Loal Kashmir: Love and Longing in a Torn Land

by Mehak Jamal

English 364 pages 1 edition

A rare collection of stories of love, longing and loss from a region that has witnessed decades of conflict, Loal Kashmir seeks to answer the question: what happens when you cannot communicate your longing to your beloved? Loal, the Kashmiri word for love and affection, is the common thread running through all sixteen of these true-life narratives: Javed, on his way to show off his love letter to a friend, gets caught in a crackdown; newlywed Zara waits to be reunited with her husband in America, her visa application flagged indefinitely; Sagar and Aalmeen plan moments of stolen time during the uncertainty of militancy; Nadiya looks for Shahid from her window, coughing as caustic fumes of tear gas seep in; Khawar and Iqra struggle to reach each other when the abrogation of Article 370 leads to a shutdown across Kashmir. While the waves of discord in the Valley have been cemented in history, what has been rendered invisible are the lived experiences of its inhabitants. Loal Kashmir , by gathering the tenderest of Kashmir’s tales–its accounts of love–attempts correcting this lapse.