The lost paradise

(Book Review: Curfewed Night: Basharat Peer) 

Debutant novelist Basharat Peer’s Curfewed Night is a firsthand account of a Kashmiri youth in the turbulent times. Overall an emotional and poignant tale, it talks of the medieval city dying in a modern war.

 A young Muslim boy who was born and brought up in the beautiful valley returns as a journalist from Delhi years later to realise its degradation into a breeding ground of insurgency.

The book has been divided into two parts. In the initial part, the author takes us through his childhood artistically describing his scenic native place Seer, Anantnag. The increasing disturbances in the valley compel him to leave in search of greener pastures. He meets people of different backgrounds in Delhi and notes their reaction towards the problem in Kashmir.  

Drawn back to his homeland, he returns to Kashmir. Through his search for stories, he paints a harrowing picture of people who came in the line of fire. He describes the lives of others who were scarred by violent experiences. Peer describes the turbulent times, the atrocities and injustices that Kashmir witnessed and suffered.

He gives an account of empty streets, locked shops, angry soldiers, boys with stones and common people tortured for information. In a few words, the book aptly describes the mutilated condition of Kashmir, ‘a several thousand military bunkers, four golf courses and three bookshops’. The author talks to survivors of traumatizing experiences like the Gawakadal massacre, torture house Papa 2 and to the people who have lost their loved ones. The teary eyes of these people are still in search of their loved ones.

Basharat Peer’s debut attempt on not-so-often-written ‘Kashmir’ is appreciable. It is quite evident from his emotional reporting that every word has come from heart. Though there is confusion when there is an abrupt jump from one story to another, but it is acceptable. There is so much to tell which is impossible to cover in a short book. It is correct that there are heart wrenching details in the book but these accounts capture the unheard cries of a more or less misunderstood community. An insider’s glimpse Curfewed Night a must read.