I feel an inner drowsiness so great it overflows the bounds of self. And I want nothing, prefer nothing, there is nothing I can escape into: The Book of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa
Delhi-based conflict writer. Author of "Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement" (Tranquebar Press), and co- author of Hachette India's non-fiction book of 2010,"The Absent State".
hey rahul, read your "Chinar in my veins" today. I must say you are a very mesmerizing writer....I have my exam in a few days but once I started reading the book, I couldn't stop. The only thing I wish to ask- why is it that you haven't mentioned even a single instance of human rights violations by Security forces? Is it so that such stories never reached you all? Or have they been deliberately kept out due to other reasons?
Chinar in my veins was written many years ago (almost ten) as a bildungsroman (coming of age novella sort of thing). It has very poor language but the events stated in it are absolutely true. It had been written through the eyes of a 14-year-old boy, who is from the minority community in Kashmir. Ten years later, today, there are so many things I want to add (and remove as well). When I began writing it, I was of the opinion that it should only be telling story from the Kashmiri Pandit perspective. But that does not mean that I am blind to what has been happening in Kashmir - the human rights violations you have referred to. As a journalist, I've brought up such issues many many times. Some of my best friends come from Kashmir. I hope that young people like you and me can make a difference. Put everything behind us and work for a Kashmir which will again be a heaven as it was decades ago. But for that to happen, we must confront truth and not hide behind walls of convenient truths. By the way, what do you do? My email is rahulpandita1@gmail.com
5 comments:
You make me long for a kulchawur....
I envy you.
May Allah help kashmiri peoples in Freedom Movement.
All your photos bring back so many memories,i miss living in the peaceful kashmir.......
hey rahul, read your "Chinar in my veins" today. I must say you are a very mesmerizing writer....I have my exam in a few days but once I started reading the book, I couldn't stop. The only thing I wish to ask- why is it that you haven't mentioned even a single instance of human rights violations by Security forces? Is it so that such stories never reached you all? Or have they been deliberately kept out due to other reasons?
Regards
Sumegha
Hi Sumegha
Chinar in my veins was written many years ago (almost ten) as a bildungsroman (coming of age novella sort of thing). It has very poor language but the events stated in it are absolutely true. It had been written through the eyes of a 14-year-old boy, who is from the minority community in Kashmir. Ten years later, today, there are so many things I want to add (and remove as well). When I began writing it, I was of the opinion that it should only be telling story from the Kashmiri Pandit perspective. But that does not mean that I am blind to what has been happening in Kashmir - the human rights violations you have referred to. As a journalist, I've brought up such issues many many times. Some of my best friends come from Kashmir. I hope that young people like you and me can make a difference. Put everything behind us and work for a Kashmir which will again be a heaven as it was decades ago. But for that to happen, we must confront truth and not hide behind walls of convenient truths. By the way, what do you do? My email is rahulpandita1@gmail.com
Post a Comment