Rahul pandita is the author of the bestselling hello, bastar. He quit the hindu citing frequent and childish interventions in edit pages by malini parthasarathy, the ownereditor of the paper. In the midst of the brutality unleashed on the people of kashmir by the state over the past few weeks, there is a small spark of hope. Jan 01, 20 please watch this interview of rahul pandita. There is a lot more scope today for such writing in india, he adds. This poignant incident faced by the pandits in kashmir has been brilliantly expressed by the author. Kashmirs first literary festival hit by controversy books the guardian. Rahul pandita and neelesh misras book the absent state gives a good insight into this historical aspect of pervasive hypocrisy in kashmir. Mar 01, 2016 if you want to read an unbiased book on kashmir, i would highly recommend curfewed nights by basharat peer beautifully written, poignant, and rather unbiased.
Nandini krishnan, rahul pandita, basharat peer and kashmirs. I admit haider made me pick the book over panditas our moon has blood clots, which i assume has the same base material. For once i obliged to the recommendations and had decided to read them one after the other in immediate. Rahul pandita has written a deeply personal, powerful and unforgettable story of history, home and loss after having read and loved basharat peers memoir on kashmir curfewed night four years ago, i couldnt wait to get my hands on rahul panditas our moon has blood clots when i heard about it. Steve coll, author of the bin ladens, ghost wars and on the grand. Jan 29, 2015 from basharat peers book, it is clear that the muslims favored azadi independence from india and merger with pakistan. Basharat peers book shot to popularity after around 20 years of. Jul 31, 2019 a book named witness by sanjay kak is a collection of the photographic documentation of troubled times, by nine kashmiri photojournalists belonging to different generations. Feb 02, 2017 the emotionally charged debates and discussions following vishal bharadwajs adaptation of shakespearean play hamlet haider has once again brought to the fore how little we know about the state that has far more people outside of it speak of it.
The emotionally charged debates and discussions following vishal bharadwajs adaptation of shakespearean play hamlet haider has once again brought to the fore how little we know about the state that has far more people outside of it speak of it. While rahul panditas book takes you closer into the persecution of kashmiri pandits, bashrat peers starts as a neutral one in my opinion until the point he starts justifying. Rahul panditas moon has blood clots published in 20 by random house is a memoir. Yet authors belonging to both the communities employ similar kind of poetics of dispossession, a term. Rahul pandita, a kashmirborn author based in delhi, said he hoped it. Yet authors belonging to both the communities employ similar kind of poetics of dispossession, a term borrowed from anaya jahanara kabir. It is written more as a chronology of basharat peer s life than as a history of kashmir.
Mar 17, 2016 i finished rahuls book and sat there staring at basharat peers curfewed night. European tradition, says writer basharat peer, it becomes apparent that were at a. Nandini krishnan, rahul pandita, basharat peer and kashmirs contradictory stories, sify news, 25 april 20. In the writings of kalhans rajatarangini to rushdies shalimar the clown, from basharat peers curfew nights to rahul panditas our moon.
There are also a number of other shorter readings available on the internet. The goodreads and most of the online book stores recommend curfewed night along with our moon has blood clots and the vice versa too. Thus rahul panditas book presents a heart stirring tale of the sociopolitical ambience of kashmir in the 1990s when brutal violence and an exodus of kashmiri pundits took place. I finished rahuls book and sat there staring at basharat peers curfewed night.
But equally, for every torture inflicted in papa ii that peer writes of, there is the refugee family losing its mind and dignity in a squalid camp in jammu in pandita s wounded narrative. Rahul pandita s recent job was the opinion and special stories editor of the hindu, one of india s leading newspapers. She drew up on the memories of her father and his siblings, read books nonfiction, not fantasy, she clarifies, books like rahul panditas our moon has blood clots and basharat peer. Peter griffin, rahul pandita on kashmir and its stories, forbes india, 8 march 20. The ambivalent discourse of history, home and loss. And from rahul panditas book, it is abundantly clear that the pandits revered symbols of indian nationalism and considered themselves indians. One wishes islamabad and delhis civil and military establishments would take a leaf out of the kashmiris new age struggle and genuinely abandon the quest for a solution by force. Rahul pandita was fourteen years old when he was forced to leave his home in srinagar along with his family. If you want to read an unbiased book on kashmir, i would highly recommend curfewed nights by basharat peer beautifully written, poignant, and rather unbiased. For those, who wants to know what happened in kashmir during 1990s, and not just kashmiri pandits, i will suggest to read curfewed night by basharat peer. Khurram in haider may not be khurram parvez, the dogged human rights activist and coordinator of jammu and kashmir coalition of civil society because the former is not a lawyer, but most of the disappearance related cases come to him. He is currently an opinion editor at the new york times international. But he can also bring to his narrative the experience of being a muslim in india outside kashmir, of being a kashmiri in india, and of returning to kashmir as a journalist, a kashmiri.
