“What is your life like growing up here?”
“What are you asking for? Didn’t you hear how a five year old got butchered last week? There’s no future here. Everyone’s trying to run away, I have dreams that my [...]
“In Kashmir, you’re lucky if you can have a real wedding…”
“In my marriage, we had planned for a big tent, at least 500 guests, and typical ‘wazwan’ food. The situation turned sour, and we had to call it off, and invite the most [...]
“One of my friends actually went to work in Malaysia, but he got tricked…”
“He thought he was going to work as a tailor, that was his trade. Instead he was forced into some labour camp, and called us after six months. He said he was trapped, and just managed to [...]
“What was Kashmir like before the occupation?”
“Very good. Purely good. People could go out, they could walk around freely, they could be out late at night. There was no tension, no fear of what you were speaking about and who you were [...]
“One time I stayed overnight at my grandmother’s house to get ready for my cousin’s wedding, so I wasn’t with my mother that night. I left my kids with her too…”
I thought they would be safe. That same night some army men came in. They crashed down the doors, they started shouting, and one told my mother to get on the bed. She begged them, she pleaded, [...]