The book recreates a past of Hindus and Muslims
living together in Kashmir. The atmosphere of togetherness
is rife. Almost perfect. The stories also return the reader
to the awful conditions of Hindu refugees as they began to
live in the refugee camps in Jammu and other places of India.
The Muslims back home in Kashmir have their terrible demons
to deal with. While Hindus as migrants are cut off from roots
and long for home, Muslims are in a unprecedented mess
caught up in the tangles of violence and counter violence.
The lives of both are in tatters. Only hope seems to be the
memory of togetherness, which may heal.
Arvustused
Rattan Lal Shant's at once subtle and powerful portrayal of the tragedy of Kashmir comes alive in Javaid Iqbal Bhat's sensitive translation. Ira Raja, Professor of English, University of Delhi The cultural landscape that breathes through the vivid imagery elevates the story. One finds a sense of nostalgia for lost homeland woven with the longing for the nation. - Saba Mahmood Bashir, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia
| Rattan Lai Shaant: Bio-Note (Translated from the blurb of the book) |
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xvii | |
| Translator Bio-Note |
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xix | |
| Translator's Note |
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xxi | |
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1 | (12) |
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13 | (5) |
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18 | (9) |
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27 | (5) |
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32 | (13) |
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45 | (10) |
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55 | (14) |
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69 | (7) |
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9 Dry Stream of the Camp: 1993 |
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76 | (11) |
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87 | (10) |
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97 | (7) |
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104 | (31) |
| Afterword |
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Dr. Javaid Iqbal Bhat is an academic, writer and a cultural critic. He teaches at the Post Graduate Department of English, South Campus, University of Kashmir. Bhat has done his PhD from Ohio University, USA. He is the author of books Mourning Memories: From Amarnath Row to the Year of Dead Eyes (2017), Scars of Summer (2017), Covering a Decade (2007-2017): Reflections on the Kashmir Cauldron and Global Affairs (2019) and Calm before the Storm (2021). He has co-edited A Desolation called Peace (Harper Collins). He has published papers in, among others, journals like Third Text and Folklore. He writes columns for the newspapers Greater Kashmir, Daily Times (Lahore).
Rattan Lal Shaant was born in Srinagar in 1938. He did BA from University of Kashmir and MA and DPhil from Allahabad University. From 1959 to 1996 he taught Hindi and Kashmiri languages and literature in different colleges of Kashmir and for a short time in University of Kashmir.
