Revisiting the Kashmir Conflict Through Rahul Pandita's Our Moon Has Blood Clots: Violence, Exodus and Loss

Jammu and Kashmir known for its scenic beauty, serene environment and bountifulness has been a witness to turbulent events starting from 1989, when the simmering volcano of infused hatred from across the border against India, and discriminatory practices of the politicians resulted in mistrust; and the demand for azadi (independence) was made through Kalashnikovs, grenades and bombs, kidnappings, mass demonstrations and other means of groundbreaking violence. To declare Kashmir an Islamic state, the militants spread fear amongst Kashmiri Pandits (KPs), the original Hindu inhabitants of Kashmir, through newspaper advertisements and pamphlets ordering them to leave Kashmir or face death. KPs initially resisted exodus. They looked for every possible way to avoid abandoning the place where their families had roots and their ancestors were consigned to flame. The present research paper will examine Rahul Pandita's narrative Our Moon Has Blood Clots to underscore the violence of KPs being thrown out of their homes, dangling between the status of ‘migrant KP’, ‘refugee KP’, ‘displaced KP’ to ‘reckon with the loss and gain of place, we (may) discover through the force of interpretation, forms of absence – of pain, of fear, of guilt, of desire’ (Kapur 47) to highlight the psyche of KPs in terms of resistance and survival, trauma and victimhood, struggle and survival.