A Long Dream of Home by Siddhartha Gigoo

Author:Siddhartha Gigoo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

A day in April 1990

Nazir Gash (a well-read shopkeeper and a friend) comes to my place with a copy of an Urdu daily and reads: ‘Pandits are directed to leave the valley in 36 hours.’ Another clipping from an Urdu daily: ‘The Kashmiri Pandit is a poisonous snake.’ I accompany Nazir to his shop at Safa Kadal. One young man shouts: ‘Some men haven’t come to their senses yet.’ Nazir Gash enters his home and I turn back.

A night in April 1990

Wife and I hear some sound. We peep through a chink. A family is dumping arms in the earth. We don’t sleep. Wife says: ‘What now?’ I say: ‘Silence.’

Daytime

I am walking in the lane adjacent to my house. A young boy is coming from the opposite direction. He has a beautiful black and red pistol in his hand. I turn my head and ignore him.

Night

‘Who is walking in the lane?’ Wife and I look. Two young men are standing near the gate of our house. They share one cigarette. They walk a few steps and then come back. The two young men walk to and fro. One hour has passed. At last they go.

Morning

I am standing near the gate of our house. I see three young men walking fast. I hear one man saying to the other two: ‘This is the professor.’ Their shoes tell me that they are militants. Ratni, our next-door neighbour, has also heard these words. She comes to our place and reports to my mother and my wife. I tell her: ‘Don’t worry.’

May 1990

The bus I am seated in is on way to the Government Degree College for Boys, Anantnag. At Bijabehara an old student, a Muslim, sees me, greets me nicely and says to me: ‘Aadaab araz, mahara.’ I remember this man. He was a very nice student who respected me during college days. All the passengers seated in the bus turn towards me with looks of all-Pandits-have-gone-and-you-are-still-here. I feel uncomfortable but I am not scared. I enter college. I see students loitering. Others are sitting on the turf. Nobody talks to me.

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