The Hindu : 'Objectionable' pictures in book on India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 16, 2002

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International

'Objectionable' pictures in book on India

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON NOV. 15. The UK-based Indian author, Dilip Hiro, has accused his British publishers, an imprint of Penguin, of disregarding Indian "sensitivities" by illustrating his latest book with "objectionable" pictures and captions.

Mr. Hiro has publicly denounced the choice of some of the pictures in "The Rough Guide Chronicle-India", a pocket book for travellers and instant scholars, and called for them to be removed. He told The Hindu that his objections were ignored and he was told that it was "too late" to change them.

Mr. Hiro said there were 10 illustrations, which were either "ridiculously inappropriate or objectionable." The one he found particularly "offensive" is that of Gen. Dyer, which accompanies his text on the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre. "I find the presence of Gen. Dyer in my book as a stain which must be removed from the book as soon as possible," he said.

He said choosing to illustrate the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre with the portrait of "a triumphant" Gen. Dyer was like illustrating "the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut's refugee camps with a photograph of Ariel Sharon." He also objected to the picture of the "Black Hole" of Calcutta, which, he said, contradicted crucial historical facts. "Equally ridiculous is the picture that goes with my text on the great uprising of 1857," he said, criticising the West for "lack of sensitivity to non-Western cultures."

Mr. Hiro said that though he was not responsible for the pictures he had been inundated by angry calls from Indian scholars because his name alone appeared on the cover page. "Legally, I have rights only on the text but I am asserting my moral right to have the objectionable pictures removed," he said. Normally the writer was consulted about the choice of pictures.

Richard Trillo, marketing director of Rough Guides, said his company always tried to "accommodate" its authors and would consider whether the objections raised by Mr. Hiro could be addressed in subsequent editions. But for now, little could be done.

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