It is a wonderfully written and candid, if a bit biased, account of the beautiful state which is also called bhuswarga paradise on earth. Rahul pandita was fourteen years old in 1990 when he was forced to leave his home in srinagar along with his family, who were kashmiri pandits. This book is the story of five kashmiri women who remembered and. Basharat peer can go back to his childhood to recollect the feel of growing up during the birth of the insurgency and the beginning of military occupation. I admit haider made me pick the book over pandita s our moon has blood clots, which i assume has the same base material. The untold story of indias maoist movement, and the co author of the critically acclaimed the absent state. I recently finished reading rahul panditas our moon has blood clots. Another reason to read this book was when i read basharat peers curfew it. In contrast, the kashmiri muslim authors like basharat peer and waheed mirza and others primarily focus on the indian military atrocities since 1990s.
After having read and loved basharat peers memoir on kashmir curfewed night four years ago, i couldnt wait to get my hands on rahul panditas our moon has blood clots when i heard about it. The exodus of the kashmiri pandits, available in hardcover, describes the ethnic cleansing of people from a whole community from the place they had occupied from time immemorial. Also forthcoming are reporter rahul panditas memoir of growing up as a. Siddhartha gigoos books, the garden of solitude and the long journey home cowritten with varad sharma, and rahul panditas our moon has blood clots wrote about. For vivid portraits of violencetorn kashmiri lives, read basharat peers curfewed night. Curfewed night is the finest book i have read on the contemporary kashmir conflict literary, humane, cleareyed and reliable. He has extensively reported from war zones, including iraq and sri lanka, and kashmir and bastar in india. Kashmir through their eyes south asia program at hudson institute.
After reading this book, i read curfewed night by basharat peer. This paper attempts to analyse rahul panditas memoir titled, our moon has blood clots and look at the homelessness of kashmiri pandits from the valley. It is written more as a chronology of basharat peers life than as a history of kashmir. Curfewed night is a passionate and important book a brave and brilliant report from a conflict the world has chosen to ignore. Rahul pandita was fourteen years old in 1990 when he was. Rahul panditas recent book our moon has blood clots is also part of this effort, though many people in kashmir disagree with his account. For many in kashmir, the 1990s were a period of brutal, heavyhanded state. Our moon has blood clots is the story of kashmir, in which hundreds of thousands of pandits were tortured, killed and. Many years later, i happened to read two books on kashmir, our moon has blood clots by rahul pandita and the second, curfewed night by basharat peer. A book named witness by sanjay kak is a collection of the photographic documentation of troubled times, by nine kashmiri photojournalists belonging to different generations. But basharat peer must have and he also must have had long conversations with khurram pervez. Oct 23, 2014 rahul pandita and neelesh misras book the absent state gives a good insight into this historical aspect of pervasive hypocrisy in kashmir.
He has given many examples also where members of the community were killed. But equally, for every torture inflicted in papa ii that peer writes of, there is the refugee family losing its mind and dignity in a squalid camp in jammu in panditas wounded narrative. Basharat peer conflict english books kashmir kashmiri pandit nonfiction. If you look at the american or european tradition, says writer basharat.
This is an excellent book, full of true tragic stories, acquainting with hindumuslim brotherhood, struggles of kashmiri pandits that forced them to flee to jammu. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. It was not an easy task to write about the kashmir because it is not about the scenic beauty of. As a young boy, rahul pandita was exiled from his native kashmir. Book name our moon has blood clots author name rahul pandita. It is the book of basharats peer experiences, yes, but those experiences include returning to kashmir and seeking out the stories of others affected by the conflict. A year ago, as the cm, omar abdullah slammed the bcci for not including kashmiri cricketer pervez rasool in the playing team, the reason being he was the first kashmiri cricketer in the indian team. Two books published by kashmiris living in the indian state help to bring. Until my freedom has come is an excellent collection of short fiction, reportage, essays, news reports, interviews and a rappers song by kashmiris from which the title is drawn, edited by the.
