It has been about five years since the abrogation of Article 370 and yet a profound ambivalence still lingers in the air in Kashmir. The people remain caught in a web of uncertainty—torn between two competing realities. On the one hand, there is an undeniable sense of loss—the stripping away of a special status that once defined the region’s unique identity within the Indian Union—and on the other, there is a tentative hope that perhaps this new order will bring opportunities that the past had failed to deliver. But the question still haunts the Valley: Was the removal of Article 370 a blow to their autonomy or a gateway to a more prosperous future? The answer, it seems, is elusive. Each person harbours their own truth, their own sense of what has been lost and what may yet be gained. And in this symphony of emotions, where grief and hope play out in uneasy harmony, one thing is clear: no one quite knows which note to strike.