The moment we hear about diaspora, we begin imagining people embarking on a journey. We imagine suitcases being packed in haste, airports left behind, and a strange country appearing out of the haze. We think of diaspora as people who have been separated from their homeland by distance out of compulsion. In fact, that's what the word itself means literally. But can people feel displaced without leaving their rooms? Can displacement take place without starting any journey? Can we experience exile without actually being exiled? If yes, then what do we call it?

No, I'm not under the influence of alcohol, that's what you would be thinking right after reading those strange questions! Before jumping into assumptions, let me answer.
Well, I don't believe that the experience of diaspora is limited to its conventional understanding. There are people who have never crossed borders, who have been walking on the same streets since childhood and have been living in their own societies, yet they feel displaced, disconnected from everything from their own people, places, religion, culture, traditions and they feel disconnected from their own selves. These people do exist in every corner of the world. Even after spending years trying to fit in, they may still find themselves unable to feel accepted by the world around them. You will find such people usually in their rooms, and we are quick to label them as introverts. The truth is, it was never their choice to be of this kind. In fact, we actually label people who prefer solitude as introverts as well. We never understood the differences,
how will we understand a person who suffers from psychological diaspora?
It's heartbreaking when someone is forced away from their home, but it's even more heartbreaking when the home remains there, yet a person feels deeply alienated from it. Imagine having a bunch of friends yet feeling like a stranger around them? Sitting in a family gathering and still feeling emotionally absent. What does it feel like when you know everyone's names but nobody knows you? How lucky would you consider yourself if you could speak a language, especially your mother tongue, so well that you feel unable to express what you feel within! Festivals shower contentment as they bring people closer, but what would you do if you were in a situation where the festival seems as if it is trying to remind you that you do not belong here? Perhaps, the festivals have always reminded me that I'm living in exile within my own homeland! And believe me it's a terrible feeling!
All of that cannot be a personality, right? It is, according to my understanding, a consequence of something yet to be discovered because everybody has their own reasons.
People in Kashmir, especially the youth of Kashmir, are heading towards a completely different world. Illiteracy, addictions, and crimes are on the rise.(Though these can be consequences of something as well), these things somehow force people who love reading, writing, and studying to stay in their own cubicle, as the reading culture in Kashmir is dying (A 2025 report documented one Srinagar newspaper distributor going from about 600 copies a day in 2008 to 100 in 2024 — a decline of 83.3%. This is data from just one newspaper. Kashmir Scan). So, they have things to talk about, they have friends to talk to, but those friends now speak a totally different language, and politics, literature, and books are considered boring. Can they coexist? When a person develops interests and values that are not shared by the social circle around them, he/she then withdraws and feels alienated. Isn't it obvious?
And that's one of the reasons that contributes to psychological diaspora or mental alienation.
Moverover, Rejection and Humiliation are another reason why a person begins to experience psychological diaspora. A person may spend years trying to make friends, trying to express themselves, only to be misunderstood again and again and again, mocked, ignored, or made to feel like an outsider. At first, that person may feel hurt and it may look temporary. But facing rejection over and over again slowly turns that hurt into something else, something permanent! Then they stop participating, stop explaining themselves, and eventually stop expecting to be understood. As I said, it feels like a tiny temporary wound until it becomes a permanent distance between them and the people around them and leaves an ever lasting scar.
Personally, I feel like the distance between my generation and the culture I inherited is widening, as I am born into traditions that existed long before me, and now I'm growing up in a world that keeps changing faster than I can adapt to those traditions. I'm stuck somewhere in between, as the older generation speaks of a world I have never experienced, and my generation speaks a language I fail to comprehend. It's not that I don’t respect my traditions, I do, but without actually feeling a sense of belonging, as a result, I often find myself questioning everything, even my existence! Similarly, GenZ suffers from this kind of alienation quietly, and if they question, they are labeled again as rude and mannerless, unfortunately.
Though we all dwell in different parts of the world, every part has its own way of doing things, clothes, food, and all that. So, if I'm born in Kashmir, why do I, along with most people, wear clothes that do not feel like our own? I mean, how much of our culture is inherited, how much of it is borrowed, and how much do we consciously choose? And is it even ours? Isn't it worth contemplating?
If I call myself a Kashmiri, then why am I feeling embarrassed speaking the Kashmiri language? Most people are caught between languages. One is considered superior and the other inferior. One is believed to symbolize intelligence and the other one, illiteracy. If I speak Kashmir language I will be considered illiterate and If I speak a foreign language I will be considered intelligent but at the same time I will be called rootless or unpatriotic! That's crazy. Who even am I?
All of this raises a question in my mind, will I find my identity in a foreign land when I have lost it in my own?

Email:--------------------------------Bakshimahfooz@gmail.com