Our Moon has Blood Clots by Rahul Pandita


 Our Moon has Blood Clots is a memoir written by journalist Rahul Pandita about the exodus of Kashmiri pandits who were forced to leave their homes in the Kashmir valley by Islamist militants in the 1990s. 


The book is honest and is written with bone chilling detail about the genocide which was largely ignored by Indian media.  Kashmir has always been an area of unrest with uprisings being reported every other day; most of which remains underreported. Pandita has brought forth the humanitarian side of the mass killing of Pandits which led to numerous Kashmiris, including himself, losing their loved ones. Some of them remain forever scarred with the memory of their dear ones being ripped to pieces right in front of their eyes. The dispassion with which he writes about death makes this a truly harrowing read. And yet it is unputdownable -- I kept turning the pages in the hope of a ray of light in the gloom that is omnipresent throughout the book. But none of the exiled families regain the identity which they had lost with their homes. Pandita's mother keeps repeating, "Our home in Kashmir had 22 rooms" to anyone who would care to listen until a motor neuron disease claimed her ability to speak. Ironically they had shifted nearly 22 houses during exile before they could find a permanent residence. 


The author throws in names of the victims, some prominent personalities, and few political figures which adds credibility to this memoir. This book was a really difficult read because of its graphic depiction of violence. But that's what books are for -- to make sure that the voices of the minorities don't go unheard.


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