Salman rushdie basharat peer was a teenager when the separatist movement exploded in kashmir in 1989. Rahul panditas our moon has blood clots has also the same voice. A memoir of a lost home in kashmir is another memoir on the kashmiri pandit exile that is worth reading. Much of that is captured in rahul panditas searing our moon has blood clots. Our moon has blood clots by rahul pandita is the truth of the life that kashmiri pandits have lived, their exile, their ancestral history, discrimination that has been part of their life, since the 14th century. Basharat peers record about the valley titled curfewed. Basharat peers next book will be about indian muslims beyond the valley. Rahul panditas recent job was the opinion and special stories editor of the hindu, one of indias leading newspapers. Basharat peer always felt that kashmiris living under indian rule needed to tell their story like the palestinians. Rahul pandita speaks with india real time about his new book our moon has blood clots, which looks at the exodus of hindus from the kashmir valley over 20 years ago. Rahul pandita, basharat peer and kashmirs contradictory stories. One is londonbased mirza waheed, whose first novel, the. Basharat peer has given voice, unforgettably, to a generation of kashmiris who have never been heard in the united states, but who should be. Peer grew up as a muslim kashmiri and his book can be seen as one approach to understanding the lived experience of indian counterinsurgency mirza waheeds the collaborator is fictional but conveys similar themes.
Jan 11, 20 book name our moon has blood clots author name rahul pandita. Despite the rather sleepy existence of our village and my ignorance about the political history of kashmir, i had a sense of the alienation and resentment most. His book curfewed night, published in 2008 about growing up in kashmir during the insurgency, was a bestseller. Midnight children salman rushdie booker of the booker prize, thats all i can say. Basharat peers book shot to popularity after around 20 years of political turmoil. Kashmir, kaschmir,cashmereor cauchemar in a sea of stories.
Together with basharat peers curfewed night, it makes for traumatic and dare i say necessary reading about a beautiful region mutilated by gunfire. People are interested in india and china they want to know whats happening in this part of the world, says journalistturnedauthor basharat peer. Sonia faleiro wrote four booksbooks, not drafts about the story she had. Jan 22, 20 rahul pandita speaks with india real time about his new book our moon has blood clots, which looks at the exodus of hindus from the kashmir valley over 20 years ago. Rahul pandta has written an insightful, and easy to read history. Rahul pandita has followed his subject for the last years. The god of small things arundati roy though everyone hates her including me, but this book tops every other book. From basharat peers book, it is clear that the muslims favored azadi independence from india and merger with pakistan. It was almost as if two opposing nations resided within kashmir. Powerful fiction and nonfiction is emerging from the valley with basharat peer curfewed night, mirza waheed, and siddhartha gigoo garden of solitude writing poignantly heartrending prose. And the young kashmiri in me never lets go any opportunity to know of the times my land and its people have gone through. And the young kashmiri in me never lets go any opportunity. Our moon has blood clots, the sunday indian, 14 march 20.
Occupation from above and segregation from within national herald. Rahul panditas our moon has blood clots and basharat peers curfewed night. What are the ten best english novels that i can read by. Peer was a fellow of the open society institute in new york, a george soros initiative. Rahul pandita at that time was a 14 year old boy witnessing kashmir becoming increasingly. They were kashmiri panditsthe hindu minority within a muslimmajority kashmir that was by 1990 becoming increasingly agitated with the cries of azaadi from india. Nandini krishnan, rahul pandita, basharat peer and kashmir s contradictory stories, sify news, 25 april 20. Jaspreet singhs chef 2008, siddhartha gigoos the garden of solitude 2010, basharat peers curfewed night 2010, mirza waheeds the collaborator 2011 and rahul panditas our moon has bloodclots 20 and are some noteworthy examples of novels composed by authors who choose to identify themselves, among other identity markers. There are direct clickable links to most of these readings available through the electronic version of this syllabus on the course web page. He is convinced that even kashmiri majority community took part in the ethnic cleansing of kashmiri pandits. Basharat peer born 1977 is an indian journalist, script writer, author, and political commentator, hailing from kashmir and currently based in new york city. Panditas book on a kashmir exodus india real time wsj. This book tells the story of kashmir as seen through the eyes of the author, basharat peer.
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