Sham Misri

Born, brought up, educated, lived and married in Kashmir, one of the beautiful places in the world. In my mind this best place in the world is Mother Kashmir, which is what I call home. Everyone knows everyone because we have the same mother.

I did my Masters degree in Science from Kashmir University with high score. Initially worked in D.A.V. College, Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir as a lecturer where I was familiar with the children and the staff. I later on switched over my job to Central services where I joined as a scientist, and retired from the same organization as Deputy Director, a senior level officer. Over the years of my active career there has been contributed to the cause of Education and science in my own field. There have been publications in various scientific journals and magazines.

Circumstances forced me and my family to flee from my native place because of barbaric acts of the militants in the valley, leaving me and my family as migrants. Up to 1990, we lived at Baghat, Barzulla, Srinagar, with a big chunk of land and a huge building, now raised to ground. The city had become familiar with firearms and weapons. Foreigners had cropped up everywhere, like unfamiliar trees and no one asked who sent them or why they came.

I have my wife Sarla with me. She is M.A. B Ed. and has worked in the Education Department. She has cooperated with me through thick and thin, and she bore me three beautiful children Sandeep, Sanjla and Sumeet. All of them have been given superior higher education at a time when the conditions in Kashmir were extremely bad. I along with my wife had to prove in harder times how to keep the crucial education of our children going. We Kashmiris have a belief, that, our wealth is to give highest education to our children. In difficult times our children co-operated with us. They perhaps put in extra hours of labour and got admissions in various professional colleges on their own steam. They have a strong educational background, married, and are happy where ever they are, living in exile.

Many of my community, the Kashmiri Pandits, a "Kashur Batta" left Kashmir. I became a migrant in my own country. Not one, not hundreds, not thousands, but in lakhs, Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave Kashmir. All this happened in the year 1990, a bad year for us.

I along with my wife and children have widely travelled to various countries like United States of America, the United Kingdom, India, and Canada. Now we belong to all worlds, and all men are our brothers, and all women as our sisters.

Sham S. Misri

Redmond, Seattle, USA

Washington, USA