Little notes from large experiences

This video is a collection of notes in hindsight, post THE WAR - The one that became a dinner table conversation across two countries for a few days and then left our conscious memories equally swiftly. The one that also left us(the war-dwellers) lurking in the traumas of the popular discourse on it that reduced the experience to a glorified game in one-up-ism!

This video features two of our non-Kashmiri fellows, candidly throwing some light on their personal experience with the sounds of the war from the 'battlefield'! While it needs no explanation, I must admit that it leaves you unsettled in your gut, curious for more, and yet smiling unwittingly, while your mind is still racing on how dark and light the storytelling was. And that's the depth of this experience, representative of the subtle, compounding implications of violence on the everyday lives of individuals living amidst it, particularly in Kashmir. Talking about it means revisiting it, and that can be a harrowing experience for them and many watching. And that is probably the first reason why they have chosen to speak of it in simple text, located in the living room of a humble household in Pulwama, inhabited by courageous educators, who chose to take the Teach to ELICIT route to unlearn, learn, teach and make their truth. Notice how they manoeuvre between their individual experience and the collective condition of volatility they live in. Notice how they are soft with their claims and are suggesting them as examples of collective trauma caused by many such armed battles and oppressive occupation that the region has fought and endured over decades. Most importantly, notice that they are speaking to enlighten and not to belittle or misappropriate. A prerequisite to watching this video is an acknowledgement that they found the courage to share with as much authenticity as they could possess.

This video is our attempt to add a layer of understanding to what it takes for us to do what we do on ground. We are determined to make healing-centred classrooms possible, accessible to children in conflict and the biggest part of that journey is about learning through our own experiences through the adversities of protracted armed conflict. This video is a small documentation of the same.