Kashmir and Me

Renu Mittal had not travelled to Kashmir for sixteen years when she finally made her way back with eight other family members in 2014. The trip was bittersweet as she was without her husband, who had died suddenly. After his death, she went from being a housewife to a single parent trying to set up her own business. After days of sightseeing, shopping, eating, and merry making, she retired to her room at a hotel in Srinagar, but around midnight, she was woken by a loud commotion. When she looked out the window of the hotel, her world came crashing down. The hotel was surrounded by several feet of water, and she realized she was trapped in the middle of a flash foodthe likes of which had not been seen in more than one hundred years. She rushed to the upper floors with her son to escape rapidly rising waters before they made the fateful decision to join others in fleeing the hotel. Renu reached deep inside herself to discover courage she never knew she had to fight for her life and the lives of her loved ones in Kashmir and Me.