Listening to stories of sufferings makes life seem like a mountainous task. While some are able to live unscathed, there are few who toil with scars that refuse to heal. However, sometimes, innate humanity shows them the light at the end of the tunnel.
The Kashmir conflict has wreaked havoc in an uncountable number of families and mine belongs to that list. It rendered us homeless and everything we had was destroyed in what was calculated to be arson.
My family lived a large house built to accommodate the Kashmiri version of a joint family. But after the life-altering inferno, we were left weeping, trying to make sense of our irredeemable loss. Our family was demoted to living in a rented space, and slowly, insidious profiteering caused us the loss of familial ties and an unfair splitting of assets. My aunt, to our dismay, occupied the ancestral property and distributed monetary scraps amongst her siblings. The paltry sum my immediate family received, was exhausted in no time and we were on the verge of destitution.
As a two-year-old, I had made peace with my new home until the day my mother passed away, leaving my father and his children alone in their misery. He never remarried but raised his children with grace.
Tragedy upon tragedy visited us, but our faith in the Almighty, helped us pull through. In those melancholic times, my paternal aunt extended her motherly affection to my siblings and me, giving us the attention and love that we were in dire need of. But, regardless of how much I tried to cheer myself with their consolatory actions, my mothers untimely departure from the world had left me feeling hollow and numb.
I never tried venting my feelings to my family, and I dont intend to. The only channel Ill use to obliterate my hardships will be the one that does good to the society. Im determined to spend my energy helping people, and preventing the catastrophe that befell my family, from happening to them.
In life, vicissitudes are bound to occur, but keeping hope and goodness alive in our hearts is the only key to survive, remain happy and human.
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