Reports also identified different people as the supposed masterminds of the Pulwama attack at various points without clear sourcing. In politics, we will be recognising the principle of one man, one vote, and one vote, one value. Even the diasporic experience is often told through this limited lens, without taking into account how diverse the immigrant experience in this country is. For instance, if you went to school with, say, Indias most powerful publisher, or your dad plays golf or socialised at the Gymkhana with the politically powerful and the culturally influential, then that system is built to get you the resources. I now think twice about calling friends, worried if this might put them at risk. News organizations such as India Today, NDTV, News 18, the Indian Express, First Post, Mumbai Mirror, ANI and others routinely attributed their information to anonymous government sources, forensic experts, police officers and intelligence officers. No independent investigations were conducted, and serious questions about intelligence failures were left unanswered. Similarly, motherhood changed me; it radicalised me. Her career as a playback singer now spans Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films and she has several hits in all these languages to her credit. Barrister. Also, hope is a discipline. The pandemic showed us that crises and recurrent disasters that annihilate our lives are here to stay. I had to cut those out, as my editor felt this might not work. How did you respond to that environment being in an extremely challenging position yourself? And this is always at the expense of others. Instead, we need to ask what fate awaits us. ( I hate this word, voiceless, by the way). Suchitra Vijayan. O. More than two weeks after the attack, our analysis finds that no news site had rectified the errors in their reporting, leaving these misleading facts as a matter of public record. She has a sister named, Sunitha. All rights reserved. Travel to States like Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland in the Northeast which share borders with China and Myanmar required Inner Line Permits, BSF soldiers followed her everywhere on the West Bengal/ Bangladesh border, and in Kashmir she was summoned to meet the local inspector at Uri. This idea of responsibility gets obfuscated in many ways. The book was originally going to be a photographic body of work, which changed when I started writing. She is the executive director of the Polis Project . Her work looks at theories of violence, war, and human nature. Our investigation into the Indian medias reporting on the Pulwama attack found that many reports were contradictory, biased, incendiary and uncorroborated. The second season of The Family Man begins with Srikant Tiwari, a former intelligence officer of TASCa fictitious intelligence agency akin to the Research & Analysis Wingworking at an IT company. Tamil Movie Articles Trisha | Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya | Tamannah | Anniyan | Aishwarya Rai", "Bigg Boss Awards for each contestant in Bigg Boss Tamil 4", Suchitra: I can sound sweet, sexy, bold or sensual, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suchitra&oldid=1141096550, Crossover episode with Bigg Boss Tamil; Fearless Award, Nominated: Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer Telugu for the song 'Nijamena' from, Nominated: SIIMA Award for Best Female Playback Singer|Best Female Playback Singer for the song 'Sir Osthara' from, This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 09:35. ). As I travelled, I was very aware of these inherent power differences. This article was published more than4 years ago. Ali lived right on the edge of the India-Bangladesh border. Part of this process is a need to turn the lens back at the powerful. Qin took charge as Chinese foreign minister in December, succeeding Wang Yi. But its also important to constantly take account of who is writing about this India to an Indian and global audience. According to a new World Health Organization report, we lost as many as 4.7 million people in India. 2:16. None of this helps in telling richer, more textured stories. Vasundhara Sirnate Drennan is director of research at the Polis Project. NONFICTIONMidnights BordersBy Suchitra VijayanMelville HousePublished May 25, 2021. She still does a radio show called Flight983 on Radio Mirchi, on Sunday evenings (79 pm). However, at work, Tiwari is in his element. These are stories of massive human rights violations committed by the Indian state in the countrys margins. A memorable, humane museum of forgotten stories that we must all read and remember. M, What experiences and lives unfold in these pages. In addition, she is an award- winning photographer, the founder, and executive director of the Polis Project, a hybrid research and journalism organization. My role, then, and this books role, is to find in their articulations a critique of the nation-state, its violence and the arbitrariness of territorial sovereignty.". There are so many nonfiction books about India published yearly but few are so important and subversive. [1] Career [ edit] There are two quotes I regularly use by Allan Sekula when I teach: "The making of a human likeness on film is a political act. It seems that they have a different eye for these women, who they describe as cunning, deceitful, and in some cases, prostitutes'. Along the way, we meet the men and women of TASC, dissenting students, ISIS terrorists and Pakistani military officers. Apart from his long-suffering wife, no one else in the family knows that he is a spy. The book arrived in the middle of a pandemic and a devastating second wave [of COVID-19] in India. When Vijayan meets him, he is inside his home with all the windows closed and sealed to snuff out light. Suchitra Vijayan was born and raised in Madras, India. How do you think the media ought to responsibly report on peoples lives and experiences? Not mine. A: I dont agree with this kind of framing, because its not that underrepresented people dont have voices. Subscribe to the Rumpus Book Clubs (poetry, prose, or both) and Letters in the Mail from authors (for adults and kids). The Indian State and the people of this Republic. Vijayan: Its a very generous reading, and thanks for that. Thank you! They dont. The two officers who avert the attack narrowly escape death but are left with