooq's wife Molly Abdullah finally pushed for the generational shift. This transition was apparently free from trouble but a close scan through the proceedings ahead of the announcement of Omar's candidature for the Chief ministership were tumultuous. Farooq made his ambition to become Chief minister public twice. Sources reveal that while Omar's sisters remained neutral in this battle for the top job within family, one of them was favouring the father to retain the position.

In fact, Farooq said that he was never in favour of Omar to join politics. ``When I planned to join politics, my father had advised me to stay away,'' he remembered. ``I wanted to fight (election) for the parliament and he (Sheikh) warned me of difficulties in politics - he said there is no family life and I don't want your children to go through the same hell that you and your siblings went through while I was away''. Farooq said he recalls his father's words vividly. ``He told me once you jump into this river - you either flow with it or fight the current, you can never get out of the river,'' he recalled.

``That was so true''. He said like his father, he too advised Omar against joining politics. ``But like me, he too didn't listen to his father,'' he said.

Farooq Abdullah - who now lives alone in a bungalow in Teen Murti Lane in Delhi - remembered a conversation with his wife about Omar. ``I once told his (Omar's) mother that one day he may want to join politics. She was furious and threatened that it will only happen over her dead body. Several years later when he (Omar) decided to join politics, I told my wife, you better tell him as he is not ready to listen to me,'' he said. ``Then he had taken a decision and I could do nothing but support him''. Omar Abdullah, however, said that this is a conversation only his father recollects. ``My mother is not sure of it. She says she doesn't remember any such conversation,'' he said.

``But we tend to give dad the benefit of doubt''. Farooq Abdullah insisted that he had not imagined that Omar would be interested in politics. ``I thought he will set up a business and live a normal life especially after he joined a business administration course,'' he said.

After shifting to New Delhi, Farooq Abdullah seems to have gone into a shell. He visits Nizamuddin dargah several times every week and spends a lot of time sitting alone in his living room, watching television. ``My family comes to visit me during the winters. We have a house in UK and my wife takes care of it. Then my daughter Henna lives close by with her daughters,'' he said. Do you feel lonely here? ``At times yes,'' he said and there was a long pause. ``But then there is a lot of work. I am taking my new assignment very seriously. I want to understand the work in this ministry. You won't believe, it's a lot of work''. Farooq said that he does not interfere with Omar's work. ``I pray for him and hope God gives him humility to treat people with respect and dignity,'' he said. ``That's the only way, he will succeed''.

He said that his home and family is split in different places. ``I am happy that one of my daughter lives close by here in Delhi,'' he said, referring to Sara Pilot. ``I meet her often''. Farooq said he has already given his farm house at Tangmarg to his elder daughter Safia who is married in a Kashmiri family in Srinagar. ``The family's Srinagar and Jammu house will go to Omar. And our house in England will go to my daughter Henna who is living there with her dentist husband and two little daughters,'' he said. Farooq said he wanted his youngest daughter to become a doctor. ``But she refused flatly. She instead studied psychology,'' he said.

Sheikh Mohamamd Abdullah had remained an undisputed leader of Kashmir and in his life National Conference was undefeatable and united even when New Delhi orchestrated a major split in 1953. His son Farooq, however, courted controversy as soon as he took over as the J-K Chief minister. A young doctor, Farooq had settled in UK where he had met and married a British nurse, Molly Abdullah. He had returned home a few years ahead of Sheikh's death and successfully contested parliamentary elections. With his health deteriorating, Sheikh had brought Farooq into his cabinet too. And when Sheikh anointed Farooq as the president of National Conference in 1981 in a massive public rally, it was a clear and loud signal that Sheikh had made a choice for his political heir apparent. Farooq's ascent to take over as Chief minister was ostensibly smooth but the seeds of discord had already been sown with Sheikh's son-in-law, G.M. Shah, an influential leader within the NC, wanting to take over the party. Shah didn't have to wait too long.

