Also read: Book Review: Looking Through Dalit Sahitya And Ambedkar. Midnights Borders: A Peoples History of Modern India ; Suchitra Vijayan, Context/ Westland Books, 699. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions?". My friend Ritesh Uttamchandani said this once, the lens that elusive distance between the photographer and the photographed is often impossible to bridge. A literary community. Many of the stories didnt make it to the book because it became dangerous to identify people. 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. A: Writers are very strange creatures. Feminism In India is an award-winning digital intersectional feminist media organisation to learn, educate and develop a feminist sensibility among the youth. 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. With profound empathy and a novelistic eye for detail, Vijayan brings us face to face with the brutal legacy of colonialism, state violence, and government corruption. Her writing and award-winning photography culminated in Midnights Borders: A Peoples History of Modern India, which was recently shortlisted for the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF book prize. A Barrister by training, she previously worked for the United Nations war crimes tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda before co-founding the Resettlement Legal Aid Project in Cairo, which gives legal aid to . Jawaharlal Nehrus 'Tryst with Destiny'is a speech I have returned to over the past 20 years. Also, I am an unknown and insignificant entity. Its feudal, entitled, and cannibalistic. Rumpus: Why do you think the ever-growing canon of Indian American literature has barely tried to engage with these conversations through their stories? A memorable, humane museum of forgotten stories that we must all read and remember. M, What experiences and lives unfold in these pages. Also read: Examining My Caste And Its History Is Eye-Opening: A Personal Essay On Casteism And Ancestry. [1] Career [ edit] For far too long, they and their progeny have held power to shape the political understanding of our social worlds. We thank her for her time, patience, and illuminating insights into her work. Rumpus: The book derives its emotional strength and narrative energy from the stories of people you encounter at the borders. Suchitra Vijayan. I want to clarify that what I witnessed or the violence inflicted on my father is not the same as what over eight million Kashmiris have endured. 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. One of the ways she upholds the humane in this book is through her interaction with the men in the security forces. We perform rituals of freedom in a right-less societywe dont ask if the rules, laws, and policies that are put in place are fair, just, right or equitable. Then my agent said, Suchitra, you know, I think youre hiding behind your academic language. But it needs to do more for peace. Qin took charge as Chinese foreign minister in December, succeeding Wang Yi. Its when we lose hope that we believe that we have lost everything. Nonfiction, Travel, Fiction Member Since February 2021 edit data Suchitra Vijayan was born and raised in Madras, India. The book is a prelude to what was coming, and is also a impassioned plea to my readers to ask some fundamental questions of what it means to live in a country like Indiawhat is the function of a state when its primary preoccupation is no longer the citizen but a performance of an ideology? We believe that literature builds communityand if reading The Rumpus makes you feel more connected, please show your support! Firstpost - All Rights Reserved. Without a political solution, Kashmir will undoubtedly emerge in upcoming news cycles. I wrote the book, but those who have lived through this hell continue to live and navigate this hell. She entered the show on day 28 as a new contestant and was evicted on day 49. Vijayan began her journey in Kolkata. Suchitras account of her journeys across the undefinable and ever-shifting borders between India and its neighbours is gripping, frightening, faithful and beautiful. Apart from his long-suffering wife, no one else in the family knows that he is a spy. Founder & ExecDirector: @project_polis @watchthestate ; Teach @nyugallatin Writer Manhattan, NY linktr.ee/suchitravijayan Born April 14 Joined May 2008 8,013 Following 80.8K Followers Tweets & replies I think freedom and dignity enables us to really go beyond in our political imaginationbeyond just electoral politics. Thank you! Many come from immense privileges of caste, class, wealth, access, and resources. Suchitra Vijayan is an American writer, essayist, activist, and photographer working across oral history, state violence, and visual storytelling. These are edited excerpts from the interview: 'Midnight' seems to be a metaphor for multiple things both freeing and frightening. 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. 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. And were there any apprehensions since you began working on this book? I'mdyslexic, but have visual and episodic memory, which means I dream and relive moments. The credit goes to my agent Lucy Cleland who suggested this title. They create cleavages of fear, xenophobia, and insecurity. I have no formal training as a writer or a photographer, I taught myself and learnt by doing, failing and creating my own grammar. With sharp political analyses, dense historical research and lyrical, image-rich prose, Vijayans journalism displays an inspiring ethic, one that is invested in the micro-histories of the small man, the one existing on the fringes of history and the one that most requires urgent representation. B, A book that will enlighten every citizen of every nation. Legislations such as National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act threaten to render millions of people, especially Muslims, stateless. In retaliation, the Indian Air Force carried out an airstrike on an alleged militant training camp in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Not everyone rejoiced in these new freedoms. Worse, we have been disciplined to accept injustice and inequality as given. Suchitra Vijayan traveled Indias vast land border to explore how these populations live, and document how even places just a few miles apart can feel like entirely different countries.. She is the executive director of the Polis Project . It was not going to be easy as she quickly found out. 