[Reader-list] Home and Away

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

Home and Away - Hindustan Times
 *Pradeep Magazine<http://www.hindustantimes.com/Search/Search.aspx?q=Pradeep
Magazine&nodate=1>*
 August 28, 2008

To be a Kashmiri and a Hindu can be a painful experience these days. To
which side of the divide do we belong? The answer is taken for granted and
in this fight between 'us' and 'them', between Hindu and Muslim, I am
supposed to articulate the agony of exile, the religious persecution of
'us', minorities, and fight for my homeland from which we have been thrown
out through 'violent' means.

These are questions that are not easy to answer, especially by someone whose
father migrated from the Valley in the early 60s to better his economic
prospects. I am a migrant like a large number of Kashmiris who had been
moving out of the Valley into mainland India for many decades now, as there
were not many jobs back home for want of any economic development.

I understand the trauma of those who had to escape from the Valley in the
late 80s as a result of a mass movement by the majority (Muslims) against
the Indian State. A large number of Hindus are now scattered around the
country — although, I must confess, they have been looked after well, have
been provided dole and jobs. A lot of states have been generous enough to
provide admission to their children on a quota basis in professional
training institutes. It is being said that Kashmiri Hindus are the most
pampered community-in-exile anywhere in the world. This could be true. But
is it compensation enough for those who did not want to leave their
homeland?

Check the entire piece at -
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=ceac87c0-0810-43ce-a9ca-cc4052254ca8&&Headline=Home+and+Away&strParent=strParentID