The Kashmir That Was

What happens when you close your eyes? Does your mind get inundated by fond memories?

Certainly! Over the past many years, my family has been bearing with my flashback moments. They have been kind by not bundling me off. They stay clear-off my territory when I collapse my eyelids.

‘The Kashmir That Was’ is a collection of those flashback moments. It is a point where the unseen, unheard and unimagined sides of Kashmir converge; to let the people in the world know that Kashmir was far more than what they know of her now.

Kashmir was a cauldron of modernity, philosophy, spirituality, rich culture and progressiveness. Each story in this book is a page from the simple lives that Kashmiri’s lived, many moons ago. I wish that these stories bring smiles and joyous nostalgia to the readers.

About Author:- Avanti Sopory

Author and an educator, Avanti’s maiden co-authored book “Crossed andKnotted” is India’s first composite novel which is listed with the Limca Book of Records. Her woman-centric short story is featured in theanthology “Defiant Dreams” and the book is in record with Commissionon Status of Women, UN, and the Oprah Book Club. Her third anthology “When They Spoke” has stories personifying inanimate objects. Her short story is listed in the “The Readomania book of Mythology”. 

Kashmir being her first love; she wrote “Catching The Fading Ray”, is a collection of folk tales from her native place. The stories are alive with the rich cultural reminiscence of the author’s formative years at her birthplace, and have left a deep impact on her personality. The book has abundant essence of Kashmiri traditions, customs, and social ethos of times immemorial. 

‘The Kashmir That Was’ is a project that Avanti has fervently been working on for the past 2 years. Through this book, she aspires to bring in the forefront the golden times of Kashmir - time when Kashmir was ‘romanticised’. She is determined to tell the larger audience that there is more to Kashmir than its current reality-its rich not-so-distant past. The book ‘The Kashmir That Was’ is a collection of flash back moments where the unseen, unheard, unimagined side of Kashmir converge to reveal a new facet of the erstwhile state. 

Avanti was commissioned to write stories for Om Book Publications and other academic publications. Her opinion pieces are published in Jammu based “Daily Excelsior”, “Women’s Web”, “Madras Courier”, and “Early Times”. She is a fellow at “The Way of Writing with Natalie Goldberg”. She muses on her blog “undermynose.in”.