She is a part of every childhood memory of mine. Her name is Namita Zutshi and she is a Kashmiri Pandit.
Namita and I were in the same school, the same section, sat next to each other in class, rode the same bus to school, and lived in the same neighbourhood. We were at each other’s home over the weekends, shared meals, learnt cycling, and rarely fought despite spending nearly every waking hour together – until the January of 1990.
I don’t know how or when Namita left; and I couldn’t find out where she was. It’s hard to imagine now but it was very difficult then when there was no Google, no Facebook, no WhatsApp. I was in the seventh grade when it happened — old enough to understand what was happening but too young to comprehend the painful consequences. Over the next two years, I kept thinking about her every day, wondering where and how she was.
Two years later, in the winter of 1992, I was in Jammu. I found a slam book in which Namita had scribbled what appeared to be an address in the city. She had a maternal uncle at whose house she often spent her winters before trouble started in the Valley. I decided to write her a letter. Using a fountain pen and a pink onion skin paper which was very popular back then, I wrote her a simple letter. I wrote that I was in Jammu and I prayed the letter would reach her. I added the address where I was staying and posted it.
A week later, Namita was in our living room. My father took a photograph of us. “You don’t know how precious this moment is,” he said. I still have that photograph; Namita still has that letter. She still curses me for having a better handwriting than her and reminds me how her mother, Nancy Aunty, would point that out to her each time.
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Away from Kashmir, its politics
When her father was forced to sell their Srinagar house for a mere pittance, he came to my parents and handed over the cheque to my mother asking her to keep it safe because he trusted us the most. Namita and I lost our fathers a year apart and grieved together.
When I joined college in Delhi, Namita was already there. She opened her home to me and I lived with her for a year. We never discussed Kashmir or its politics. Ever. Not that we did it deliberately. It just never happened. If she felt any pain or loss, she perhaps hid it so that I don’t feel uncomfortable. Nancy Aunty would sometimes break down but there was never a harsh word against Kashmiri Muslims. She missed Kashmir with a heartache that only a Kashmiri can understand.
‘I miss the fresh air,’ she would tell me as we would suffer the sweltering heat of Delhi during those frequent power cuts in their government-allocated flat. Namita’s father was in the BSF and her brother is a Colonel in the Army currently posted in Srinagar.
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Meeting after Article 370
A few years ago, Namita moved to Mumbai. We have a ritual of meeting every weekend. This Saturday, we sat at a coffee shop in Bandstand with Shah Rukh Khan’s sprawling bungalow Mannat looming behind us. Over a pan and some cappuccino, Namita and I discussed Kashmir and politics. Perhaps for the first time in 39 years.
This was our first meeting since the revocation of Article 370 — a decision that has affected both of us equally. Among other things, both of us married non-Kashmiris and the implications for both of us had been the same. However, our conversation was hardly about land ownership. She was worried about my mother and wanted to know first-hand how it was when I went to get her out of Kashmir.
As I described the situation to her, I learnt that Nancy Aunty was also in the Valley. She had gone to be with her son who is serving in Baltal – the alternate route to the Amarnath cave. Namita told me with a laugh, “It’s been 20 days since I have heard from her. I am sure she is fine. Haven’t been able to get in touch with her. Her (return) ticket is for the next week. So I guess we will know then.”
It struck me then that my closest friend is the strongest person I know. And nothing can break our bond.
The author is a Mumbai-based freelance journalist. Views are personal.
Should call Imran Khan. Lot of women were grabbed in 1948. Maybe again.
Muslims are really great at taking positions.
They love Kashmiriyat as long as it is a Hindu getting shafted
They call Kashmir theirs but never tell history when Islam was a foreign religion in Hindustan (that was Kashmir too)
They want secularism until Islam is a majority
Muslims will always be Muslims but the Hindus must be secular.
One tends to agree with Mr Kevin despite readung the strong friendship story by Ms Mahrukh Inayet.
very good story , i always enjoy your articles and news , thanks
In reality, there is no Kashmiriyat in the kashmir valley. Had it been there, then hindus would not have been killed or raped in their own country. The muslim neighbors would not have turned their backs when their hindu friends were being killed. For the last 30 years, kashmiri hindus would not have lived in exile away from their home. kashmiri muslims have been blackmailed in the name of islam and by terrorist organization and especially pakistan. But where were intellectual muslims. Why they did not help to isolate these extremists and traitors. Why these muslims did not protect their hindu naighbors with whom they were living in harmony for hundreds of years. Think about it Ms Inayet.
Very good story.
However, I have one question to Mahrukh.
What happens all of a sudden, one day without any reason, muslims from Kashmir valley are asked to leave this valley otherwise you will be killed. And your hindu neighbors turn their backs when muslims were being killed. Just imagine, when kashmiri muslims are dragged out from Kashmir, kidnapped, raped, properties burnt and they have to live in exile away from their home without any money. Please think about this situation. Kashmiri Hindus have suffered this and media and govt remained silent. No one cared about Kashmiri Hindus when genocide happened in Kashmir against hindus.
And unfortunately, this happened in Independent India. Indian govt and media had done nothing about their plight.
They began to leave in much greater numbers in the 1990s during the eruption of militancy, following persecution and threats by radical Islamists and militants. The events of 19 January 1990 were particularly vicious. On that day, mosques issued declarations that the Kashmiri Pandits were Kafirs and that the males had to leave Kashmir, convert to Islam or be killed. Those who chose to the first of these were told to leave their women behind. The Kashmiri Muslims were instructed to identify Pandit homes so they could be systematically targeted for conversion or killing.
The main thing is Nancy aunty mentioned how she loved kashmiri Muslims for kicking her out of the homes and also Pakistan for sponsoring it. She in fact expressed her hatred for India and it’s fascist rulers while expressing admiration for Pakistan..
One remembers Ms Mahrukh Inayet, a good presence on Times Now. The present belongs to Ms Navika Kumar.