"It was a heart wrenching book. This is the book of the period, in which India, as a civilization, faced 'existential' crisis, where it became a sin to be a Hindu, and traitors organised a deadly Holocaust. Thank you author for bringing to light the suffering of a community that was completely ignored. Even now whenever it is mentioned it is to compare it with some other tragedy and not on independent terms. The liberals use it as a point to argue upon but no one has done anything for the community.

27 years on they are still waiting for justice. The book gives a closer look and a first person perspective of what happens when a particular community gets outnumbered when the demographic upperhand is with the Abrahamics. It also puts forward the aftermath of the Kashmiri exodus and gives a closer look of the life and conditions through which the pandits have lived and survived through. The details of the killings are a bit disturbing but it does give a clearer understanding of what the way they were driven out of their homes which no choice other than fleeing. Not only did they loose their homes, their work and occupation but a part of themselves.

None of the pseudo secular raised their cries for their human rights violation. The religious bigotry which compelled Kashmiri Pandits to flee from their homes makes it evident that the political leadership use the terms of secularism and religious tolerance only to satiate their verbal orgasm.

No one will ever know what happened actually in Kashmir with Kashmiri Pandits until they themselves read this book and live the hard truth of our fellow citizens lives. It will dissolve all your prejudice. Their grievances hardly used to make it to the mainstream. It only recently that their suffering has been started to be documented with a much serious level.

I have some Kashmiri pandit friends and I salute their resilience. Even after being brutalized by the militants, tyrannized by their neighbors of centuries and let down by the apathy of the government they are successful in different fields. Hats off to their resilience!

It is dark, powerful and an 'eye-opener' for every Indian, irrespective of his native identities.

Must read."

"These kinds of books are Very important. They are records of history, and bound book lessons to be taught to our kids so they may not fall prey to failed system again.
NEVER FORGET!!



"Milan Kundera: The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting".

Rahul pandita wrote this with stark realism, chronicling the events leading upto, during and after the 7th exodus of kashmiri pandit from the valley. Sadly our system, govt, media failed them as human beings. As keepers of cultural heritage. As sentries of literary treasures.
Not only homes were destroyed, women raped, thousands of people killed, but also endless precious treasures were destroyed.

"Those who escaped were on the streets now. We had lost everything—home, hearth, and all our worldly possessions, which had taken generations to build. "



Homes built of choicest deodar, pashmina shawls heirlooms, jewellery, first edition books, libraries and the most important of all- Faith.
So many had to forcibly convert to Islam to escape death. Women were forcibly married to Muslims, thus losing entire generation to murder and mayhem
After having watched The Kashmir Files by Vivek Agnihotri, I was thoroughly moved and wondered if it was a fictionalized or cinematic account of kashmiri pundit genocide.



"One of them brought the whole structure down with a kick. There was no protest. We had learnt to live that way. Whenever things went sour, we would just lower our heads and walk away. Or stay at home, till things got better. "



I was there in india, how come i didn't know about it?
This was a big question. I was very aware of all current events in India at that time. Used to scour newspapers, watch incessant news on tv full of breaking, bombshell news.
Surely this couldn't have happened right under our very noses!!
But it DID
I'm ashamed of the ignorance of my generation, the blanket blackout of Indian media, the callous indifference of Congress govt.
I AM ASHAMED!!
So thankful of our current prime minister Narendra Modi for abrogating article 370.



"I knew I was in permanent exile. I could own a house in this city, or any other part of the world, but not in the Kashmir Valley where my family came from."

This movie led me to Rahul Pandita books and I downloaded them all.
The harrowing details provided with raw honesty and gut wrenching truths are hard to stomach as a reader for me. I CANNOT even begin to imagine the real travails of a whole tribe of people who got uprooted, abandoned, murdered.

"Jayen to Jayen Kahan.
From the security of a household to the uncertainty of a nomadic life.
From light to darkness.
From heaven to hell. "



He doesn't embellish with flowery language and is very direct and straightforward in describing all the incidents. Starting from harassment to bullying, to threats to beatings, to arson and then rape, mutilation, murder.
The visceral account left me teary eyed and reeling with intense anger and frustration.
The traditions lost, an entire race scattered in the wind into four corners of the world, cuisines forgotten, the thread to past broken and lost!!
���������😭😭

Having said that, Rahul is not a very good writer, I have to sadly admit.
Either that or his publisher & editor failed him.
The book has a recount of Madan lal, Rahul's maternal uncle & neighbour. His memories of 1947 kabayali attacks serve as a reminder that if we don't learn from history, we are doomed to be obliterated again and again.
Hindus need to wake up and unite!!



