India, Dec. 19 -- Very few books about Kashmir have Kashmiris at the centre as individuals with lives and voices of their own. More often, they are rendered only as political subjects who are important solely for advancing an argument. Such writing inevitably alienates the community. Then follows the reader's surprise when a marginalised human simply behaves like a human, despite the expectation that they must somehow be different. Critics, too, approach books on Kashmir with preset lenses. We look for familiar motifs, for victims, for scapegoats, for boxes to fit people in.

The World With Its Mouth Open by Zahid Rafiq is a debut collection of 11 short stories framed by the nondescript lives of Kashmiris and the unfortunate normalisation...