Exodus of happiness

Kashmir — The Loss of Innocence 
by Kiran Kohli Narain.
Eminence Designs.
Pages 336.
Rs 590

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Reviewed by Kanwalpreet

What starts off as a story of a family goes on to give some details about the culture of Kashmir. The book takes the reader on a journey to the Valley. Kiran Kohli, the author, writes a personal memoir. It is a story of six sisters and Kiran is one of them. It revolves around their growing up, teenage years, their values and bonding with each other.

Daughters of Prem Nath Kohli, who was manager of private estates to Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir, the Kohli sisters grew up helping and loving each other. They learnt everything about the flora and fauna of the state from their father, who was a photographer and an avid naturalist. He was also one of the pioneer botanists of Kashmir, whose fame spread to foreign lands, especially Britain. Giving his daughters education par excellence, he also taught them lessons in humility and loyalty by practicing these traits himself.

However, it is her mother, Indra Sabherwal Kohli, whom Kiran has focused on in the book. She praises her for shouldering the responsibilities of the household and giving her husband freedom to discharge his official duties and pursue his hobbies. One gets a positive picture of the household with six daughters helping their parents in all endeavours, be it shifting houses during transfers or for daily chores or helping to earn extra income to add to the income of their father.

Through this book, Kiran ably narrates the turmoil in the Valley. Right from the Kabaili raids in 1947 to the terrorism days which started in 1990s, she mourns the tragedy of Kashmir. She paints a beautiful picture of the Valley where Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs lived together, influenced by Sufism. The growth of fanaticism and cold-blooded killings of the innocent forced Hindus to leave the Valley. The pain of being torn from one’s roots is depicted well and catches the trauma of the displaced.

The reader feels the author’s concern for the Valley’s ruin. A paradise on Earth turned into a land which is in the vortex of turbulence that refuses to end. Amidst all this, she celebrates moments of life by writing about her sisters’ marriages and the happiness of seeing the family expand. But the happiness is tarnished with the murder of one her brothers-in–law. The narration of such events tugs at one’s heart. The foreword by Dr Karan Singh, Member of Parliament, is crisp. He writes, ‘She brings out a point generally overlooked that migrations from the Valley were not confined to the Kashmiri Pandits but also included a fair number of Dogras and Punjabis who had settled there during Dogra rule and had been living there for a century.’

The various photographs from the author’s personal collection add to the substance of the subject. A book that captures not only the beauty and turbulence of Kashmir but also showcases the love of a close-knit family which is the essence of India.