Our Moon Has Blood Clots: The Exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits Hardcover – January 11, 2013

A few things I won’t agree with the author but it’s a good read overall. It’s very heart breaking to even think about being uprooted from your ancestral land. Kudos to the Kashmiri Hindu community for giving importance to education over revenge. Their plight should have been raised a long time ago! Kashmir is not Kashmir without it’s true indigenous people, culture and religion.

This book is primarily about the experiences of Rahul Pandita and his family, who are Kashmiri Pandits and victims of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir in 1990. It does a good job of acquainting the readers with a bit of history of Kashmir (about the political history and the great works that were produced in Kashmir in ancient times, like the "Rajatarangini" by Kalhana and so on). With a primary focus on discussing the author's experiences during the 1990 exodus, the author also narrates in ample details the atrocities and difficulties that have been faced by Pandits in Kashmir thoughout history. The salient feature that stands out in this book is the personalized nature of the narrations which allows the readers to connect more with the events and ideas that are discussed. It's a must read for people who are interested in Kashmir and are not aware of the plight of Kashmiri Pandits who have resided in the valley for millennia.

Reviewing any historical book is not possible with limited knowledge of the events. So I will only react to the narrative in the book.Author appears to have presented a first hand account of their personal experience and that's one of the most important perspective about this issue.There are so many questions and layers that are unanswered and the book has no pretensions about covering all angles. It's solely about the pain of an exiled community and the injustice , apathy of Indian state.The writing is accessible. I imagine a pandit or Kashmir might really appreciate all the details of story...but for an outsider and /or unbiased reader the writing is insipid and fails to transport into shoes of the author. It tries , but fails . That is largely due to the prosaic writing. That has nothing to do with the content itself which is saddening, heart breaking reality. Reads a lot like authors personal diary.All in all , essential story that needs to be out there but an incomplete view of the issue.

It's an eye-opening account from the author's own harrowing experience. Questions how is it a majority muslim populated state can play victimhood of being oppressed by the Indian government. When in reality its minority Hindu population were the ones who were subjected to genocide and forced to flee by the majority. Their homes and lands were taken over by the so-called peaceful majority! Especially when these all too fashionable victim-card-playing ploys across the globe by the jihadis in places like Kashmir, Palestine, and even in the suburbs of Europe. Great storytelling by the author and a must-read book for those wanting to know the flip side of the coin.

A very moving narrative of the dislocation, loss and trauma suffered by the Kashmiri pandits, in their forced exodus from their homeland. The author has powerfully described the brutality of 1989--1990, which saw a pogrom of atrocities launched by extremists to drive out the minority pandit community.Several narratives were so poignant I had to literally stop reading, to drink some water and clear the large lump in my throat. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to get a complete perspective of the Kashmir issue. Most media commentaries tend to highlight only the Indo--Pak tensions over Kashmir, or the alleged human rights violations of the Indian state's response to the violent separatist strife.The horrible sins committed against the Pandit minority by the terrorists and the criminal elements of the majority community, have long been conveniently brushed under the carpet. That is a tragedy which this book seeks to redress. As George Santayana's immortal quote goes 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it'. Kudos to the author, for having the courage to rise above his deep pain, to pen this compelling memoir.One prays that this cycle of communal strife ends one day soon, and all of us can live in amity together. But the first step towards that, is to shed sham political correctness and to acknowledge wrongs, whoever committed them. A selective amnesia helps no one ultimately.

An insight to what is "really" going on in Kashmir ! Indian national news papers are never good at reporting the dynamics/prologue beyond specific incidents such as a couple of terrorists being gunned down every now & then, leaving the masses of "rest of India" with a big question mark of "why". I am glad this book exists, and thankful for the pain-staking efforts of Rahul in documenting "what really happened" to the pandit community & hindu's in general in Kashmir. It is only a matter of time before a pattern of expulsion & ethnic cleansing executed by certain communities on other communities on a global scale becomes evident and propels the public opinion against aiding those certain communities in light of the farce "atrocities" & "offenses" committed on them, by the "aggressors". Well documented books like this serve as key-witness of who the real aggressors are, and who the real victims are.Global apathy towards the "victims" of recent conflicts/wars at the time of this comment, goes to prove the existence of an enlightened public who no longer sympathize in the cause of the "victims" based on specific current incidents, but instead look at it from a historical perspective where the so-called current "victims" are "aggressors" of the past against several communities, and hence be apathetic.

