Raina

I get accused all the time about being pro-Islam/ Pro Kashmiri rights and what not. If my work from Kashmir or anywhere was examined carefully, the examiner would not come to any conclusions. The dichotomy and ambiguity of my nature would be reflected. The constant need to look at both sides of the coin and not picking one- the complete fascination for both good and evil, day and night, masculine and feminine would be clearly seen. But Alas! we live in a world where no one has the time to look at anything, carefully.

So let me tell you where I come from. I'm neither Hindu nor Muslim. My parents are Sikhs, which should automatically make me one. I have spent more time in churches and dargahs than gurudwaras, only because of my affinity with quite places. But I believe I  have neither religion, nor nationality.  I was born in J&K but I'm not Kashmiri. I come from a family where one of my sister's is married to Kashmiri Pandit boy and one of my brother's to a Muslim girl from Bhadarwa. Now that enough of background and my standing has been stated, try not to pin me down and put me in a box. It would be an exercise in futility.

I read somewhere that one of the meanings of the name Raina in Bulgarian is- 'paradise'. I don't think that the Pandits who were named Raina, where called so because they lived in paradise (Kashmir). But it has been stated, that the Pandit families who originally lived in Rainawari and then moved into the main city where called by the surname- Raina.

Nikhil Raina,  my Brother-in- Law never lived in Rainawari. He resided in a famous Pandit locality of Srinagar, Habba Kadal close to the Ganpatyar Temple, with his maternal grandmother. Though, he personally never witnessed the Pandit exodus, his family did. Living with his nani, helped him to remain a bit disconnected from what happened. Nikhil, is a 37 year old  Kashmiri Pandit man who lives in Bombay, these days.


Q1 What are your earliest memories of Kashmir?

Earliest memories are that of the snow and of going to school. I also remember the Ganpatyar temple very distinctly. I recall going to my maternal grand father's shop in Habba Kadal, after school.The temple was bang oppisite our shop. Since I lived with my maternal side, my memories of Kashmir are primarily of Srinagar. My parents lived in Kulgam with the rest of the family. I don't remember that very clearly.

Q2) What are your feelings about the Kashmiri Pandits exodus from the Valley?

About the exodus - I don't have very strong feelings, since I left the Valley much before militancy. I shifted to Delhi. But my parent's suffered a lot in Kulgam. They received threats and that made them leave. When they were in Kashmir we had a bunglow with around fifteen rooms but when my family migrated to Jammu, they had to live with a relative. There were seven of them in one bedroom, for one whole year! Of course, they were lucky- no one had to stay in a migration camp.

As far as exodus is concerned, personally I think it was a blessing in disguise for the Kashmiri Pandit youth. The kind of exposure they got was huge. They left their homeland but the displacement helped them to achieve a lot.

Q3) For a Kashmiri how hard is it survive in Bombay, considering the climate and the cuisine?

The climate and the cuisine- I don't think that matters now to anyone, anymore. It's been a long, long time since my family left Kashmir and shifted to different parts of the country . So all of us have adapted nicely to our present environment and culture.

Meaning of the name Raina