broken bodies and broken lives. This is the age of erosion of citizenship rights, a kind of ongoing attrition against human rights, civil liberties, and in the case of India, an accelerated dilution of fundamental rights. We know that the purpose of borders has kept changing for nations. Early on, I was very careful to acknowledge this. Another name that came to my mind was 'An Outline of the Republic', only to discover Siddhartha Debs excellent book by the same name. I have no control over what comes next. I cant think in terms of the future being borderless, I can only think in terms of fracturing. There are already about 20 million climate refugees around South Asias borderlands. Once we eliminated the spectacle, we realized that the Indian public got very little information about the Pulwama attack and its aftermath. We need more such books. Thanks to The New India Foundation for sending across a beautiful copy of the Midnights Borders. There are also those who have previously been tacit, if not active, supporters of the right-wing Hindu nationalist Indian state. Respond to our political present. Is photographing a woman, who was gang-raped by the Sudanese army and put on the cover of TIMEpractically naked, able to stop the war? A: This geopolitical violence is not new, theres a long bloody, brutal history to thisa cyclical, ongoing and never-ending history. Accompanied by this globally, democracies are becoming more authoritarian and stripping people of their citizenshipreducing them to subjects, entrenching the fault lines of inequality. All too often, the Indian media portrays Kashmiris as terrorists or human shields, not as a community seeking self-determination. So the first reflection is this idea of where we are right now: as people, as a society, as a community. Indias intellectual, journalistic, and literary landscape is profoundly problematic and alienating. The constant making and remaking of who is a citizen, who is not, is accompanied by a profoundly dehumanising process. Rumpus: The book derives its emotional strength and narrative energy from the stories of people you encounter at the borders. Legislations such as National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act threaten to render millions of people, especially Muslims, stateless. Your email address will not be published. The revolutionary Constitution not only created a social world made of contradictions, but it very soon became the tool of suppressing dissent, deployed laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), and Public Safety Act (PSA) in Kashmir. To them he is a man who has settled into a job that has no future. Lets take Indias English language media, cultural-artistic elite, and publishing. As a lawyer, journalist, and human rights activist who has worked in conflict-ridden territories of Kosovo, Egypt, Rwanda, and elsewhere, she has often met people scrambling for bare existence, caught in a no-mans land. What are those ethical, moral, and political lines? I had a very stable home to come back to. But the inclination to still treat India as a democracy remains. You will see very little critical commentary or public positions on Hindutva, its corrosive role in India, or how RSS works here in the USfunding and now interfering in US elections. The Family Man has found tremendous success as a slick and funny espionage drama, particularly for its treatment of the protagonist, and even for humanising terrorists. Those notes were raw and immediate. Acted as the General Manager for a day and motivated employees to work for the same purpose to reinforce team . Without any official statement on the number of casualties by the Indian government, the Indian news media reported that 300 terrorists were killed, citing government sources. Speculation and conjecture were repeated ad infinitum, and several journalists even took to Twitter to encourage the Indian army. We need more writers from Indias Northeast, Kashmir, Indigenous, Dalit, and Muslim communities to tell stories that help complete the canvas of narratives about India. Its a vicious cycle. [2] She became known as Rj Suchi, with her popular morning show Hello Chennai. Rohini Menon for Feminism in India, FII Interviews: Suchitra Vijayan Talks About Marginalisation, Institutional Violence & Political Imagination, Ananya is a chaotic humanities student with a deep interest in the relationship between art and society, a writing obsession, and way too many bizarre ideas involving their camera. The original vision of the book also has newspaper cuttings, and found maps. They continue to. The former is an essential act of dissent, even resistance, especially in these dark times. In Assam, Vijayan met people devastated by the National Register of Citizens process, with names of long-time residents missing from the final list, and in Kashmir she spent time with a family mourning the loss of their son in an encounter. What do you think the future holds? Photograph of Suchitra Vijayan courtesy of Suchitra Vijayan. Abrogation Of Article 370 Jammu And Kashmir Statehood, BSF foils another Pakistan plot, shoots down drone in Punjab's Amritsar, Light on weight, heavy on damage: India will be able to hit deep inside Pakistan with THIS ultralightweight howitzer, Put issues related to border in 'proper place', work for its early normalisation: Chinese FM Qin to Jaishankar, In Midnight's Borders, Suchitra Vijayan meditates on belongingness, freedom and political implications of territorial demarcations. After Pulwama, the Indian media proves it is the BJPs propaganda machine, Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates, Fox News bosses scolded reporters who challenged false election claims, To fight defamation suit, Fox News cites election conspiracy theories. She also embodies the upwardly mobile, privileged sections of the diaspora. I feel very uncomfortable talking about this, or rather I dont know how to discuss this without centering myself. Like most women, I learnt to navigate this toxic misogyny, the threat of sexual violence, and patriarchy by merely existing as a dark-skinned woman in this country. Vijayans lens not only captures the people but also the past through objects, such as the picture of Kotwali Gate, the remains of a medieval fort that serves as a border checkpoint rife with weeds and trees growing on it, symbolic of a state bent on rewriting