Second Kashmir novel looks at land torn apart by war
Mirza Waheed's second Kashmir-set novel evokes sadness for a beautiful land torn apart by war
by Mirza Waheed
Penguin
At first glance, seems a simple love story. But it is much more than that: author Mirza Waheed paints a vivid picture of Kashmir as a land of immense beauty but also of intense suffering and division in the novel.
Waheed's second book - following his critically acclaimed debut , voted book of the year by the , and in 2011 - is also set in the tumultuous 1990s Kashmir. As discontent with Indian rule reaches a head in the region, militant groups trained and backed by Pakistan attempt to free the region from Indian control.
Militants and soldiers clash on the streets and the local population is caught in the middle, but it's not long before even the most apolitical Kashmiris turn against the Indian military presence after they witness their young men taken away to be interrogated, and Indian army vehicles patrolling their streets.
In this bleak world two young lovers appear, and their clandestine love affair is conducted against the backdrop of growing violence. Faiz, a papier-mâché artist absorbed in the creation of cheap pencil boxes that will be shipped overseas, and the well-educated Roohi are drawn to each other despite their sectarian differences (he is Shia, she Sunni), the curfews and the rapid collapse of the world they know.
