Living in penury, most of these families are in no position to cough up money for Diwali celebrations. Dependent on small land holdings, which owing to the firing was left unattended, these migrants are now unemployed and find it difficult to keep the kitchen fire burning. The paltry relief provided by the State Government dries up within the first couple of days. Their woes, however, have been countered by the women who have planned their Diwali well in advance, but at a cost.

They have pawned their gold bangles to raise money to purchase clothes and crackers for the children. By the time Diwali draws near, most of the women have little jewellery left.

``I am not bothered whether I will be able to get my bangles back or not. But what pinches me is the sight of my son, whofor the past two days, has been standing outside the cracker stall erected outside the main road,'' says Pyari Devi, a mother of two children who hails from village Gigriyal.An elderly migrant from Pargwal village recalls how they used to light candles on the main entrance of their house to welcome visitors to their houses on Diwali.

``My eyes are pinned on the main entrance, not for relatives, but for some benevolent citizen of Jammu who will drop in with some ration and relief measures,'' sighs Baburam.

For the past five months, the residents of villages like Pallanwala, Mirpur, Garad, Saint, Gigiriyal, Doyian, Darkhour, Milan di Khui, Panjtoor and Chapriyal are living in inhumane conditions. Even the change of guard in Pakistan has not given respite to the firing in villages falling right on the Line of Control (LoC).

Despite the high alert maintained on the border, Naresh Kumar could not stop himself from going to his home town in Milan di Khui.

He persuaded Armymen to let him go at his own risk,but the sight that awaited him there left him shocked. Many of the houses had developed cracks, the land holdings had dried up, dead cattle emanating a foul smell were lying scattered and Pakistani guns have not stopped booming in the area.``The same house which used to be whitewashed on Diwali is today pockmarked, telling a gory tale of death and destruction,'' said Kumar.

A mother of two handicapped children led this reporter into a dingy room in Muthi camp. She said that both Ajay (6) and Suresh (8) had been pestering her to take them home so that they could celebrate Diwali with same spirit as before.

``Maa wahan roshnee thi, yahan ki tarah andhera nahin, they tell me,'' she said and added ruefully that they have to learn to live in this darkness.