The result is a gripping, urgent dispatch from a modern India in crisis, and the full and vivid portrait of the country weve long been missing. Vijayan: As we have this conversation, Dr. Stan Swamy, the eighty-four-year-old Jesuit priest, Indias oldest political prisoner, was murdered by the Indian state with the complicity of the judiciary. Later on she moved to Coimbatore for her MBA from PSG Institute of Management. Propaganda and poison work in far more sophisticated ways. If she wasnt real she would be a marriage between a meme and parody. Suchitra Vijayan's new book, Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India, takes a deep look at such stories by prioritizing the experiences of the silenced victims as well as lesser-known accounts from victims of state violence. That, perhaps, is the only way to avoid further destruction in the region. Listen to Season 3 on Apple, Spotify and Google podcasts. A: I lost friends, saw my father go through a transplant, and I gave birth. According to a new World Health Organization report, we lost as many as 4.7 million people in India. Vijayan began her journey in Kolkata. Suchitra Vijayan is a barrister-at-law, writer and researcher. Whose Stories Are Told In Indian History? Its about what people like me should do. What moral and political stands we should take in the face of ongoing oppression. They took my land, they stole my life, they stole my future, they took my nightmares and they stole my dreams too. Ali went missing in 2018. 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? The taxi driver who describes the Egyptian revolution in five minutes to an American columnist (who speaks no Arabic) is sadly where the genre is today. 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. Fearful of the future he asked quietly, Where did all this hate come from, where is it going to take us? echoing what many residents had told her. How do you think the media ought to responsibly report on peoples lives and experiences? The Rumpus: It is shocking how unaware the world is about the violence the Indian government has committed since independence on its border citizens. She perfectly captured the happiness and the intimacy of the occasion, the warmth of all the people present, and the splendor of the venue. My friend Ritesh Uttamchandani said this once, the lens that elusive distance between the photographer and the photographed is often impossible to bridge. ). (Stay up to date on new book releases, reviews, and more with The Hindu On Books newsletter. She has a sister named, Sunitha. Sometimes the news is the story. When fencing began, he became trapped in a no-mans land, his marriage to a girl from Bangladesh ended with each being stranded on either side and he never got out of the cycle of debt and struggle, finally losing the ability to dream. But the number of anonymous sources willing to disclose classified and conflicting information to reporters who cited them without corroboration points to a serious crisis in how information is reported to the public. Later on she moved to Coimbatore for her MBA from PSG Institute of Management. Take a look at theseevents: The vast infrastructure of detention centers being built in Assam and outside; a politician from a ruling party incites violence by saying, goli maaro saalon ko, and remains free; a minister, a Harvard educated technocrat, garlands and celebrates men for the grave crime of lynching; Dr Teltumbde and other BK 16 [the 16 arrests made in the Bhima Koregaon case] political prisoners remain incarcerated with little, no or manufactured evidence for being dissenting subjects; and a standup comic is arrested for the crime of existing as a Muslim. Even the diasporic experience is often told through this limited lens, without taking into account how diverse the immigrant experience in this country is. Accompanied by this globally, democracies are becoming more authoritarian and stripping people of their citizenshipreducing them to subjects, entrenching the fault lines of inequality. What do you think the future holds? I wrote a book along with it comes love, scorn, and sometimes even ridicule. In terms of violence, there is also this tendency to photograph and display the bodies of marginalised communities when they experience violence. He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Georgia and is the author of The House With a Thousand Stories, His Fathers Disease, and There Is No Good Time for Bad News. Founded in 2009, The Rumpus is one of the longest running independent online literary and culture magazines. The Rumpus is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. 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. What makes these lives so vivid is how Vijayan contextualizes them by placing them in the bigger picture of history. Why the Modi government lies. Second, as the media continued to promote government positions on the crisis, other critical political issues dropped out of public scrutiny. What I was most concerned about and still am are the people in the book and their safety. [8] On 7 March 2017, she applied for divorce. Part of this learning was also why photographer Asim Rafiqui and I created the free UN/DO Photography workshops to think about image-making in relationship to power. This income helps us keep the magazine alive. A relatively small group of people runs it. A: This is a very loaded question. IWE is a body of work where the voices of Indias marginalized are still kept on the fringes; Midnights Borders is anarrative nonfiction book depicting a world that novels from mainland India have failed to depict. J.G.P. As a spy working for TASC, Srikant Tiwari, played by Manoj Bajpayee, has to juggle being an underpaid government employee as well as an absent husband and a perpetually late and distracted father. This is a serious, often funny and deeply revealing book. M, An essential, beautifully written report from the hellish margins of a modern mega-state struggling to be a nation, of people whose lives continue to be shaped by violent political marches across age-old homes and habitats. We live in a surveillance economy where we are constantly just bearing witness we are record keepers, unwitting spies, and voyeurs. [2] She became known as Rj Suchi, with her popular morning show Hello Chennai. As I travelled, I was very aware of these inherent power differences. 