A storehouse of stories: Kashmiris on Kashmir
From Shabbir Ahmed Mir to Sadaf Wani and Karan Mujoo, emerging Kashmiri writers are taking control of their stories in works of fiction and non-fiction that are extraordinarily powerful
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of serious writing in English by young Kashmiri writers. For many, the idea of writing, more than just the act of storytelling, is an attempt to take control of their stories and presenting them in all their nuance and complexity without compromising on their political context.
The story of two Kashmiri familiesBorn in Srinagar in 1986, Karan Mujoo’s debut novel, This Our Paradise (Penguin, 2024), set in Kashmir in the 1980s and 1990s, charts the journey of two families as they come to terms with the shifting social, religious and political mores around them. The first family’s story is told from the point of view of an eight-year-old Pandit boy and the second, that of a family that lives in Zogam in the Lolab valley, far away from the urban centre of Srinagar, is narrated from the point of view of Shahid, a young man.
“Both families, over the course of the book, lose their Kashmir in different ways,” says Mujoo who was five years old when his family was displaced. His father, who was in the middle of completing his doctorate in medicine, was transferred from Government Medical College, Srinagar, to PGI, Chandigarh.“I remember growing up with a faint sense of dislocation. Our language and culture didn’t match our surroundings. I grew up speaking Kashmiri at home, English at school and Punjabi in the playground. My parents or grandparents never spoke about what happened in the 1990s. My ignorance about Kashmir was immaculate,” he recalls. Over time, like all exiles, he had to answer the call of his homeland. He became, at first, interested, then obsessed, with Kashmir, scouring books, newspapers, magazines and articles, and watching movies and documentaries about the place.
“I had conversations with my parents, relatives and scholars. This Our Paradise, therefore, like most fiction, was born from a strange alchemy of research, memory and imagination,” he says.Mujoo believes the story of Kashmir is a story of multiple people and communities: “Pandits as well as Muslims, and also of other marginalised communities like the Gujjars and Sheikhs (manual scavengers).”“I have tried to ask and answer some fundamental questions: What makes a boy a terrorist? What makes a family flee their home? I am well aware that this is not the story of all Kashmiris. No story can be. It is the story of two Kashmiri families. Of their fortunes and misfortunes. Of people trying to find agency and order in chaos and lawlessness,” he says.Mujoo believes books can present more nuanced narratives. “The mainstream media and social media have become too clickbaity and biased, so there’s little hope for any facts there,” he says.
Exploring the role of art and the artistShabir Ahmad Mir’s The Plague Upon Us (Hachette India, 2019) was shortlisted for the 2021 JCB Prize for Literature. While writing his first novel, the image of a weaver trying to create a flying carpet flashed across his mind. This then became the seed of his second novel tentatively titled, The Last Knot (Pan Macmillan, 2025), that is set in a 19th century Srinagar reeling under the tyranny of Dogra rule.
“It is the story of a weaver who realizes that the only way to overcome the mountains that surround him is to weave a carpet that will fly. Thus starts his quest that must pass through the maze of myth, legend, folklore and tradition even as he stays away from the clutches of the imperial forces who are after him,” says Mir, who is from south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Set against the Shawlbaaf Movement (the rebellion of shawl weavers), The Last Knot explores the role of art and the artist in troubled times. The act of writing is a deeply personal one for the author. “It is first and foremost an act of comprehension and communication at an individual level,” he says. “All art is an individual’s attempt to reach out to someone, something, out there.”
Documenting real life love storiesLoal Kashmir - Love and Longing in a Torn Land (Harper Collins, December 2024) by film maker Mehak Jamal, 31, is a collection of real life stories of love that blossomed during different eras of unrest in the Valley. Born and raised in Srinagar, Jamal, who now lives in Mumbai, says she always wanted to tell stories about her homeland. On hearing about how people (and lovers) kept in touch during the communication blockade, she began interviewing people a year after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. “I felt that Kashmir had a storehouse of stories of how people live and function in a land of conflict. These lived experiences are as important as the facts and figures of the conflict, and must be preserved,” says Jamal, who believes that a history of the current moment will rely heavily on the writings of Kashmiris.
“It is also important for Kashmiris to tell their own stories because the representation of Kashmir and Kashmiris in mainstream Indian media is skewed and half-baked,” she says.
Exploring memories and the citySadaf Wani, a senior communications professional working in Delhi, is the author of City as Memory: A Short Biography of Srinagar (Aleph Book Company, 2024). “Since it is part of Aleph’s pre-existing city series, the scope was more or less defined, which worked well for me, as one of my biggest struggles with writing is that I am interested in too many things with equal intensity, and that can often become overwhelming,” says Sadaf, who lives between New Delhi and Kashmir. In her book that touches on various aspects of Srinagar’s sociocultural history and public life, she explores the memories and affective bonds that people share with the city.“It also scrutinizes the impact of conflict and militarization on everyday life, particularly how these forces shape people’s access to leisure and their aspirations,” she says.
Sadaf believes there is a noticeable gap in literature on Kashmir when it comes to the lived experiences of Kashmiris during the 1980s and 1990s. “While many books provide macro-level analyses of the conflict, tracing its historical trajectory and exploring both global and local factors, they often overlook how individuals, particularly women, made sense of their shifting realities,” she says, adding that the ways in which ordinary people navigated changes within their communities and coped with traumatic political events are rarely captured. “I’ve centered the lived experiences of Kashmiris, which are mediated by various social stratifications such as caste, class, economic status, and communal and sectarian identities,” she says. “I’ve aimed to explore these aspects without losing sight of the ongoing political conflict and militarization, which have shaped the everyday reality of life in Kashmir over the past several decades.”
She thinks outsiders and non-natives have positioned themselves as the voice of “voiceless” Kashmiris for too long and that, despite their apparently good intentions, a significant gap in authentic representation remains. “Personally, I’m weary of non-natives trying to explain Kashmir to Kashmiris. Much of the literature, especially from outsiders, tends to oversimplify the region’s complexities, offering grand yet reductive solutions,” she says, adding that this lack of nuance is deeply troubling. Now, she adds, a new wave of young Kashmiri writers and artists is changing this. “They are responding to the trauma of their lived realities by focusing on more intimate aspects of life — local histories, undocumented everyday experiences, life in public spaces, and cultural losses,” she says, emphasizing that these writers are creating literature that doesn’t seek to convince external readers of the authenticity of Kashmiri experiences. “Instead, they turn inward, cultivating conversations within the Kashmiri community,” she says, adding that this shift is crucial because “consciously, we are speaking to each other, reclaiming our narratives, and processing our history on our own terms, without the need to validate ourselves to outsiders.”
A deep dive into the folklore of the Dard tribeSuheel Rasool Mir, a researcher from north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, who works on the borderlands of Kashmir, is the author of The Cultural Encyclopedia of the Dard Tribe: Journey Through Gurez and Ladakh. Delving into the rich heritage, traditions, and folklore of the tribe, the volume offers a profound exploration of their culture. “It takes the reader on an immersive journey… documenting the vibrant history, traditions, and folklore of this enigmatic tribe,” says Mir.
The result of 10 years of painstaking travel and research on the Dard-Brokpas, the book is a useful reference work for other researchers. “Documenting our stories and memories is important to keep the stock of our knowledge alive and thriving,” says Mir, who is optimistic about the intellectual and cultural life and accomplishments of an emerging generation of writers from the region.
“Kashmir’s young writers and scholars are stepping up to contribute and publish more quality works in the years ahead,” he says.
Majid Maqbool is an independent journalist based in Kashmir.