Over the years, the human tragedy in Kashmir has been so immense and the pathos generated has been so intense that not a single soul in the valley could remain untouched by it. It requires both the vision of Tolstoy and the sensibility of Shakespeare to depict it all within the limits of language. I stand nowhere close to these literary giants, but as much as it has stirred my soul, within the limited time, and has equipped my expression, within the limited space, I have tried to present a few glimpses of the pathology of society in Kashmir. There are other stories too, in this collection, written in a lighter vein, as if to soothe the nerves of a shocked reader.