UmEid!

On Eid-ul-Fitr, a few Kashmiri Pandits, greeted Kashmiri Muslims of the Valley. In a short six and half minute video,  kids, men and women and some seniors wished Eid Mubarak in Kashmiri. The messengers and the message tugged at the heart! It was shared and re-shared. It became viral.

It is a small, a very small, gesture. A drop. But not in the ocean, but in a desert. Which is what makes it invaluable. Could this be the beginning of repairing the rupture between the two communities? The question is not if it can. It must.

The two parallel conflicting narratives must become one that reflects the pain on both sides. This will start the journey of efforts to end the rifts and heal the rupture.

The video is a green shoot of a desire and a willingness among many people of the two communities to reach out. It showed an effective way to celebrate cultural similarities, subsuming religious differences. A small act done with emotion can bring about a Pandit–Muslim reconciliation at a personal level more than all the government ones put together.

It is this which will bring the two communities together to address common challenges, rather than to sow mistrust, discord and violence. We need to heal ourselves. No one from outside can do it for us. We must do it for each other; for ourselves.

GK will earmark a weekly space in the paper for sharing stories of togetherness of Pandits and Muslims. Let us rebuild our tradition for a happy and pluralistic future of our children.

Lol te Ahi!

GK Family