Why did your father choose you and not any senior NC leader to succeed him? ``There were several factors. I was young and without any labels of corruption. I was also not linked to any lobby within the party. I was clean and idealistic. Then Shah sahib (Farooq's estranged brother-in-law, who died recently) had a very bad temper,'' Farooq said. ``He (Sheikh) saw my energy and thought I will take forward his legacy. I tried my level best. I relentlessly fought for the restoration of Kashmir's honour and dignity''.

The assembly election was scheduled for June 1983 and Indira Gandhi offered an NC-Congress alliance. Farooq didn't agree because he felt that such a coalition would jeopardise his party base in Kashmir. The two families split again, leading to a bitter poll fight, which saw Indira Gandhi campaigning for 10 days against the NC in the Valley.

Farooq won the election but the Congress managed to get 26 seats--24 of them in Jammu alone. Riding on his poll success, Farooq took on Indira Gandhi and the Congress in national politics and turned the NC into an important constituent of a national front against the Congress. In October 1983, Farooq organised an impressive conclave of 59 leaders of 17 non-Congress parties in Srinagar to discuss Centre-State relations. By this time Farooq had expelled his brother-in-law G.M. Shah from the NC. Shah launched a party called the real National Conference with his wife and Farooq's older sister Khalida as president. Farooq's brother Tariq too joined this new party. In July 1983, Indira Gandhi managed to dislodge the Farooq Abdullah government. Thirteen NC legislators defected and G.M. Shah formed a new government with the support of the Congress.

This was the beginning of a revolt in Kashmir--the ouster of the NC government was seen as New Delhi's assault on Kashmir's pride. But unlike Sheikh's dismissal in 1953, the unceremonious exit from power had a different effect on Farooq. He started believing that real power came from New Delhi; not through elections. . ``I felt I was too idealistic. I realized that the people you are fighting for do not have guts to stand behind you. I realized I was fighting a lonely war - that's why I changed my tactics,'' Farooq admitted. ``Mein nay zakham khayay hain - zakham deyai nahien hain (I have been given wounds - I have never given wounds anyone). I have reached to one conclusion now - everything is in the hands of God and I leave everything to God alone''.

Shah's government was dismissed in early 1986 and Rajiv Gandhi brought the Abdullah-Nehru families closer. Farooq was sent to lead an official Haj delegation. The Congress wanted a poll alliance and later that year, Farooq finally agreed. The two parties forged a pre-poll alliance during the 1987 assembly polls. Abdullah's decision to go with the Congress hit his credibility in Kashmir. A rigged poll managed to see the alliance through in the assembly election but in the process, it pushed Kashmir towards a violent separatist revolt.

The Muslim United Front--an umbrella group of various political and religious parties that had emerged as the main opposition to the NC-Congress alliance--bid goodbye to the ballot and became a separatist conglomerate.

Farooq said he tried his level best to patch up with his estranged sister Khalida and her husband G M Shah. ``We met at the funeral of Mohideen Shah sahib (another NC stalwart) few years ago and I told them enough is enough now - lets get together. They agreed and we decided to form a committee with members from our party and their party,'' he said. ``But they put such difficult conditions, which were impossible to accept. I am sad about it. My sister was very dear to Sheikh sahib. But now she has become extremely bitter. Shah sahib passed away. She will die with that bitterness and it hurts me''.

Is Farooq Abdullah a carefree, colourfull and non-serious politician ? ``I have never liked alcohol - never smoked. I do like my golf once in a while that's it,'' he said. ``But I know why? My detractors have created this perception over the years. Then I had bad luck too.

Shabana ji (Azmi) came and sat on my motorcycle and I could never clear myself from that one incident. That image stuck with me''. In fact, Omar too seems to have inherited his dad's attraction of motorcycles. He has a dirt bike and loves to ride it once in while away from public gaze. In the first week as Chief minister, Omar Abdullah was so hassled by the intense security blanket encircling him that he threatened his security officials to cut down the size of the cavalcade or he would take off alone on his motorcycle.

Farooq said that he was never a big party person either. ``Perhaps I was not uptight enough and didn't lie to hide my personal life. But all that's now irrelevant. I am getting older,'' he said. ``I am diabetic and hypertensive. I am now playing my last innings - I have lived my life on my own terms''.

