From Home to House Writings of Kashmiri Pandits in Exile by Arvind Gigoo

A moving portrait of a community reduced to being tourists in their own homeland. It has been twenty-five years since around 3.5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits were uprooted from their homes in the Kashmir valley due to militancy and changed circumstances. Many of them had to face the ignominy of living in tents, then in one-room tenements or flats, as refugees in their own country. They felt let down by both the state and central governments and by Indian society as a whole – as well as by the Muslims of the valley. There was to be no going back for them. From Home to House is an anthology of short stories, essays and writings by Kashmiri Pandits in exile, vividly bringing out their nostalgia for Kashmir, their sense of betrayal, their attempts to pick up the pieces and carve a new life for themselves. These are the reflections of a lost and scattered people in what for them is an alien land. The writings show both their vulnerability – their helplessness as they see their culture and way of life getting eroded – and their resilience – as the younger generation of Pandits spreads its wings and builds a whole new life for itself. This anthology holds a mirror to the troubled valley of Kashmir, a mirror from which the reflection of a section of its population is now missing.