One of the most militarized zones in the world and the scene of constant gun battles, curfews and defiant processions for decades, Kashmir could hardly be the stage for a love story of dramatic filmy proportions. But Mirza Waheed, the author of bestselling novel, The Collaborator, has presented us with one in his new novel The Book of Gold Leaves. Set in downtown Srinagar, the story revolves around Faiz, the protagonist and named so after the great Pakistani poet of the same name and Roohi, his love. Faiz is a papier mache artist, orphaned, who is consumed by his work until one day he thinks he is in love with the girl from nearby khanqah. But the secret meetings are soon engulfed by something bigger, more vicious, more frightening, the Zaal as they call it. Soldiers start roaming on the roads and killing even school going children. Along with the school children the godmother of Faiz is killed and he cannot sleep for many days, thinking of her being killed in such a manner.

The signs of utter frustration and the helplessness that leave no choice for him but to leave his country, remind one of the novel based in Afghanistan, The Kite Runner, where the protagonist has to run for his life. But leaving one's home is not easy. A person who leaves always thinks he will come back again one day. Normally it is homecoming with a goal in mind: Rescuing or liberating someone or even the country which remains in the hands of the enemy. But it is not always easy to fulfill the mission for which one comes back home.

Faiz crosses over to Pakistan and starts military training in one of the camps run by Pakistani military. The role of Pakistan in the uprising of 1989, or rather the hijacking of the struggle that was essentially Kashmiri nationalist and secular in origins, and the brutal response by the Indian forces in the shape of tortures, rapes, killings and disappearances is explained in clear terms. “One always knows. Hindustan killed this man, those before him and after him too. And that other mad place, Pakistan, killed the rest”, declares a Mahraaze who has lost his senses during the conflict. And in the uncertain situation like this only a madman can tell the whole truth.

Once in Pakistan Faiz misses home, his love and his family but now he is in the hands of his handlers. Here the puritanical environment is in stark contrast to the one back home, the esoteric Sufi tradition in which Faiz grew up. Life would never be the same again. Every day people protest on the streets chanting slogans of Azadi, more young boys disappeared and many more joined the ranks of militants.

After a year Faiz returns only to a life full of obstacles and torments. Although he succeeds in marrying Roohi but now he is a Mujahid and has to run for his life. Normal rules like a Sunni girl marrying a Shia boy are suspended in war torn Kashmir, but heavier things like liberation are going to be attained. Parallel to the main story go the stories of a soldier from the plains, Roohi’s brother Rumi who has joined a recently formed National Salvation Front of dubious origin which he does not know and leads to a catastrophe for his family. The is also the story of the local girls school principal who is a Hindu and  whose aged father is murdered, her school converted into soldiers camp and she is forced by the circumstances to leave her home forever. The torments are so enormous that those who are spared suffer from what is termed as “survivors’ guilt”.

The main character in the story comes before us alive and teeming with life but the problem lies with so much emphasis on their love affair with turmoil in the background. Especially when we see the couple going about their honeymoon under the provision that the army officer of the area knows all about it.

In all, the novel is a sad story of the Kashmir of the 90s where ordinary people are caught in the heat of a struggle for liberation, made difficult by the machinations of friends and foes alike. Families are torn apart and members often found in opposite camps. This work of fiction reminds one of the story by another writer from Kashmir in Curfewed Night where he writes about the prevalent atmosphere and “like almost every boy, (he also) wanted to join them (Mujahideen). Fighting and dying for freedom was as desired as the first kiss on adolescent lips."   

The Book of Gold Leaves tells a story that one must read in order to understand the human side of the conflict that engulfed the valley in the last decade of the past century, to fully appreciate its enormity. This is surely a rare gift a writer can give to the tormented soul of Kashmir as well as to its people.