An Expedition from Utopia to Pandemonium: A Study of Curfewed Night and The Half Mother

Abstract

The article depicts the current position of the people of Kashmir. It is the study of Basharat Peer’s Curfewed Night and Shahnaz Bashir’s The Half Mother. Both the novels satirize the political and bureaucratic system, India’s tyrannical role and the Military oppression in Kashmir. The title of the paper is the expedition from utopia; means paradise to Pandemonium; means hell. Kashmir is a very beautiful place and was a princely state up to 1953 with its own prime minister. It is why Kashmir is generally known as paradise on earth and this paradise has become not hell but the ‘capital of hell’ due to mass killing, murder mystery, displacement, disappearance and sexual harassment, by military and paramilitary forces. The paper deals with the struggle of Kashmiri people’s birth right of self determination and the oppressive nature of Indian government, bureaucrats and army. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new lens to the reader to view the tyrannical history of Kashmir with the portrayal of some real and true incidents which are highlighted by both the writers. Both the books are based on reality which is a good hard work done by the duet on their turns.