PLOT: 4.5/5
CHARACTERS: 4/5
WRITING: 4.5/5
ENTERTAINMENT: 4.5/5
GENRE & THEME: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Jihad, Kashmiri Pandit Genocide, Kashmiri Hindu Exodus
Stories set in the lesser-seen corners of India—places rich with their own histories, struggles, and quiet rhythms—have always fascinated me. So, when I stumbled upon This Our Paradise while searching my Indian lit shelf for a hidden gem, the title instantly drew me in. The premise felt fresh and full of promise, hinting at a world rarely explored. With that spark of curiosity, I eagerly picked up Karan Mujoo’s compelling novel.
What is the book all about?
This is the story of two families, each entangled in a tragedy that leaves them haunted and broken.
In the Srinagar of 1986, we meet a Kashmiri Pandit family who has just moved into their freshly built home in Bagh-e-Mehtab. The family of six is headed by Papaji, a respected clerk, and his wife Byenji, a strict and efficient homemaker. They live with their two sons, a daughter-in-law, and a young grandson who narrates the story. At eight, his world revolves around cricket, exploring the Dal Lake with his chachu, and climbing the tang kul in their garden. Under Byenji’s disciplined care, their home runs like a well-oiled machine, and life feels peaceful, rooted, and full of small joys.
But the calm doesn’t last. As the dark clouds of 1989 gather, the valley is swept by the secessionist movement and an aggressive rise in jihadi sentiments. With the backing of the ISI and the Jamaat, violence erupts across Kashmir, shaking the serene world of this gentle family to its very core.
Meanwhile, in the quiet Lolab Valley of 1968, Zun and her farmer husband finally welcome a son after years of prayer. Their life is hard but steady—shaped by the land they till and the simple contentment they draw from it. But as Shahid grows, so does his dissatisfaction. He rejects his parents’ life of toil, resenting a future filled with uncertainty and labour.
In this vulnerable phase, he meets Syed Sahab, an Islamic theologian and fiery rabble-rouser known for his provocative speeches. His radical ideology and call for an armed uprising against the Indian state draw Shahid into a world far removed from his quiet village life. What begins as a search for purpose soon spirals into a path paved with violence.
As the lives of these two families edge closer, their worlds collide in a landscape where death, fear, and turmoil become the only constants.
This Our Paradise is a story of two households, two opposing paths, and a valley caught in the unforgiving grip of history.
My review
To be honest, This Our Paradise is pure heartbreak—mixed with anger and an unsettling sense of confusion.
Heartbreak, because you grow deeply attached to this Kashmiri Pandit family with their traditional meals, their unique rhythms of living, the crisp mountain air, the postcard-worthy landscapes, and their devotion to their kitchens and gods—both sacred, both central to their identity. You feel the warmth of their world, a world that feels peaceful, rooted, and beautifully ordinary.
Anger, because you’re forced to confront how easily a home can be taken away. How a bullet fired casually, carelessly, can shatter a life full of promise. How violence, once unleashed, doesn’t discriminate—it simply destroys.
And then comes confusion. How could a state, its machinery, its military, and an entire nation allow this to happen to its own people? How could an entire community be pushed out, made to live like outsiders in the land that had always been theirs?
It is devastating to imagine what Kashmiri Hindus endured—an entire generation living in exile, clinging to the fragile hope of returning home someday. The book captures this human tragedy with striking clarity. It shows the grim reality of life after the exodus, a life that stands in painful contrast to the one they once knew.
Stripped of their belongings, they are forced into cramped, suffocating quarters infested with rats, battling unbearable heat and inhuman, unsanitary conditions. They lost not just their homes, but their life savings, their jobs, their sense of safety—above all, their dignity.
What shocked me most was learning how many locals already sensed what was coming, hinting at the danger ahead or offering quiet threats. The tragedy was not sudden for everyone—only for those who trusted their land too deeply to imagine fleeing it.
The most gut-wrenching moment was when even their right to mourn and honour their dead was taken away. To be denied the dignity of properly performing last rites for a loved one—that scene broke me completely.
Then, on the other side of the narrative, we have Shahid’s parents—especially his mother Zun, who lives in constant worry for her only child. Her prayers, her hope, her helplessness feel painfully real. Her son is slowly pulled into the grip of radical ideology, brainwashed and used in a cause that promises glory but brings only violence. Her heartbreak lingers long after you close the book.
This is undeniably a heartbreaking read, but also an important one. It creates awareness, preserves memory, and gives voice to stories that have long remained unheard. It reminds us that behind history are human beings—families, hopes, lives—each of them deserving to be remembered.
Can’t wait to read it? Buy your copy of This Our Paradise using the link below.
