Ziyarat - 2011

Story

Ziyarat is one such story of a young Muslim and his wife taking the responsibility of locating his lost friend and his wife who fled Kashmir to save their lives after the terrorists killed his parents, and adopting their son who was left abandoned during the attack in confusion.

While the wife Mariyam assumes the responsibility of raising the young child Posh, the husband Abdul Kadir decides to cancel his trip to the Hajj and prefers to devote all his time in search of his friend Pandit Dina Nath and his wife Girija.

His search is endless and he leaves no place in the valley to look for his lost friends. As he almost gives up after two years, he gets a clue that all the Kashmiri Pandits who left Kashmir Valley are living in Refugee camps in Jammu and surrounding areas. With a renewed determination he decides to look for them in the camps.

The story then travels through real vamps where these unfortunate people are living for the last 20 years. Their agonies and the miserable condition is very pathetic and Abdul Kadir becomes very sad......Now fully determined to find his friends so he can take them back to the Kashmir Valley.

He combs through a couple of camps finding more about the filth around but there is no trace of his lost friends. However once he reaches Jammu he is hopeful once again.

Then he sights his friends wife Girija suddenly and happily runs towards him....but instead of coming to him she runs away at the very first sight of Abdul Kadir leaving him frustrated and shocked. He tries to find her again next day and almost gets her but she looks very scared and runs away.

The frustrated Abdul Kadir is confused with her behavior......but he is a wise man and thinks loud.....May be she thinks he too is a terrorist from the valley and he begins to understand her behavior. Why her alone even his friend Pandit Dinanath might think in the same way since after the incident they all would believe every Muslim in the valley to be a Mujahid...a mercenary.

With this thought process he now decides to go back to Kashmir and return with Mariyam and Posh......so he just locates where they stay and sets off to Kashmir. As he arrives back with his wife and the child he confronts his friend and his wife.....who, at the very sight of the family welcome them....Girija repents and they exchange their bitter experiences. Abdul Kadir telling them about what he witnessed that ill fated night and further on during his journey till the camp, and Pt Dina Nath telling them about how they ran away to look for a secured place.

Finally, Abdul Kadir urges Pandit Dina Nath to come back to valley with him as he could never allow his friend to rot in a place like the camp. He insisted that he had made all arrangements and even his house was ready to welcome him.....On this note, Pandit Dinanath refused and flatly refused. He then went on to narrate the history of Kashmiri Pandits, whose plight and the misery had continuously haunted them for the last seven hundred years during which many outsiders and invaders came to India and in their desire to have the Paradise of Kashmir all to themselves, killed Kashmiri Pandits and drove them out....Seven time in the history of the valley...Pandits faced the wrath of exodus.....migration and exile from their homes in their own country. He clarified that it was not the fault or intention of Kashmiri Muslims to torture Kashmiri Pandits but it was those outsiders and the present day politicians who were responsible for their plights.

With this note, Abdul Kadir and Mariyam agreed to let them continue in the camp but another twist came about with Posh, the 3 year old child refused to accept the Pandits as his parents and would not even look at them. The child had taken Abdul Kadir and Mariyam as his parents and Mariyam had give so much loved to the child that he would never leave her.

Pandit Dina Nath and Girija understood that and gave the child to Kadir and Mariyam....as they understood the love and the bonding they all shared. They also understood that Kadir was a wonderful person...and a perfect father who could groom young Posh to become a true human being.

The story ends with a note...That this was the truthful pilgrimage of Abdul Kadir after all...