A must read for all!Words have just come from heart and carry all the pain, sufferings and longing. Mr. Rahul has put his heart on paper. A book which opened new horizon for me and gave a perspective to look. A book which you won't read in breaks but would read at a stretch till "_The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it"I wish we could change the past but I know we can't. However we can take lessons from our past and work presently for better future.

"...and an earlier time when the flowers were not stained with blood, the moon with blood clots!" - Pablo Neruda, 'Oh, My Lost City'Our Moon Has Blood Clots is very insightful and gives a firsthand account of experience of the author himself, who was among the exodus of Kashmir during 1990, at an age of 14. During 1990, there was mass movement of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir to Delhi, Lucknow, Lahore and Allahabad, living their ancestral home, their history and culture behind. The plight of Kashmiri Pandits is now an forgotten story. Our generation will never understand or will try to find out, what made approx. 3.5 lacs Kashmiri Pandits to pack their bags and leave the valley, never to return back and stay in their own country as refugees.After reading this book, I read Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer. Both these books are set during the same period and tells the story of Kashmir with different approach. Both this book help us to understand that not only Kashmiri Pandits had a tragic life, but also the Muslims had to suffer the brutality of both the militants and Indian Army. The brutal killings, fleeing away from home, setting up a home in a place much different in culture, language in refugee camps in Jammu, these realities are narrated with much pain."Our home in Kashmir had twenty-two rooms", my mother used to say this thing to every person she met.This narrates the experience of a mother, who was in exile, who lost her home and her pride, staying in refugee camps, in tents, sharing the tent with one other family.The memories through a 14 year old teenager paints a vivid images. Women cramped in lorries travelling towards Jammu, a man raising his fist and telling them that, "you will die", overhearing a conversation of a group of boys, discussing distribution of Pandit's houses which will be empty soon."At least go inside and piss; like a dog, you need to mark your territory," one of the boys tells his mate. "It's over," Pandit's father, a government worker, says, "we cannot live here anymore."Rahul Pandita mentions in the book that he kept a record of each and every Pandit killed in the Valley during the exodus, because he wanted people to know the story of each and every Pandit killed. The government and the media completely neglected the plight of Kashmiri Pandits. In 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a Rs. 1,618 crore package to facilitate the return of the Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley. Six thousand jobs were also announced for the Pandit youth in the Valley. Most of the jobs were never filled, due to the fear of being targeted by militants. The settlements provided to Kashmiri Pandits are cheap single-bedroom structures, with no drinking water facility. The real problem is harassment at work from their Muslim colleagues. Many Pandit employees don't receive their salaries on time.This is an excellent book, full of true tragic stories, acquainting with Hindu-Muslim brotherhood, struggles of Kashmiri Pandits that forced them to flee to Jammu.For those, who wants to know what happened in Kashmir during 1990s, and not just Kashmiri Pandits, I will suggest to read Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer. It gives an insight on the suffering of the Kashmiri Muslims during this period, how the Indian Army as well as the militants created problems for innocent Muslims. Kashmiri Muslims lives a threatened life in Kashmir because of both the Militants and the Indian Army and are tagged as militant where ever they go for being Kashmiri Muslim. It also gives an insight about how the Kashmiri youth are misguided by the Militants to cross the border and to go to Pakistan to get trained as an militant.

Our moon has blood clots is a powerful and revealing memoir of the religious persecution of Kashmiri pandits. It leaves a deep impact on the reader. The author has penned down the painful story of Kashmiri pandit killings and their suffering. The book gives a closer look and a first person perspective of what happens when a particular community gets outnumbered when the demographic upperhand is with the Abrahamics. It also puts forward the aftermath of the Kashmiri exodus and gives a closer look of the life and conditions through which the pandits have lived and survived through. The details of the killings are a bit disturbing but it does give a clearer understanding of what the way they were driven out of their homes which no choice other than fleeing. Not only did they loose their homes, their work and occupation but a part of themselves. The pandits have been the unheard community for more than two decades. Their grievances hardly used to make it to the mainstream. It only recently that their suffering has been started to be documented with a much serious level.

Very well written! Rahul Pandita is a brilliant writer; the narrative of the book of course being very personal. I have now purchased another one of his books :).This book presents a balanced and fairly accurate historical and cultural view of the happenings in the Valley most of which get obscured away from the general public by the Indian and foreign media and the Indian Government. I would recommend this to every person trying to understand the Kashmir issue!

The book was so gripping, so moving, so well written. It takes you into that time as if you were there witnessing it all. It has opened my eyes about the other side i.e. the Kashmiri pandit side which is kept secret by many Kashmiri Muslims that I have spoken too. I finished reading it the same day that I bought it. Thank you Rahul Pandita for this valuable insight!