The students from Kashmir with their friends from Vasant Valley School in New Delhi. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi, Aug. 28: At times the heat is unbearable. And the air is heavy with smoke and dust. But Adil Ahmed doesn’t mind. It’s the first time in his young life that he is living without fear.

“God willing, Delhi children will not have to go through it,” says the Class XII student who has come with three other Kashmiri boys to the capital on an invitation.

A student of Hanifia Model School in Baramulla, Kashmir, Adil has seen what violence can do. His father lost a government job when militant threats forced him to flee the Valley and his uncle lost his life.

He, too, came close to being a victim when his family was no longer able to support his education.

Help came in the form of a local non-government organisation, Human Aid Society, which sponsored him along with 30 students who were orphaned by the violence.

Adil now wants to be a lawyer. His aim is to study at the prestigious National Law School in Bangalore.

Started by Bashir Mir, a victim of violence, the Human Aid Society has been successful in raising funds to rehabilitate such victims. Adil, along with Obaid Majid, Syed Murtaza ? both Class X students ? and Wahid Ahmed (Class XI), arrived in Delhi on August 22 on an invitation from Vasant Valley School.

For the last few days they have stayed with Vasant Valley students Shuchir Suri (Class XII) and Pavee Raheja (Class X). “We expected them to be completely different, shaken up and weaker people,” says Shuchir. “We see the violence every day on TV. But we just found that they are just like us, probably a lot tougher.”

Shuchir, a migrant Kashmiri, should know, though he does not remember. His family fled Srinagar when he was 2.

For Pavee, it was just like having friends staying over. “We thought they would be interested in having meat, but they like everything.”

For the Kashmiri boys, used to terms like combing operations and ordnance searches, it has been a new experience seeing The Rising in a plush Gurgaon cinema or hanging out at Dilli Haat.

“I just want to say that this has been a great experience. They have really welcomed us into their homes. We just got selected for this opportunity, but there are many more Kashmiri children who want to come here,” says Murtaza.

Yes, the heat is oppressive, the water is very different from what they are used to in Kashmir and the pollution is high. But that has not deterred the boys from having a good time. “I want to study at AIIMS,” says Wahid, who made sure he got to see the hospital.

“Kashmiri children study a lot and are not like Delhi school students. They either want to be doctors or engineers and are quite well informed on everything,” says Shuchir.

Murtaza, who hopes to become an engineer, wants to see the Lotus temple, Iskcon temple and the Red Fort. “Delhi is very different from Baramulla. It is more advanced.”

“We have a lot to tell people back home,” says Obaid. “We have a lot to share with Delhi children,” says Wahid. “I hope my friends here come and stay with us in Kashmir.”