In 1984, Deepa Agarwal first visited Kashmir, a place that was then more synonymous with holidays and honeymoons than with human rights violations. Her second visit was a little over two decades later to a translation camp - a decision that was met with hesitation by her family. “You could see the amount of security at the airport. It was depressing. But I got an opportunity to talk with locals about how their lives had been affected by the militancy, army and continuous conflict,” she recalls. Come 2021, and the Delhi-based writer, who has over 50 published books to her credit, has released Kashmir! Kashmir! (Scholastic India).

Children ride on a sleigh on top of a mountain after snowfall on the outskirts of Srinagar