Believe me, these were very personal; some confidences deeply embarrassed me. These children are 1/3 of my age; perhaps it is the distancing of the Internet, the anonymity, that led them to confide in a relative stranger the age of their grandparents, but whatever it is, it must be held under the seal of the confessional. At that time, some six to eight years ago, I was very active in discussions with Kashmiris, both Pandits and Muslims, and people trusted me. Perhaps that was part of the key.
In abstract terms - I cannot go beyond that - they were lonely and felt alienated. Their hostel existence was extremely constricted; these were kids who enjoyed a considerable degree of freedom at home, and being hemmed in was not entirely a pleasant experience. Relations with their class-mates were also apparently awkward and stilted, and they seemed to be missing the easy give-and-take of their milieu in the Valley.
At that time, those of their friends who had gone to Rajasthan and to Haryana, even to Bengaluru and Hyderabad, were enjoying themselves, and they felt envious. Meanwhile their local supervisors naturally felt a heavy responsibility for their physical and moral well-being, and arranged for them to be in their hostels whenever there was no specific reason to be out of it.
That's all that I can say about this.
Trust me, if you listen to the ordinary decent Indian, rather than to bhakts, you will find nothing said that you cannot agree with entirely.