A Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

‘kangan’, ‘babool’, ‘badkau’ etc. Nonetheless,
this is a very impressive story.
Another significant story is ‘The
Dispossessed’ by ChandraKanta and is
located in Kashmir valley wherein the
central character Laspandit represents the
trauma of the Hindu Pandits of Kashmir
who were uprooted due to the militancy
in the valley. She rightly mentions that
he cannot be expected ‘ to think after
all the nuts and bolts in his mind have
slipped from their moorings’ (P.97). His
closest friend was Subhaan Ju (a Muslim
in Kashmir) – their different faiths never
obstructed their friendship. He was a
devoted Hindu priest, chanting ‘mantras’
correctly but at the same time had a large
heart. He was of the view that TV and
VCR have led the youth astray, that is
why they do not imbibe social and moral
values. His son Gasha questions his theory
of ‘Karma’ because lakhs of people suffering
due to militancy may not have done bad
‘Karma’ in their previous lives; why a
whole generation has become homeless,
landless and unemployed? Why living as
foreigners in their own country? Why
killings, rapes and arson? One day some
Muslim boys sarcastically commented: ‘
We want Pakistan without the Pandits but
with the Panditanis’ ! Hence Gasha asked
his father to leave the valley, as anything
might happen any day. One day four
militants entered Laspandit’s house; he
and his wife pleaded for mercy but they
took away their beautiful daughter. The
family was helpless, hence they fled away
from their ancestral house in a truck.
They performed the ‘tarpan’ (ceremony
for the dead) for Jaya. They then became
refugees! Their identity faded away like
the extinct ‘hangul’ deer in the valley.
The refugee families were dumped in
temporary shelters without separate space
for women. Laspandit becomes almost
deaf and dumb. He realises that gods
and guardians of the country all are
powerless against the cruel militants.
Suddenly one day their daughter comes
to the refugee camp with a baby girl and
the family as well as the camp are shocked.
Other families in the camp object to her
residing there due to dishonour and
‘adharma’ as well as fear of the militants.
Gasha asked Jaya as to why she did not
leave her baby girl away from the camp.
Jaya took her daughter in her lap and
went away. Her father tried to stop her
but she did not. Her mother fainted after
beating her breasts. In the dark night
Laspandit also vanished along with his
bedding. This is a wonderful story with
its indelible mark on readers and
translation is quite appreciable.
Among the young writers included
here, only Alpana Mishra’s story ‘Homeless
in the Cantonment’ is worth mentioning.
The problem of accommodation for army
officers and subordinates, parents are not
included in family, hence no rooms for
158 :: January-March 2012