Utpal Kaul, 60, Delhi, on sustained efforts to keep Kashmiriyat alive.

For 60 year-old Utpal Kaul, home means Kashmir. Though a resident of Delhi since the 1990s, his heart clearly belongs to his homeland. A Kashmiri Pandit, Kaul keeps ties with his homeland intact by taking an active role in preserving, protecting and promoting the rich cultural heritage of Kashmir. He publishes books and articles on the subject under Utpal Publications for free, besides delivering lectures on Kashmir around the country. “My aim is to share the philosophy of Kashmir with as wide an audience as possible,” he avers. Among the 70-odd titles on the state that he has published are History of Kashmir Shaivism, Kashmir across LOC, The Rich Heritage of Jammu and Kashmir, The History of Medieval Kashmir and Kashmir Crisis: Unholy Anglo-Pak Nexus. Kaul even gifts these books for free to those who cannot afford them. Insisting that publishing is not a profit-making business for him, he says, “For me, publishing is a way to keep interest in Kashmir and its culture alive.” Nostalgically recollecting life in the idyllic Valley, which he left along with other Pandits in 1989, Kaul elaborates, “We lived on an island in Dal Lake with only 25 homes around us. Our home had 14 rooms!” Kaul, who had submitted his PhD thesis on the ancient history of Kashmir just before the exodus, was disheartened to learn that the 1,000-odd pages of the thesis were burnt down along with his precious collection of over 5,000 books. Today, he is not just a publisher, but guest lecturer, travel consultant on the Valley, and the founder of Panun Kashmir, an organisation for displaced Pandits. In 1997-98, Kaul was also involved in the making of Kashmir File, a serial on Doordarshan. He inherits this passion from grandfather Samsar Chand Kaul, who had authored books such as Beautiful Valleys of Kashmir & Ladakh (three editions) and Birds of Kashmir and Srinagar & Its Environs in the 1940s, an attempt to map birds in the Valley. On a mission to preserve and protect all rare manuscripts dealing with the state, Kaul even buys books on the subject from other publishers. “The history of Kashmiri Pandits goes back at least 5,000 years,” he says. “We need to preserve the culture of the state in all its purity!”

—Ambica Gulati

Photo: Himanshu Kumar
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
September 2016