Sham Misri

The Ten Departures of a Kashmiri Pandit Sham Misri

"The Ten Departures of A Kashmiri Pandit" is a book with messages, wrapped in stories and sprinkled with wit, bound together by the themes of religion, torture, plunder and loot of Kashmir Pandits. The book has dealt with ten migrations of Kashmiri Pandits, their departure, evacuation and finally exit from the valley. The time line shows how a small community gets dispersed slowly and is now on the line of disappearance. They find themselves completely lost from the roots of their ancestors. Their roots cut, their thousands of years of culture ruined, and their traditions now nowhere seen. The exit of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley of Kashmir was arranged in a unique and innovative way. Presenting the observations on their past religion, culture, and dress, while being wonderfully entertaining, the community feels that their kith and kin being harassed by religious zealots over the period of time. It has created a brilliant satire on the rulers of Kashmir as it sends its message of ethnic cleansing. During these twenty five years of forced exile Kashmiri Pandits have been roaming from place to place in search of their livelihood. While the Kashmiri Pandits a God fearing race believed on peaceful means and dharma, the fundamentalists took advantage of it and snatched away our ancestral land. The last exodus of the Pandits from the valley has been a great blow to them. The whole community has been shattered. Today, they are scattered all over the globe. As in the past, they have survived the torment under the most trying conditions. This is a dark, funny story about various kinds of tortures undergone by Kashmiri Pandits all along during various times of migrations.