history rather than preserving it. Because you are constantly thinking about the ethical universe you are bringing this child into What values do you teach this child? He writes about how when the Constitution was adopted, "We are going to enter into a life of contradictions. As Sari Begum's story [in the book] illustrates, 'A life where the violence of the border is not at the fence, or in the trenches, but at the center of 'their' and our 'universe'. I think this book will change the global conversation about India and shape what gets written in the future about India. Suchitra Vijayan. It has taken me over a decade to get here. Suchitra Vijayan. In season two, a quick flashback resolves the plotline from the previous season. The word terrorism, for instance, is used almost exclusively to refer to a particular communitybut fails to refer to state-enabled terror or the terror deployed by majority communities. We must realise that its the grassroots media, who represent themselves, document what mainstream media ignores, and bring to notice what is important. How violence against women and girlsand even how sexual violence against men and boys (something we dont even talk about enough) is depictedis all seriously problematic. Despite the failures in investigation and prosecution related to criminal trials arising out of the pogrom, the judiciary has projected itself as an able and willing neutral arbiter of justice that is not complicit with the deep structures of Hindutvas anti-Muslim prejudice https://t.co/EFf5bxYEBt, True societal change has always emerged from the ground-up, with communities fighting for their own freedom and dignity. Were there times when you doubted your own ability to record and document these people's stories? These new worlds are already herethey are maps of survival, maps of resistance. Vijayan began her journey in Kolkata. She has a sister named, Sunitha. I think these are fundamental questions of freedom and dignity. But, more importantly, I wanted my readers to walk away with a sense of empathy. She has also been appreciated for her honest and positive-humour-filled judging at reality shows like Vijay TV's Airtel Super Singer, Sun TV's Sun Singer, Asianet's Music India, and Bol Baby Bol on Gemini TV and Surya TV. This is where I believe literary nonfiction becomes a powerful tool. Born and raised in Madras, India, she is the author of the critically acclaimed book Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India (Melville House, New York). Second, there is a clear distinction between speaking against the powerful and claiming to speak on behalf of the "voiceless". It's a disorienting time when your library or what books you read can become evidence of sedition . It is truly the treason of the intellectuals. We could have attributed this to ignorance even a few years back; now its just silence thats deeply complicit in the Hindutva project. The events in Hathras did not happen at the border; neither did the murder and gang rape of two teenage girls in the Katra village of Budaun district, Uttar Pradesh. Ten years later, you were in Kashmir, where you 'hoped to find answers' by talking to a family that had lost a son. . Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. That was my starting point. This contributed to the long-running, brutal silencing of Kashmiris and their struggle for self-determination. You can find them on, The #GBVinMedia Campaign: Media Reportage Of Gender-Based Violence, #IndianWomenInHistory: Remembering The Untold Legacies of Indian Women, How To Write About Abortion: A Rights-Based Approach, The Crowdsourced List Of Social Justice Collectives Across Indian Campuses. An unprecedented militarisation of these spaces accompanied this. After being detained at one of the checkpoints for over two hours, I made my way to one of the villages closest to the Line of Control. Also read: Book Review: Looking Through Dalit Sahitya And Ambedkar. A: This is a very loaded question. As a Bookshop affiliate, The Rumpus earns a percentage from qualifying purchases. The controversy surrounding the Rafale deal and allegations of corruption against the government were suddenly sidelined, as was the order for the eviction of more than a million forest dwellers (that was later stayed) and a hearing on the repeal of an important constitutional clause before the Supreme Court. Midnight's Borders by Suchitra Vijayan falls in both categories. I wanted to make sure that I was writing in a way that was honest and true to my initial reactions, and capture that without centering myself. Parts of Pakistan have already been consumed by the water. First, the escalation in the counterinsurgency war within the Kashmir Valley under which hundreds of activists were arrested and several Kashmiri civilians killed in gun battles was grievously underreported. 'Music I Like', an album of Suchitra's renditions of Mahakavi Bharatiyaar's poetry, set to contemporary tunes and music, released by Universal Music, was a turning point in her career. Its a practice. How do you think your book contributes to the larger conversation about India? We're back with our flagship podcast 'Intersectional FeminismDesi Style!' I believe it can teach us to ask these questions again. When the book finally came out, India was undergoing the deadly 2nd wave. Sharing borders with six countries and spanning a geography that extends from Pakistan to Myanmar, India is the worlds largest democracy and second most populous country. This media blitzkrieg resulted in the erasure of two important political trends. Is secularism a good thing? This is such an insidious conversation to have; this was even before Adani bought it. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, GQ, The Boston Review, The Hindu, and Foreign Policy, and she has appeared on NBC news. This affects who gets to document, and whom. Chopra has long been neoliberalisms reluctant feminist, hawking giving a voice and sisterhood while silencing those who question her. The border runs through him, his friend Jamshed had told Vijayan, He is almost gone, but I dont want his story to be gone too.. So we might never know the true extent of this loss. But for me hope is radical; hope is the last bastion of our defense. You can speak of confidence and body positivity and defend selling skin-lightening creams.
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