Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, June 18, 2002: In her new book, “Tiger Ladies” ($24, Beacon Press), Sudha Koul tells of growing up in the beautiful Valley of Kashmir where Muslims and Hindus coexisted in peace for centuries. Born in 1947, the year of India and Pakistan’s partition, Koul writes of a land of unparalleled beauty where people admired learning, open-mindedness and tolerance. She writes of a place where people attend weddings and stay up all night singing, and of her grandmother, a collector of fine Kashmiri pashmina wool, and her grandfather, a college English professor. Nowhere is there mention of Hindu and Muslim tensions; instead, Koul writes of both groups’ going to the others’ homes to celebrate festivals. Koul titled her book the Tiger Ladies because she considers herself — along with her grandmother, mother and daughters — to embody Durga, the Hindu Goddess who sits on a tiger and vanquishes demons to keep the world safe. “I wrote the book as a lament to a way of life that had been nurtured for millennia,” said Koul, a Hindu. “We Hindus and Muslims had a common ground — in our being Kashmiri.” ” I wrote this book because I wanted to put down our unique Kashmiri traditions so that they are not forgotten,” she said. Kohl has been living in the US since 1974.