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. Commentary Politics. Second, Indias transformation into a nuclear state and the Kargil War is another critical moment of change. Thoughbordersare conventionally recognised as real or artificial lines of spatial and political demarcation, there may also be an arbitrariness to them. Q: Since publishing the book last year, what reflections have you hadgiven that its relevance is increasingly ascertained by 2022s interpersonal and geopolitical violence? Rumpus: Were you trying to write a hybrid-genre book? This means that the capacity to see does not automatically become the capacity for action. Vijayan: The photographs were the heart of this project. 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. Rumpus: How hard was it to write nonfiction about such a violent contemporary history? If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Vijayans book begins a much-needed conversation on thinking about freedom beyond the idea of nation and its illusory lines. Vasundhara Sirnate Drennan is director of research at the Polis Project. Suchitra Vijayan, Newspapers in a Kashmiri home In August 2014 I travelled to the border town of Uri while researching my upcoming book, Borderlands. Suchitra Vijayans new book, Midnights Borders: A Peoples History of Modern India, takes a deep look at such stories by prioritizing the experiences of the silenced victims as well as lesser-known accounts from victims of state violence. I came with my privileges, also lets not forget prejudices. In this stunning work of narrative reportagefeaturing over 40 original photographswe hear from those whose stories are never told: from children playing a cricket match in no-mans-land, to an elderly man living in complete darkness after sealing off his home from the floodlit border; from a woman who fought to keep a military bunker off of her land, to those living abroad who can no longer find their family history in India. She is not alone. Her YouTube channel 'Suchislife' has all her updated work. But the inclination to still treat India as a democracy remains. Q: What was your goal with writing the book in the beginning and how did it change and drive you throughout those 8 years? Love, passion, anger, the desire to make a point about something. Worse, we have been disciplined to accept injustice and inequality as given. In politics, we will be recognising the principle of one man, one vote, and one vote, one value. 6,253 Followers, 902 Following, 1,165 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Suchitra Vijayan (@suchitravijayan) The book arrived in the middle of a pandemic and a devastating second wave [of COVID-19] in India. A poll asked if its OK to be white. Heres why the phrase is loaded. Includes previously unreleased investigation under #JackStraw. Chopra has long been neoliberalisms reluctant feminist, hawking giving a voice and sisterhood while silencing those who question her. It seems that they have a different eye for these women, who they describe as cunning, deceitful, and in some cases, prostitutes'. Its been a little over a week since the book came out, and every day this week, I have woken up to emails, messages, and DMs from readers. Such writings have long been implicated in the history of colonial ethnographic practices, where native informants are poised to become the voices of the empire. '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. But Pakistan responded by rejecting these claims and told the Associated Press that the area was mostly deserted wooded area and that there were no casualties or damage on the ground. But who gets to speak for so many of us? I think its the other way round, these communities have always been speaking, writing, documenting, teachingwe must simply listen rather than represent them in any way. 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. We are all complicit in upholding and maintaining this fear. The acts of writing, documenting, photographing, and archiving carry privileges of caste and class. Who gets to travel, tell stories, and, more importantly, publish them are all deeply connected to questions of access, resources, and privilege. You become responsible for a human being. When the book finally came out, India was undergoing the deadly 2nd wave. Suchitra Vijayan. Suchitra tweets @suchitrav. This might not seem like much, but it is absolutely essential. He drops and picks up his kids from school, pines for his old job and is concerned about the newly-formed government in Pakistanall the while trying to salvage his crumbling marriage. To them he is a man who has settled into a job that has no future. How do you think this shapes climate justice? Vijayan: There is an elusive distance between the photographer and the photographed that cant be bridged. Its a vicious cycle. I particularly loved the fact that all our couple shots were very natural and came out truly . Professor Nandita Sharmas work is an excellent way to engage with this history. This language drums the idea of the fundamental importance of justice, and such language is inalienable: it can easily be defined and empathetically understood. 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. March 06, 2021 04:50 pm | Updated March 07, 2021 08:05 am IST. A British lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe set foot in India for the first time in July, 1947 to draw the borders and completed the task within seven weeks, engendering communal riots, a heavily militarized border, four wars and seven decades of violence and hatred between the two countries. Some even dressed for the occasion in combat gear. Then my agent said, Suchitra, you know, I think youre hiding behind your academic language. What is the function of seeing and documenting? This media blitzkrieg resulted in the erasure of two important political trends. Her writing has appeared in The Citron Review, Dukool Magazine, Cerebration, Feminism in India, Times of India (Spellbound edition), and others. What is the emotional and artistic cost that one pays as a writer while crafting these narratives? There is also a lot of deep-seated misogyny, casteism, and anti-Black racism in our communities that need to be addressed. In an interview with Firstpost,Vijayan