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). As a trained barrister, I used to believe in the concept of justicebut now I simply call this freedom and dignity. Rumpus: Were you trying to write a hybrid-genre book? Suchitra Vijayan. The two press briefings by the foreign secretary and Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson entertained no questions. Suchitra Vijayan. And this is always at the expense of others. RT @project_polis: Writing fiction in a dystopian world - @kiccovich in conversation with @mohammedhanif https://thepolisproject.com/listen/writing-fiction-in-a . Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle. I am repeating what I have said before, "Kashmir is Indias greatest moral and political failure. Rumpus: Toni Morrison said that she writes from a place of delight, not disappointment. Q: You had to deal with a lot of ethical considerations as a writer and photographer, which echo throughout your and your fellow journalists work, as evaluated in your book. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. 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. In her book, she makes her intention clear at the very beginning, claiming that this endeavor is not to give voice to the voiceless but to critique the nation-state, its violence, and the arbitrariness of territorial sovereignty. She acknowledges that a book in its limited scope cannot really encapsulate the entirety of this journey, and it will remain more of a scrapbook, a collection of images, texts, poetry, and maps. I want to flag two essays where I engage with this in an in-depth manner, Disaster Ruins Everything, on my work in Haiti, and what it means to photograph disaster, especially when it is Brown and Black bodies. The original vision of the book also has newspaper cuttings, and found maps. Firstly, when we talk about violence, we often talk about it only as communal violence, as if both communities have equal strength and power. What it means to photograph, write, report and document is an ongoing process. He writes about how when the Constitution was adopted, "We are going to enter into a life of contradictions. She is the founder and executive director of The Polis Project, and the author of Midnights Borders: A Peoples History of Modern India, recently published by Context, Westland. We are all complicit in upholding and maintaining this fear. That changes how you write and photograph a place. In 2020, Suchitra took part in the fourth season of the Tamil reality television show, Bigg Boss Tamil hosted by Kamal Haasan. 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. Vijayan is no stranger to stories of violence. Why do you think India has gotten away with this so far? Vijayan: There is an elusive distance between the photographer and the photographed that cant be bridged. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers readers already know and love. So I dont know if it was empathy so much as just building a relationship with people. Follow our team of columnists and reporters who write about the media. Her distinct and bold voice made her very popular with the younger crowd. 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. She is actively involved in circulating urgent and underrepresented news from the world through her online platform. But eventually we need all kinds of stories and arguments to emerge from what is now considered Indian American writing. Good, honest and non-polemical writing has always forced us to confront the lies we tell ourselves. Later on she moved to Coimbatore for her MBA from PSG Institute of Management. Its a practice. And yet, the research and the history never overpowers the flow of the narrative. In season two, a quick flashback resolves the plotline from the previous season. There is a lot to learn and unlearn, and a writer and a photographer should respond to a political moment, and the work should be a reflection of those practices. Suchitra is a sought-after performer at corporate and other such stage shows. The interview has been paraphrased and condensed for clarity, at the interviewers discretion. The government, of course, denies this. But, more importantly, I wanted my readers to walk away with a sense of empathy. The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Supreme Court forms expert panel to probe any regulatory failure on Adani issue, India makes renewed push for consensus at G20 Foreign Ministers meeting, Hindenburg Research report on Adani Group | Supreme Court verdict on expert committee on March 2, High debt on Vedanta books puts investors on tenterhooks, Employees Provident Fund: How to activate UAN online, 1947: Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act passed, RMA 0-1 FCB, El Clasico highlights: Barcelona leads on aggregate after beating Real Madrid courtesy of a Militao own goal. I can see how religious Hindu fanaticism has started to spread its tentacles in both the Democratic and the Republican parties, and this is primarily because of an absence of balanced stories about India. Also read: The History Of The Colonial State And The Unmaking Of The Tawaif. Her work looks at theories of violence, war, and human nature. 