Multiple Realities Under the Lens

The accounts on Kashmir will generally tell stories from a particular prism, explaining that either there is no problem and that peace has returned to the Valley after a violent phase, or keeping in mind the global concern for human rights, that the Kashmir issue is nothing but a case of Human Rights violations that needs to be addressed. For many of those ‘outside’, ‘Kashmir is Happy’1 and you’ll fall in love with it. For those ‘inside’, the story is darker, one that not many will dare venture into. When Manisha Gangahar’s book starts with a statement as powerful as ‘Aapka India, Hamaara Kashmir’ (Your India, Our Kashmir), you realize here is one of those works that has perhaps dared enter the field which the veil of nationalism otherwise makes one so conveniently ignore. The work emphasizes questions surrounding Kashmiri identity, how Kashmiris define themselves, to what extent they relate to the idea of Kashmiriyat and how feasible this idea is.