'I care about the grammar of displacement... We are not migrants because we did not leave of our own accord...'
Siddhartha Gigoo was 15 when he left the Kashmir Valley. Despite securing admission in DAV College, Chandigarh, he chose to study much to the consternation of his mother-in "camp school" in Udhampur, Jammu.
The school tents as classrooms was set up for the children of Kashmiri Pandit families living in the "migrant camp" on Dhar Road, after fleeing the valley in the winter of 1990. There were 1,200 families, some from remote villages of Kashmir, living in 12x12ft canvas tents, sharing three toilets. In the initial few years, many died in the harsh conditions, which included heatstroke and snake bite.
"It was a conscious decision to study in camp school, and then camp college. From the conditions I saw in the camp, I knew this was not a matter of months or years, and that I should capture this - I maintained a journal," says Gigoo, 49, winner of the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize (Asia) for his short story The Umbrella Man.
Gigoo's memoir, A Long Season Of Ashes, to be released next week, chronicles the story of exile through his eyes - the alienation, deprivation and the loss of a sense of identity among the people living in camps in the Jammu province. People lived in tents for over a decade, and were then moved to one-room tenements (ORTS). Some of these ORT colonies still exist in Jammu. Gigoo has also authored two books of poetry, and co-edited two anthologies of stories on Kashmiri Pandits, including A Long Dream Of Home.
Gigoo's non-linear narrative is choppy, going back and forth between time and places: Srinagar of a happier times; the fear and upheaval of 1989-90; a day in June in Udhampur, when his father sat with his head immersed in a bucket of cold water unable to bear the heat; in Delhi of 2012, his grandmother saying, "Wumber ha gayam zaeth (My life has become long)".
Bu hikaye Mint Mumbai dergisinin January 11, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Mint Mumbai dergisinin January 11, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Why You Need To Sort Your Messed Up Sleep Schedule
For a healthy heart, having a fixed bed time is more crucial than the hours you sleep, claims a new study
Winter Likely To Be Mild With Fewer Cold Wave Days, Says IMD
Above-normal temperatures forecast over most of India from December to February
A little attention can build deep connections
To build a life filled with authentic relationships, be proactive, seek out like-minded people, and lend time and care to nurture your tribe
To master the deadlift, go the trap bar way
The trap bar may look clunky but it's a safe bet to practice a deadlift
Long live the revolution of life-altering AI technology
Synthetic biology could lead to several breakthroughs, including drugs that work much better on us
Mauritius is a strategic gateway for our collaboration with Africa
In Mauritius, India has a reliable and uniquely located partner that offers Indian businesses easy access to African markets
COP-29 cop-out: Clean power needs to gain further appeal
The world must help poor countries decarbonize their economies
Don't blame education gaps on policy settings
A divergence in public schooling might well have led India's economy to lag China's. But this should arguably be attributed more to complex social constraints than to any policy design
Our new political-economy consensus needs a rethink
The policies our parties agree upon are not reformist. The challenge is to chalk out an agenda that is
Honey, who shrank the chatbot? Even AI needs to count calories
Shrinkflation is old but what it's doing to artificial intelligence is new—if not all that surprising
