The Diary of Gull Mohammad : A Kashmiri Muslim boy's journey from Kashmir to Kerala

This manuscript is written in narrative non-fiction style, as a diary of a Kashmiri Muslim boy. It traces the journey of this young adolescent child from conflict-ridden Kashmir to madrasas in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala. The personal journey of Gull Mohammad highlights the anxieties, insecurities, and sheer terror with which many Muslims (especially Kashmiri Muslims) are leading their everyday lives in contemporary India, marked by the rise of right-wing political formations, pervasive majoritarianism, and ever growing Islamophobia.

This manuscript, written as a diary of a 14-year-old Kashmiri Muslim boy, focuses on the ground realities. Names and surnames of the men, women, and children, mentioned in this diary have been changed; their identities protected, for their safety and privacy. Also, webbed, and inter-webbed are several fictional factors-connectors-characters too. He is a Kashmiri Muslim boy who has been shifted from his home in Srinagar''s down town, to a Madrasa in New Delhi, by his own parents in the hope that he will be able to survive and study in a stress-free situation, far away from the curfews and crackdowns that disrupt life in the Kashmir Valley. But that does not happen. He faces repeated disruptions, disturbances, and discriminations. He is more than often taunted for his Kashmiri Muslim identity. He captures the painful taunts in his diary. Finally, he finds safe refuge in a Calicut “home” for children from all communities, till another destined turn leaves him devastated.