Srinagar, Feb. 6 -- Bansi Lal Pandit, our beloved neighbour, fondly called Kaka Ji, stuck to his roots through thick and thin no matter what turn did the circumstances take in the strife-torn Kashmir valley.

Concerned about his safety in Kashmir, his family including his affectionate and ailing mother, managed to take him to Jammu a couple of times during the peak of the turmoil. But distraught Kaka Ji, like a kid snatched from her wailing and longing mother's lap, braved odds and escaped from what felt like a cage to him-a somber and scorching Jammu where his family had taken refuge like many other Kashmiri Pandit families in early 1990s.

This was the time when there were no mobile phones.Communication wasn't so quick. The anxious fami...