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A review by haifay
Rumours of Spring: A Girlhood in Kashmir by Farah Bashir
5.0
Books like this are rare, simply because they are almost impossible to write. When articulating one's world takes the form of resistance, Farah Bashir writes this memoir of growing up in Kashmir with so much grit and insight.
She gathers scattered memories of her teenage self living under military siege in Kashmir, navigating her life in a war. Somewhere along, you meet the twelve-year-old looking for some resemblances of normalcy in the lanes and alleys of downtown Srinagar, near the windows of her house where her Bobeh sat gazing at the streets, listening to pop music on banned radio stations.
Most importantly, she is resilient in revisiting these memories, often laden with deep traumas, documenting the changes in her realities - both internal and external. In that way, 'Rumour of Spring' is also about a way of life that doesn't exist in Kashmir anymore. Even when woven with the anxieties and horrors of death, torture, disappearances, this recollection of a young woman spells out the existence of the ordinary and mundane despite conflict or war.
As the mainstream media is ridden with repeated narratives that dehumanise Kashmiris and discredit their movement, this memoir fills a crucial void. It needs to be read over and over again.
She gathers scattered memories of her teenage self living under military siege in Kashmir, navigating her life in a war. Somewhere along, you meet the twelve-year-old looking for some resemblances of normalcy in the lanes and alleys of downtown Srinagar, near the windows of her house where her Bobeh sat gazing at the streets, listening to pop music on banned radio stations.
Most importantly, she is resilient in revisiting these memories, often laden with deep traumas, documenting the changes in her realities - both internal and external. In that way, 'Rumour of Spring' is also about a way of life that doesn't exist in Kashmir anymore. Even when woven with the anxieties and horrors of death, torture, disappearances, this recollection of a young woman spells out the existence of the ordinary and mundane despite conflict or war.
As the mainstream media is ridden with repeated narratives that dehumanise Kashmiris and discredit their movement, this memoir fills a crucial void. It needs to be read over and over again.