Lost in Terror

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Book Review

Reviewer: Muhammad Nadeem 
Book: Lost in Terror
Authors: Nayeema Mahjoor
Pages: 305
Publisher: Penguin Books (India)
Price: n/a

ISBN: 9780143416531

Genre: Conflict

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The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.’

－Albert Camus, The Rebel.

The life is full of challenges. But the challenges one face in a society, not-so-free has no parallel in the drastic effects it leaves on the lives of people.

The protagonist in Lost in Terror has no name. Why should she? Giving her a name would have limited her identity. Lost in Terror is not just her story, it is the story of every women living in the Most Militarized Zone in the World.

How can a story remain confined in just one person when fear rules the minds and souls of every citizen of the society dominated by alien force and home grown patriarchy? How can the struggle be just one person’s struggle when everyone’s eyes hurt to see those occupying you and are always on the urge to turn your dreams into violent and horrific nightmares? How can a person be liberated in a place where the very word ‘liberation’ is confused with death and slavery?

Lost in Terror is the story of a society, where no one knows who is the master, and who is the subject? Where people are at the mercy of their enemies, who decide who to live and who shall die.

A gun in the hands of a just person can be a blessing but any weapon in the hands of a fanatic can wipe away truth, justice and humanity away from the society.

Lost in Terror is the story of a society, where no one knows who is the master, and who is the subject? Where people are at the mercy of their enemies, who decide who to live and who shall die. They decide how many breaths one should take.

It is the story of a place where there is: chaos, smoke, tears and death, everywhere.

But Kashmir has a unique character, so do its people. We have recorded a long history of not aligning with our oppressors, no matter who it is. Kings or Maharajas, Sikhs or Afghans, fathers or husbands, there were never any compromise with any of them on the matter of subjugation, no matter how powerful the opposing force was or still is.

Kashmir, in fact, had become like a mistress of the country that wanted to keep her close but never tried to win her heart. The two never accepted each other even after seven decades of bonhomie.

The source of the characters in Lost in Terror is not Utopia, but world’s biggest and brutal prison－Kashmir. The author’s attitude towards his characters is based on the real life situations and the history of this war torn part of the world. Reading this novel feels like reliving the past. And it feels like you know the characters in the real life, as it is the story of that time in which I have lived too.

The novel addresses the universal themes of pain and survival and realistic dialogues only add richness to its narrative.

The major theme of the novel is the survival of women in the conflict and patriarchy. The theme is wonderfully revealed and developed through the struggle for survival and achieving the dreams. Though the theme is familiar but is narrated in a new and original way.

There is simplicity and clarity in the style.

This book particularly deals with the Kashmir of 80’s and 90’s, but other aspects of history of the conflict are revealed through flashbacks and dialogues.

Lost in Terror is an important and valuable addition to the resistance literature of Kashmir written through the perspective a woman. What makes it unique is that the author has written what she has had firsthand account with, or witnessed herself in her surroundings. This adds a valuable pinch of emotions the reader can relate to while reading this novel.

Kashmir, in fact, had become like a mistress of the country that wanted to keep her close but never tried to win her heart. The two never accepted each other even after seven decades of bonhomie.

This is what I think is missing in the novels written by Kashmiri authors based or working in the West. There, I think, is a divine deference between being the target of a suffering and writing about it and watching the same suffering in the news and writing about it.

Like the story, the cover of this novel also depicts death and destruction. A crimson Chinar leaf soaked in blood on the white snow. The beads of blood are shining like bloody dew drops on a while rose.

I think everyone should read this novel to know how a woman deals with the sufferings bestowed upon her by the conflict and patriarchy in this part of the world.

This is an inspiring tale of survival of advising one to “Never let others run your life. Be your own master and decide what you want to do. Work hard to achieve great heights in your life. Never give up your fight...”

If introduced and advertised rightly in the international market, this novel could do for Kashmir what The Kite Runner did for Afghanistan, or Mornings in Jenin did for Syria.

About the Reviewer:

A bibliophile, Muhammad Nadeem is a writer, poet and an artist. Author is having MFA in Creative Writing and currently pursuing PG in Media Studies from University of Kashmir.

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