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. I particularly loved the fact that all our couple shots were very natural and came out truly . Now, along with the medias legitimization of an ideology that promotes violence including riots and lynchings its performance after Pulwama leaves severe doubts as to whether it is engaged in journalism or the propagation of Hindu majoritarianism. The third thing is: were going back to relitigating everything. Suchitra Vijayan talks to FII about Indian politics, communal violence, marginalisation and her book Midnights Borders: A Peoples History of Modern India. Now imagine how it would be for someone from a Dalit/Bahujan, Muslim, Adivasi, or working community to try to make inroads. Categories. More importantly, reporters need to engage with what it means to administer what has been called the worlds most militarized zone. Only then can the country answer a more fundamental question: Just what should be done to create conditions that allow Kashmiris to choose their destiny? Its about what people like me should do. March 06, 2021 04:50 pm | Updated March 07, 2021 08:05 am IST. We play an ever more important role in these times when there is a fascist authoritarian regime in India and a deeply racist police state in the US. Copyright 2023. They both have pregnant daughters, a fact that becomes significant as the novel progresses. This is a tightrope that you walk so well. The Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad soon claimed responsibility. suchitrav. This is not the violent right wing and their siege; its centrist and liberal media that is also relitigating history, deconstructing the core values of the constitution. Even as 70% of the border with Bangladesh has been fenced, smugglers, drug couriers, human traffickers and cattle rustlers continue to cross to ply their trades. All along the border, the common refrain is, It feels like Partition is still alive., A story from near Jalpaiguri in north Bengal, that of a man named Ali, is heartbreaking. We must realise that its the grassroots media, who represent themselves, document what mainstream media ignores, and bring to notice what is important. Modi met with senior police officers and ordered them not to intervene as violence raged. Examining My Caste And Its History Is Eye-Opening: A Personal Essay On Casteism And Ancestry, The History Of The Colonial State And The Unmaking Of The Tawaif, Book Review: Looking Through Dalit Sahitya And Ambedkar, These Are The 15 Women Who Helped Draft The Indian Constitution, Gender Roles And Stereotyping In To Kill A Mockingbird, A Brief Summary Of The Second Wave Of Feminism, A Brief Summary Of The First Wave Of Feminism, Kamala Das The Mother Of Modern Indian English Poetry | #IndianWomenInHistory, A Brief Summary Of The Third Wave Of Feminism, The Life And Times Of Dnyanjyoti Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule | #IndianWomenInHistory, FII Interviews: Charlotte Munch Bengtsen Talks About Women In Filmmaking, FII Interviews: Drag King And Influencer Mx. Excerpts from the #BBC documentary telecast about PM . (Stay up to date on new book releases, reviews, and more with The Hindu On Books newsletter. These new worlds are already herethey are maps of survival, maps of resistance. Suchitra was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, as the daughter of Ramadurai and Padmaja. Founded in 2009, The Rumpus is one of the longest running independent online literary and culture magazines. In Midnight's Borders (Westland Publications, 2021), author and photographer Suchitra Vijayan travels the 9,000 miles of India's borders to understand what Partition did to individual lives and . Instead, the Indian media has ascribed to itself the role of an amplifier of the government propaganda that took two nuclear states to the brink of war. 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. What we can do is attempt micro-histories of events, timelines, or local communities. Having been trained in law, Suchitra Vijayan initially worked at the United Nations war tribunals in Yugoslavia. A lot of travel writing is still written by a particular group of people with immense privilege, and they all tend to center themselves. Even those who now write about Modis India, will never write about Brahmanism or be critical of how caste works in the diaspora. These may not be perfect worlds or even equal worlds, but they strive to be. 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. What are those ethical, moral, and political lines? The book was called ``a genre- bending book of nonfictionmade of stories, encounters, vignettes, and photographsabout home, belonging, and displacement.`` Her essays, photographs, and interviews have appeared in The Washington Post, GQ, The Nation, The Boston Review, Foreign Policy, Lit Hub, Rumpus, Electric literature, NPR, NBC, and BBC. This media blitzkrieg resulted in the erasure of two important political trends. Those notes were raw and immediate. The Rumpus: It is shocking how unaware the world is about the violence the Indian government has committed since independence on its border citizens. Required fields are marked *. India shares borders with a host of . As a bedouin who grew up listening to beautiful stories from beautiful storytellers around a fire, I was transported by her storytelling. A t a time when right-wing nationalism is crescendoing in India and across the world, Suchitra Vijayan's Midnight's Borders raises pertinent questions about the very foundations of India's nationalism the cartography of South Asian nation-states defined by arbitrary lines drawn hastily by the British colonial administration. At the end of it, I felt that I learnt more about myself, more about my home, I had becomeif not a better writer, an infinitely better human being, which is to say that one realises that theres always a Longue dure that one needs to consider, crave out time and space to think, train oneself not to always react. 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. Find him on Twitter at @AruniKashyap. How do you protect this child? Not mine. Then you sit in a room with a mother telling you that she has no idea what happened to her son and has no way of knowing if hes ever coming back. Second, as the media continued to promote government positions on the crisis, other critical political issues dropped out of public scrutiny.
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