Dr Happymon Jacob speaks with Siddhartha Gigoo (Author of ‘Long Dream of Home’ and ‘A
Fistful of Earth’) about the social and political circumstances in which Kashmiri Pandits had to leave
Kashmir. Mr Gigoo narrates his first experience of persecution as a young boy and the escalation of such
instances from harmless banter to organized exodus. He asserts that successive governments have failed to
rehabilitate Kashmiri Pandits to their ‘homeland’, and have merely used their cause for electoral gains. Mr
Gigoo laments at the loss of identity, dignity and a sense of belonging that Kashmiri Pandits, now settled
across the world have experienced. The Kashmiri Pandit mind is now torn between deceitful hope and a
dissipating longing for return.