talks about her book, the militarisation of borders, ethno-nationalism, and the politics of documentation. When I left him (the first time), I had a one-year-old daughter. My job was to make sure that their voices were centered. Also, hope is a discipline. Sayantika Mandal is an Indian writer. A:I dont think an ethical or moral compass exists nowI dont know if it ever existed. From the epoch of Empire to the nation-state, border making is fundamentally a political project that creates, sustains, and reinforces inequality. While Nehru was still declaring this victory, the slaughter began. This is a profoundly alienating place for anyone without the networks of privilege and resources. Also, a book is an act of community; it has many midwives. Copyright 2023. We once asked these questions, even if there were no clear answers or consensus. With the phone armed with a camera, everyone is a photographer; we are all witnesses. Excellent interview, brave insights and critical reflections! O. We see that more clearly when you decide against photographing children at the India-Bangladesh border. I left a few names out in the acknowledgment, worrying if it might direct more trouble towards them. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, GQ, The Boston Review, The Hindu, and Foreign Policy, and she has appeared on NBC news. The first true peoples history of modern India, told through a seven-year, 9,000-mile journey along its many contested borders. Suchitra Vijayan is an American writer, essayist, activist, and photographer working across oral history, state violence, and visual storytelling. The travel, the people they encounter, and the political events they record quickly become cameos. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. Her work looks at theories of violence, war, and human nature. One of the reasons I kept writing was of course all the people I met: their love and time and generosity. The events of 9/11 had profound effects on how border security projects and politics played out. I was much younger when I took on this project, so I wanted to prove those people wrong. We believe that literature builds communityand if reading The Rumpus makes you feel more connected, please show your support! Vijayan: I wasnt trying to write a hybrid book; I was trying to tell the stories I encountered as a way to think about the moral and political realities of our lives. Time to let the diplomats do the hard talk. I can see small cracks beginning to appear. Its a hard book to name, and I kept going back and forth. There was an NDTV programme, where somebody said Should Indias constitution be secularist? But, more importantly, I wanted my readers to walk away with a sense of empathy. 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. Three hundred million people who had been considered less than subjects under the British rule, divided for years by religion, language, class, and caste, would all be united under one book: the revolutionary Constitution given to India by Babasaheb Ambedkar. It was not going to be easy as she quickly found out. . That capacity to be able to go away and then come back profoundly affects how you write because then you are still rooted. Suchitra Ramadurai, known by the mononym Suchitra, is an Indian radio jockey, popular playback singer, songwriter, composer, voice artist, dubbing artist and film actress. Not everyone lived to see its promises. Without a political solution, Kashmir will undoubtedly emerge in upcoming news cycles. I dont think theres just one emotion that drives a writer to finish writing. It took me 8 years to write the book. How did you respond to that environment being in an extremely challenging position yourself? And that violence is often abetted by the state and goes unpunished. Is secularism a good thing? This is such an insidious conversation to have; this was even before Adani bought it. Thank you! Legislations such as National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act threaten to render millions of people, especially Muslims, stateless. In Afghanistan, Kashmir, and India, from one dangerous conflict zone to another, she spoke with people, ate with them, and listened to their stories. What are those ethical, moral, and political lines? You can speak of confidence and body positivity and defend selling skin-lightening creams. 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. ""The historical unity of the ruling classes is realized in the state." Antonio Gramsci" Vijayan: Most Indian American writers, especially many of them who occupy the broad spectrum of literary to punditry, come from immense privilege of caste and class. Vijayan began her journey in Kolkata. The two officers who avert the attack narrowly escape death but are left with broken bodies and broken lives. Empathy is taught by our communities; we are brought up with it. It is the fragility of human lives that remains at the very center of the book. There is no denying that the American media landscape is deeply racist, and while the past few years have seen more brown people take center stage, its nowhere close to where we need to be. They cannot be abusive or personal. And, in many cases, they are children of the literary, cultural, or political elite who have long been the beneficiaries of the Indian state. 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. Its a dangerous moment where the figure of the rights-bearing citizen is being reduced to a consuming subject. Rumpus: I believe your book contributes to an important conversation about India we must have right now in the United States, for its own sake. Categories. And our language helps us imagine a vision that is truly just, beautiful and ethical. Q: What struck me about your work was its immersive style. Also read: Examining My Caste And Its History Is Eye-Opening: A Personal Essay On Casteism And Ancestry. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Bigotry is also big business. 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. is a barrister-at-law, writer and researcher. This article was published more than4 years ago. How "The Family Man" champions the carceral security state. She is currently working on her first novel. 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. 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.