Garden of Solitude and Kashmiri Pandits: Breaking the Silence

Abstract

In this paper, issues that Kashmiri Pandits had to face in Kashmir due to which they had to leave their homes and migrate to other parts of India has been discussed. In understanding the conflicts that lead to the exodus, a reading of Siddharth Gigoo’s novel Garden of Solitude, published in 2010 has been done. The novel tells the story about how the brotherhood between the people of Kashmir got destroyed because of vested interests in the region. Due to that Kashmiri Pandits got ultimatum from the militants to leave Kashmir. The novel highlights the hardship that Kashmiri Pandits went through and how their issues were not taken by the media and the governments since then. The paper also explores how the writer deals with the politics of the exodus and what was his idea behind the novel. The novel is quite close to the life of the author and authenticates his narrative.