What did he think about his children marrying out of Kashmir and the community? Did it have any implications on the NC politics within Kashmir? ``My mother, my sisters and brothers, everyone was against these marriages,'' he said. ``With Omar I had a choice - I could have prevented him. But then I knew he would have married in England and ended up like me - living an entire life with a divided family. I decided to let him marry a woman he loves and stay here with his family together. And then it was his decision and his responsibility -

I didn't want to be blamed if anything went wrong''. He said that it was a similar situation for him when Sara decided to marry Sachin Pilot. ``I would have lost my daughter,'' he said. ``I didn't want that. Thank God, we are a happy family now. My children are happily married and I am a grand father''.

The NC returned to power in 1996 with a two-thirds majority, but this time the circumstances were different. Farooq's party, as well as his government, was seen as agents of New Delhi in Kashmir rather than the representatives of Kashmiri aspirations. This mistrust of the NC and its leadership in Kashmir was further strengthened when Farooq decided to join the BJP-led NDA at the Centre. Abdullah's decisions had completely eroded NC's traditional base within Kashmir. The party passed the historic autonomy resolution but again failed to stand up when the centre summarily rejected it. ``We had decided to leave. But then my mother died and they all came. From Prime minister Vajpayee, Advani and others, everyone was here. They requested me not to leave NDA and promised to consider our resolution favourably,'' Farooq said. ``It was a mistake to trust them. I was not scared of losing my government. I am used to dismissals - they have done it enough times. But then I know we can achieve nothing if we confront the central government''.

Omar Abdullah - ``Serious, Loner, Family man - everything that's not his father'':

OMAR Abdullah joined politics soon after National Conference returned to power in 1996 with a thumping majority. ``I was away for a long time for my schooling. Then the trouble started here and it was not a good time to contemplate a career in politics,'' he said. ``It was always at the back of my mind but I thought of it seriously only once we won 1996 elections''. Omar said that he never attended any of his grand father's political rally. ``I remember going with him to Eid gah for namaz. He would lead the prayers. I vividly remember that,'' he said. ``He (Sheikh) never talked to me about politics, perhaps because I was too young then. But I do remember going to my grand mother's rally when he contested for parliament perhaps in 84''. He said that as a child we were surrounded by politics and would pick it up in bits and pieces. ``Every evening, the family would assemble at my grand father's house. Everyone - my dad's sisters and brothers and our cousins would be there - and lot of conversation would revolve around politics,'' he said.

Junior Abdullah has spent so much of his childhood away from Kashmir that he didn't even learn Kashmiri - something that became a major issue of opposition criticism when he made a plunge into politics. ``I don't regret it. There is no reason to regret anything in life. I can speak Kashmiri now,'' he said.

Omar was first made president of the NC's youth wing and in 1998 was fielded as the party's candidate for the Srinagar parliamentary constituency. Omar won the election but he was completely at odds with Kashmir politics. He joined the BJP led Central government as a minister of State. These political decisions had turned NC and its government very unpopular and led to the emergence of PDP as a potent force in Kashmir. In the 2002 assembly polls, the PDP won 16 constituencies. The NC had got 28 seats but the party had clearly lost the mandate to rule Kashmir. Omar, who had been anointed NC president earlier that year, lost the Abdullah bastion--the Ganderbal constituency. Over the last six years, Omar tried his best to get out of his father's shadow. The party not only snapped ties with the NDA, Abdullah Jr publicly apologised several times for not leaving them earlier. With pressure from the PDP's radical politics, Omar too re-positioned the party. Unlike his father, he tried to show a reconciliatory tone towards separatists and Pakistan. He made human rights violations a party issue and even promised to upgrade its autonomy demand to "autonomy plus" which would ensure greater role for Pakistan.

Omar's personality is as different from his father as is his working style. He is very much a family man, preferring to spend time with wife Payal (whom he married in 1994) and their two sons - Zamir and Zahir. After taking over as CM, Omar is separated from his family, who live in Delhi and where his children go to school. Omar, however, has been regularly taking time off to spend time with his family in Delhi - something that has already become an issue of criticism with the opposition.

