ECHOES OF SILENCE: UNVEILING FEAR, VIOLENCE, AND TRAUMA IN FARAH BASHIR’S RUMOURS OF SPRING

Abstract

In the aftermath of violence and conflict, a profound silence often descends, overshadowed by the weight of collective grief and trauma. This silence, born out of the sheer magnitude of suffering, renders language inadequate in expressing the depth of human experience. Nowhere is this phenomenon more palpable than in the literature emerging from or about the Kashmir Valley, a region perennially marred by strife and unrest. Yet, amidst the pervasive silence, there emerges a courageous endeavor to articulate the lived experiences of Kashmir’s ordinary people, trapped in the vice grip of exceptional circumstances beyond their control. This burgeoning literary movement defies the odds, blossoming amidst the thorns of unrelenting violence, punctuated only by fleeting moments of uneasy calm. Farah Bashir’s seminal work, Rumours of Spring: A Girlhood in Kashmir serves as a luminous beacon within this narrative landscape. Set against the backdrop of 1990s Kashmir, a time when the valley transformed into a veritable inferno, Bashir’s memoir offers a poignant portrayal of life amidst insurgency and counter-insurgency. Through the eyes of a young girl, Bashir unveils a harrowing tableau of killings, shootings, curfews, and the omnipresent specter of violence that became the unsettling norm. Notably, Bashir’s memoir marks a watershed moment, as it provides a unique perspective on the conflict era - one that has long been neglected in the annals of history. By centering the narrative around the experiences of a young girl grappling with the bewildering changes engulfing her homeland, Bashir gives voice to the myriad untold stories of Kashmiri youth, who found themselves adrift in a sea of uncertainty. This paper endeavors to delve into the themes of fear, violence, and trauma as represented in Farah Bashir’s memoir. Through a nuanced analysis, it seeks to illuminate the resilience of the human spirit amidst the darkest of times, and the transformative power of storytelling in reclaiming agency and bearing witness to the collective struggle for peace and justice.