vande mataram

Sixty one years after India became an independent country, an Indian finally wins an individual gold at the summer Olympics. While excitable news anchors try to get an unflappable Abhinav Bindra to show some excitement, and state governments and corporate groups announce cash awards for him, Bindra's achievement has inspired our nation's people, both in terms of creative expression and enthusiasm for the particular sport in question.

While the Kashmir valley and Jammu continue to burn, and the liberal news media bemoans this assault on the very idea of a secular India, something happening in far-off Assam attracts no attention. A group of people have taken exception to an agitation against the presence of Bangladeshi nationals in Assam. The former can count on the support of none other than CM Tarun Gogoi. Gogoi of course belongs to the Congress, which has over the years turned a blind eye to the increasing number of Bangladeshis sneaking into Assam in return for their votes (to be fair, even the AGP didn't do much about it after coming to power on the strength of that issue). According to Gogoi, there are just a "handful" of Bangladeshis in Assam; clearly, the people who called this bandh are secular-minded Assamese like our CM Gogoi himself, and certainly not people from a neighbouring country. So while the Congress shows its secular/patriotic credentials in internationally-sensitive J&K, who gives a damn if Assam is slowly taken over by the Bangladeshis? Going back to J&K: the people of Ladakh are a peaceable and patriotic lot, which is why no one gives a damn about them, too. It's always been about the Kashmir valley, and now Jammu. Which just goes to show that in India, nobody will listen to you unless you create a tamasha.

Bhagyajeet Bhuyan did a review of my book in The Pioneer on 06/07/08. Called "Margin and the Centre", the review is helped by the fact that Bhuyan has been through the whole DU-north Delhi/professional life-south Delhi thing. He says it is a "commendable effort by the writer to bridge the gap between the North-East and the rest of the country. The fact that the writer himself is from the North-East adds credibility to the narrative." The review, like older webpages on The Pioneer's website, is unfortunately missing online.

Here's my two cents on the north-east in Delhi (link unavailable now) in the current "chinky" issue of Time Out Delhi.

in which i become a reviewer

If you can't beat them, join them. After reviewing my reviewers, i've gone and become a reviewer myself (link unavailable temporarily). The book in question is Kunal Basu's The Japanese Wife, which The Pioneer asked me to review.

I've also done another piece for the southern edition of the Indian Express (the New Indian Express), after the Maiden in Mumbai piece in February. This one was about a short trip to Arunachal while i was home a few weeks ago.

However, it would have been nice to see some editorial discretion at these two national papers. In the review, for instance, my "Of the Japanese wife herself we cannot figure anything out; she remains a faraway and invisible presence whose actions we cannot account for. Whatever potential there was in the story, Basu has failed to bring it out." has been changed to, "Of the Japanese wife, she has an invisible presence whose actions we cannot account for. Whatever potential there was in the story, Kunal Basu has failed to bring it out."

Then in the Arunachal piece, the original "The Alto’s wheels were now skidding all over the ice and snow covered road." has been changed to, "The Alto’s wheels were skidding over snow covered road." Very, very clumsy, and unnecessary. There are a few more such instances in both articles.

The Shillong Times carried a review of Jet City Woman by the well-known writer/activist Patricia Mukhim this Sunday, the 6th. It seems the book has been described as an entertaining read, and the author praised for his insight into the "northeastern psyche"! The review doesn't seem to be available online; will try and put it up if i can get my hands on the paper itself.

Jet City Woman has been out for about six months now, which is not really that long for a book. Somehow it all seems to have happened a long time ago. Sometimes i find it hard to believe that i've actually written a book. Maybe the long wait before i got published has something to do with it.