‘Dapaan’: Accounts from the valley rewrite the Kashmir narrative with empathy, precision, and fire

In the cramped and dark Secret Annexe, where Anne Frank and seven others were hiding from the Nazis, Anne wrote in her diary about a night filled with fear as planes flew overhead and bombs exploded nearby. Despite the constant danger, Anne found comfort in writing. She poured her feelings, fears, and hopes into her diary – using storytelling to express what it was like to grow up in such difficult times. Her writings were later compiled by her father, Otto Frank, and published as The Diary of a Young Girl.

A new vocabulary

In Dapaan: Tales from Kashmir’s Conflict, a Dastangoh (storyteller) narrates a similar tale while recounting Kashmir’s descent into the turmoil of the 1990s. Written by journalist Ipsita Chakravarty, a former editor with Scroll, this haunting and probing work draws on interviews with ordinary Kashmiris, recounting stories of war within their homes and communities. Through folk tales and local idioms, Chakravarty explores how Kashmiris have developed a new language in response to the monstrous conflict that has deeply permeated their social sphere.

Dapaan – translation: it is said – is a Kashmiri word that has long been used to describe an event, a happening, or even a rumour. However, the term gained a more pronounced presence in the Kashmiri...

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