BOOK REVIEW: "TURNING PAGES" BY MAJOR GENERAL PRAN KOUL ( Retd.)

                                           

TURNING. PAGES:(Genesis of Kashmiri Hindu Exodus): Glimpses of Conversation Between a Mother And her Daughter.
By Major General  Pran Koul ( Retd) .

Published by ...Namya Press
Price ( paperback) Rs249/-
( Available on Flipkart and Amazon )

Major General Pran Koul is a veteran of the Indian Army. Hailing from  Sopore, the Apple Town of Kashmir, he took to writing serious  books post retirement. This is his third book. 'The Silence Speaks 'and 'The Resonating Ripples' are earlier two books. Both were well received and are available on Amazon and Flipkart.  Like Upanishads or Yog Vashishtha, this book also comes in the  form of conversation. A conversation  between a  young mother and her daughter : Sheen and Wuzmel respectively. This 114  pages  book comes in six parts. Conversation Between Wuzmel And Sheen,

The Kashmir Valley, Ancient Kashmiri Saints, Rishis And Sufis ,The    Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, The Sixth Mass Exodus and  The Seventh Exodus are the six parts or segments of this book covering separate aspects of the tragedy that befell a peace loving community in 1990.

There are many books on the topic of the painful  migration of the Kashmiri Pandits. Most of these books are tales of  pain   and suffering of the community told as first hand accounts . I couldn't lay my hand on any such book  that comes as communication between the seeker of knowledge and  the knowledgeable . A Kashmiri child living with her  family in NOIDA is told the painful story of  some recent  migration of the people by her class teacher  . Being a Kashmiri, the teacher asks the little girl to apprise her fellow classmates about the migration of the  Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir valley.The child is ignorant.  This ignorance flares up the child's  interest in the word  'Migration' . That creates the conversation  which comes  up as the book under review.

In this book, the author has paid due tributes to  an honest and upright officer   A K Raina  ( the then Deputy Director ,Food And Supplies , Srinagar ) ,who was shot dead in his office by  terrorists for absolutely no fault. He was honest, dedicated and had ensured food stock supplies to every place in the valley including Ladakh during peak terrorism.  And A N Raina happened to be brother in law of the author . The memory of this gruesome killing is  etched and remains indelible in the minds of the generation that saw this senseless dance of death and destruction unleashed by terrorists in the  Kashmir valley . The book opens with a wonderful photograph of the pebble  art showing frightened refugees leaving their land . The  photo looks apt, profound and most suited for the book. There could have been no better quote than the one from Emile Zola  that appears  at the opening page of the book  . The book has some good illustrations and sketch work to supplement the narrative.The foreword to the book by Dr Esha Kaul, Associate Director , Hematology And Bone Marrow Transplant, Max Hospital , New Delhi is brief ,crisp and evocative. Dr Kaul writes , “ Kashmir is not just a place, it is our heritage …..for all the children of Kashmir wherever they might be “.

The  communication in the opening chapter of the book begins with a question that Wuzmel poses to  Sheen, her mother ," Ma ,what does migration mean?" And the story begins from Satisar and Rishi Kashyapa .I read the book twice  and found something worth mentioning over here. Never ever does the author use Sheen or the mother as protagonist to convey something that is not true or enter into any blame game . The narrative has been built  to inform and educate an innocent mind or Wuzmel. That makes this book different from  scores of books written on the  subject of terrorism  in the Kashmir valley that resulted in  the migration of the Kashmiri Pandits . Objectivity and  clarity remains the hallmark of the narrative . One can easily call this  book as   summarised version of political  history and social life  of the valley meant primarily to inform and educate the reader . It is also a saga of the Kashmiri Pandit  community .

While conveying ancient and mediaeval history of the valley,  the author has drawn from  Nilamata Purana and Rajatarangini. He has also drawn from some more reliable and objective books to  present the tragedy that befell the Kashmiri Pandit  community. In this context , I need to quote books written by Prof B L Bhan, Dr M L Kapoor,  and S N Dhar ( From Partition to Operation Blue Star) who happen to be almost unknown names yet very profound ,objective and truthful in their research and narrative.

The part that impressed me most is the detailed work conveying the genesis of the 'Seven Exiles'  faced by the Kashmiri Pandit community. Truly , this hapless  community  faced every type of thinkable suffering  as exiles in alien lands  while fighting  the battle for survival with the 'Weapon of Education' . It fought its battle for Food ,Shelter and  Want  using  Education,  the lone' Weapon' that it had . The book ends at a beautiful message  for the youngsters . The advice of Sheen to her daughter Wuzmel is to grow up as good Indian citizen and preserve this 'Weapon of Education' so that it is carried forward to the next generation.

This book needs to be widely read especially by youngsters to know their glorious past  as also the turbulent  period of their history.  The book also quantifies the   disservice to humanity at large  done by the forces of 'Death and Destruction'  in once  'Happy Valley'. The book also demolishes  the most mischievous narrative build by a section of the  sympathisers of those who brought pain and suffering to the valley ; The 'Jagmohan Narrative '  on the ' Migration of the Kashmiri Pandits' . Through certain narrated  incidents, the humane side of the personality of Jagmohan also  becomes known to the reader. I recommend the book to one and all . From my  interaction with almost  every shade , section and group  , the  Kashmiri Pandits hold an unchangeable opinion about the role of Jagmohan when the hurricane of terror was unleashed upon them. This can be summed up in two lines , I quote :-

Zindagi  aap ki inaayat hai
Varna hum kab ke mar gaye hotay...

( Avtar Mota)

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