Omar is a big technology buff and loves his Mac. He has put up a Mac desktop in his office while he carries his 17 inch Mac pro laptop everywhere. In fact, he uses his black berry to take notes during official meetings, which too has become a topic of gossip among his senior colleagues and bureaucrats who think he keeps on fiddling with his phone rather than being attentive in the meetings.

Though the code of conduct in view of the Lok Sabha polls hampered the functioning of the government, Omar Abdullah has not taken any concrete measures as yet exhibiting his intent. Now all eyes are on Omar's much awaited cabinet expansion and the formation of his core team that he had promised soon after his poll victory.

When asked whether any one among his sisters is interested in joining politics, he said he does not think so. He said he is trying to base his politics on the ideals of his grand father. ``What we are focusing on is the continuation of things that were set in motion by Sheikh sahib after 1975 accord. It was massively endorsed by people subsequently,'' he said. ``I have been listening to Tang sahib (Sheikh's biographer) and learning about his (Sheikh's) life and politics''.

Omar does not want to talk about his personal life, marriage or the decisions he made before joining politics. ``Our opposition consistently tried to raise these personal issues but people did not pay any heed to it during several elections now,'' he said. ``And I don't want to talk about it''.

Omar Abdullah's relationship with his father has been interesting.

While dad Abdullah's kitchen cabinet in Kashmir is virtually out of bounds at Omar's house, he has avoided any public disagreement other than during a live television chat show soon after the results of assembly polls were announced. In fact, Omar and the family convinced Farooq Abdullah to first be nominated for Rajya Sabha and then contest for Lok Sabha from Omar's erstwhile Srinagar constituency. Farooq Abdullah won the Lok Sabha polls and subsequently resigned from the two assembly constituencies he had won earlier. Farooq's entry into the Union cabinet has closed the chapter and now Omar is single handedly running the coalition with the Congress in the state. But if Omar fails to deliver, the return of Farooq to Kashmir cannot be ruled out. How will Omar react to such an eventuality only time will determine.

The Son-in-Law - Sachin Pilot keeps his Kashmir connection apolitical:

The lawns of Pilot's official residence in South Delhi is packed with people from his constituency. He has become a minister for the first time recently and his supporters are lining up to congratulate him. Inside his small office, the life size portraits of his father Rajesh Pilot are everywhere. ``Obviously, my contact with Kashmir has been through my father. His involvement with Kashmir has been very very long,'' he said. ``He had been going there right from mid eightees and I used to accompany him. Now I have family in Kashmir and I have made a clear distinction between my politics and family. I think it is very important to make that difference''.

How do you feel that your father-in-law too is part of the council of ministers with you and your brother-in-law is the Chief minister of J-K? ``Dr Abdullah is there in the Union cabinet because he is a senior politician who has been three times Chief minister . This time alone he won two assembly elections, a Rajya Sabha seat and then Lok Sabha election. I have known him since I was eight or nine years old.

He is very easy to get along with. He is a likeable personality both as politician as well as father-in-law,'' he said. ``Omar is a focused individual. As a politician, he represents change and as of today, he is the youngest Chief minister in the country. He has made his place in politics and has changed the face of politics in Kashmir. And all of us are doing our jobs. We have our families and are happy. We don't think of anything beyond that''. He said his background too has been political which makes it easier. ``My mother too has contested elections. This is my second term. My father was in politics all through,'' he said.

Did your marriage into Abdullah family become an issue in Rajasthan, especially as you are also into identity politics? ``I am sure someone somewhere must have tried. There are small minded people out there too. Initially, our detractors tried to raise it in newspapers but the response was devastating for them. People (of Rajasthan) accepted Sara as their bahu (daughter-in-law) and treated her like a daughter,'' he said. ``I have a firm belief that these faultlines cannot be exploited any longer. Development, delivery and transparency are the real mantras of Indian politics now''.

While Omar Abdullah's wife Payal has stayed away from politics and didn't even join her husband during election campaign, Sara Pilot has been actively campaigning for her husband during the past two elections.