Ganderbal, Jun 22: The moment two Kashmiri Pandit sisters, now settled outside the Valley, stepped inside the revered Kheer Bhawani shrine at Tulmulla Gandarbal, words deserted them. Instead, there were tears.
Standing beside the sacred spring, one sister from the United States and the other from Mumbai struggled to hold back emotions that had travelled with them across continents and years. Around them stood their children, quietly witnessing stories they had grown up hearing suddenly come alive.
“This is the place our mother would always talk about,” one of the sisters told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), her eyes fixed on the shrine.
“She would tell us stories about coming here, about the festival and about Kashmir. Today, it feels like we are walking through her memories,” she said.
The sisters, whose names could not be recorded amid the large gathering of devotees and emotional scenes at the shrine, said they had last visited Kashmir in 2010.
This year, they made a special journey to attend the annual Kheer Bhawani Mela, determined to introduce their children to a place that has remained central to family conversations for decades.
For them, the pilgrimage was not merely a religious visit. It was a return to an inheritance of memories. “As we walked through the shrine complex, familiar sights brought back memories of childhood summers, family gatherings and our mother’s affectionate descriptions of the Valley,” one of them said before breaking down in tears.
Their children, witnessing the deeply personal moment, were equally moved. “They have grown up listening to stories about Kashmir and this temple,” one of the sisters said. “We wanted them to see it, feel it and understand where a part of their identity comes from.”
The family said the visit offered a sense of belonging that is difficult to put into words. “You can live anywhere in the world, but some places always remain a part of you,” one of them said.
Notably, the annual Kheer Bhawani Mela, dedicated to Goddess Ragnya Devi and observed on Jyeshtha Ashtami, is among the most significant religious gatherings for Kashmiri Pandits. Every year, devotees return to the historic shrine at Tulmulla to offer prayers and reconnect with their cultural and ancestral heritage.
This year, too, thousands of devotees thronged the shrine. Amid the prayers and festivities, scenes of reunion, remembrance and emotional homecomings quietly became some of the most poignant moments of the day. (KNO)
