The Sentiment in My Stone

Book excerpt: This story deals with an individual’s struggle against systemic abuse and the effect this struggle has on his cognition. The book takes a very personal and individualistic perceptive of the prevailing conditions of the protagonist’s state. While many authors have explored the effect of violence on individual behavior, the author tries to explore how this effect cascades and is percolated to every crevice of the societal order. The author also explores how this affects intimate relationships like family, friendship and love. Azlan is an ordinary Kashmiri boy. That is to say, ordinary to Kashmiri’s. He suffers domestic abuse, a suffocating political and social space, the constant fear of death and loss. On top he runs afoul of a tyrannical ruling system that takes sadistic delight in rooting out any voices. The same conditions force his brother to choose a path he has been taught to detest. However, the story of Azlan is yet to be written.