" Sabse khatarnaaq hota hai/
murda shaanti se bhar jaana Na hona tadap ka/
sab kucch sehan kar jaana Ghar se nikalna kaam par/
aur kaam se lautkar ghar aana Sabse khatarnaaq hota hai/
humare sapnon ka mar jaana

It’s most dangerous/
to be filled with the silence of a corpse To not feel anything/
to tolerate everything
To leave home for work/
and to return home from work It’s most dangerous/
when our dreams die "

I think grammar,plotting, narration and chronology, all lacked finesse.
He should've started with his uncles account and then juxtaposed with present times, adding more explosive effect.
Some words and phrases of Hindi language were translated LITERALLY and I think Google messed it up in translation.
Language is a powerful tool, if used to enhance cause and effect, and sadly Rahul is either lacking or was in a hurry to pen down details that he ignored the "stringing of sentences" for lack of better analogy.
But the effect is still devastating and profound.
I hope he revises, rewrites, edits and polishes the next edition



If we don't realize the extremism now, we will end up losing our whole country!!
4.5 stars for brutal slaps of history. Jaago Hindustan!!!
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"I lie in my bed. Turn the last page of the book. Gently put it down on the side. Infuriated and devastated. Immobility seeps in. Disillusionment. Close my eyes in defiance of the world around me. No. In hopelessness. No. In anger. Give up. Deep breath. Reminisce about MY home. That mango tree in the backyard because it's summer. The weight of raw mangoes is too much for it to bear so it sheds a few in the night and stands tall each morning as if it knows nothing about the bed of green sprawled at its feet. Me and my brother eat a few and collect the rest. Ma prepares pickle. Indelible taste of hot and sweet and sour and spicy. Home. Smile. Open eyes. See the darkness of the illuminated world. But something is different now. A tiny flame sits hidden somewhere, but the light it emits gives it away. "Hope" .

  Wrapped in a polythene, tucked away safe in my mind
a little goodbye, maybe, or just a passing smile...

In 1985-86, Muslim militants in the valley of Kashmir, India, systematically initiated their assault on the Religious minority called Kashmiri Pandits which led to an exodus of approx. 3.5 lakh of them from the so called "Heaven on earth" Kashmir. Approx. 700 were killed, numerous women were abducted or raped or both. Why? The religious majority i.e. Muslims wanted Kashmir to be an independent state, or as another theory goes, they wanted it to be a part of Pakistan and not India. But in either case, why would they want to banish a significant minority? What harm was it doing? Why were the slogans of Pakistan Zindabad, Long live Pakistan, chanted after India's loss in a cricket match? Why were the houses of Pandits pelted with stones on their religious festivals? Why were their women made to cover their heads in public? Why were slogans like "Flee, Convert or Die" constantly heard from Mosques? The list of Why's goes on. But the biggest question remains that Why the administration slept through the whole episode and even today turn a blind eye towards the welfare of Kashmiri Pandits?

This memoir is written by the renown journalist Rahul Pandita whose 14yrs self lay frightened to death in arms of his father on the night of January 19th, 1990 in the house that his father had built using his Provident Fund and his wife's jewelry. His father who was his Hero could not even whisper words of assurances to his family midst the crescendo of war cries emanating from the mosques surrounding their house and inspite of Border Security Force camp being just on their back side. Somehow when dawn killed the dark, they took a breath of relief and decided to stay in Kashmir as long as they could because after all it was home. But inevitably, they had to leave their 22 room house and live a life of refugees in Jammu in abysmal circumstances.

  ...The birds fly away to the southern sky searching a home
a bunch o' paper flowers, or a little boy left all alone
Can somebody hear me, I'm screamin' from so far away
morning who'll calm you,now the evening's eclipsed again...

This untold reality is extremely important because it does not speak of Pandita's family alone or their sufferings, which perhaps are minuscule as compared to some of their fellow Pandits', but also to a large extent of a bigger picture which kills many fake and forged stories circulated to cover the existing reality and change the history as it happened. People can still argue upon authenticity of the voice of Pandita. I give them that. But, how can you refute the fact that families of Kashmiri Pandits did exile. Exiled from their homes where their ancestors lived for thousands of years. Exiled from their roots. Exiled from their friends and families. Exiled from their hearts and souls. Exiled from trust. What saddens me most is not the gut wrenching story of the exodus, but the hearts which get cold in the name of religion and humanity becomes just another meaningless word.

Pandita quotes one of the distressed women living today in a Refugee Camp in the Valley: "Each day we leave behind something of our identity. Yesterday, it was the freedom to sing the National Anthem; today it is the freedom to wear a bindi; tomorrow it could be our faith."

  ...Well does life get any better
More yesterday than today
How I thought the sun would shine tomorrow
But it rained...

[The lines quoted are from the song But It Rained by the band Parikrama]"