Children Of Kashmir

When the children of Kashmir return home,⁣ will they recognize Jhelum’s gurgle as she carries the everlasting woes of the two countries?⁣⁣⁣⁣ Or does her name return as a long-forgotten memory of their old fathers whispering to them in Kashmiri tongue? Lest the years to come, they’d remember not the gunshots that rummaged through the desolate streets,⁣⁣⁣⁣ but the grief-stricken voices of their fathers praying for a night, stained with sins just to collapse into the forgiving arms of the morning. ⁣⁣⁣⁣
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When the children of Kashmir return home, ⁣will they remember how the Himalayas had breathed a wisp of the breeze upon the chests of those who lay dead in the cold?⁣⁣⁣⁣ The mountain’s might lies in the number of bodies it can bury & yet stand strong⁣⁣⁣ because the shoulders of those who fire the shots are too weak to carry the bodies of young & the innocent.⁣⁣⁣
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When the children of Kashmir return home, ⁣will they reminisce about the valley of flowers that once carried spring to their doorsteps? ⁣⁣⁣⁣Or will they remember the knock of winter that was indistinguishable from the ceaseless thud of guns against the door,⁣ not knowing if they were fated to watch a pool of light make its way through the holes in the blankets, or breathe their last in their mothers’ warm arms? ⁣⁣⁣⁣
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When the children of Kashmir return home and the language of love is buried deep in the depths of every man’s memory, ⁣⁣⁣⁣they will have to conjure every syllable their mothers sang that once put them to sleep, ⁣⁣⁣⁣and build Kashmir again, not with bricks & sand, not with the tongues of another land, but with the love that a man has for all.⁣⁣⁣
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“Jhelum” sung by Vishal Bhardwaj from the movie “Haider” is poetic portrayal of Kashmir; a land torn by conflict.